Uphill Pedal

“IT USED TO BE, ‘We don’t give money to bikes, they don’t pay
taxes!’ You’ll still run into some of that on the hill,” Oregon State
Senator Jason Atkinson warned the 100 cyclists who rolled into Salem
last week to lobby their legislators.

Atkinson wore his vivid Spandex and star-spangled socks from an
early morning ride six legislators took to show support for bike
issues. But a week after bike-loving citizens flooded Oregon’s capital,
it’s looking more and more likely that all four of this year’s main
statewide pro-bike bills are doomed. What went wrong for bike
advocates?

“The largest thing is that people are really focused on the looming
budget hole,” says Representative Tobias Read, whose vehicular homicide
bill would have created stiff penalties for dangerous drivers who kill
bikers or pedestrians, if the bill itself hadn’t died in committee
early this week. “It has left less time and mental space to consider
new ideas.”

But the anti-bike sentiment Atkinson alluded to also made this
year’s push for bike funding an uphill pedal. Statewide, Oregon spends
only one percent of its transportation budget on projects for
non-motorized transit. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) is
pushing one bill that would up that funding to 1.5 percent—but
the chance of it passing is up in the air.

“There’s a sentiment in the building that now is not the time for
investing in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure,” says
Representative Jules Kopel Bailey, who represents Sunnyside, where 22
percent of voters commute by bike. “There’s a perception that cyclists
are a small group of people who are sometimes viewed as a privileged
class. The argument is that cyclists have enough—they can choose
to bike on back streets.”

Scott Bricker, executive director of the BTA, agrees that the
organization needs to improve its communication.

“Bicycling is a hot media topic. Unless you can control the topic
perfectly, the story can get away from you,” says Bricker. The Idaho
Stop Law story definitely got away from the BTA in early reports about
the law, which would allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yields in
empty intersections.

In March, a KATU news story mistakenly reported that the bill would
let cyclists run stoplights. Similarly, an Oregonian article
printed the day of the bill’s hearing was headlined “Roll on, Bikes,
Roll on through Stop Signs.” The Oregonian politics editor later
explained to angry cyclists that the article’s intention was “humor,
not bias.” But angry blog comments on BikePortland.org attacked those articles
and legislators who questioned the bike bills.

“I don’t think there’s hostility toward cyclists across the board,
but there are certain legislators who felt like they got stung,” says
Bricker. “The Oregon legislature has not acknowledged that bicycling
and walking are legitimate modes of transportation for our region.”

This is the first session in recent years in which not a single
BTA-backed bill has passed. In 2007, the BTA spearheaded five
successful bills, including one punishing careless drivers and one
creating Oregon’s “Share the Road” license plate. This year, the BTA’s
bills for vehicular homicide and the Idaho Stop Law died, while
increased bike funding and a bill for better drivers’ education are
on the rocks, say representatives and advocates.

Also, the BTA fired its only Salem lobbyist in the middle of the
session this year—a move some critics say hurt the passage of
bike policies. Bricker says the BTA is shifting to focus on long-term
bills that might take several sessions to pass. He adds that the group
is also saving money with its new lobbying model, involving a team of
volunteers, an advocate assistant, and Bricker filling in as
lobbyist.

Jonathan Maus, editor of BikePortland.org, thinks a big change
needs to be made.

“We need to stop chipping away from the bottom; we need someone at
the top to be a champion for bikes,” says Maus, fantasizing about a
governor who would help push bike funding through the legislature.
Instead, bikes are almost entirely absent from Governor Ted
Kulongoski’s big transportation plan.

And although Portland is a platinum-certified bike-friendly city
whose mayor who has been spotted astride a road bike, the city
transportation department earmarked a measly 0.7 percent of its budget
for bikes from 2000-2007.

Until people at the top start prioritizing bikes, says Maus, “We’re
going to be viewed as a tiny interest group, crying and clawing for
little bits of funding.”