New Round of Advocates Has Juice!

The latest group of bike advocates accomplished something earlier this week that in previous rounds of advocacy we have struggled to do.

New City Manager!

Advocacy ebbs and flows. In the blog's lifetime here we've had the Mid-Willamette Valley Chapter of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the Vision 2020 Bike/Ped Working Group, the Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates. 

In modern advocacy, several groups and projects preceded these also, of course.

Plaque and bench dedicated to Lt. Ricky Alan Serex

You may recall the story of Ricky Serex, who biked as a teen from West Salem to school, and served in the early 70s on what is now the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

SATS (now SKATS) had a BAC

A direct ancestor of what became our Metropolitan Planning Organization, SKATS, had a Bicycle Advisory Committee.

And there are members of the Salem Bicycle Club still riding who were active in advocacy during the 80s, 90s, and 00s.

A newer group, the Salem Area Trail Alliance, oriented to off-road recreation, has a different purpose, but also drew off advocates and energy from urban progress that was stalled.

Groups coalesce, sometimes with an official place in a local government project or process, sometimes more informally, and then dissolve. Equally, people engage and withdraw or even burn out. The lack of overall progress in two generations now makes it difficult to sustain work. People need to see results, to feel that their work has yielded meaningful change.

This past week the Salem Bike Vision project lured our new City Manager out for a ride. And though his gear was oriented more to mountain biking, he looked like someone who actually bikes! He definitely looks more interested in cycling than our former City Manager, and may be able to make it more of a priority across all City departments.

He's got gear

That's a real advance, and even if he does not turn into a passionate advocate for biking in Salem, at least he will have some first-hand knowledge about conditions here in Salem and biking more generally.

via Twitter

The whole Salem Bike Vision project has juice. It is new people, new energy, new ideas. In the photo are three sitting City Councilors, one the Mayor-nominee, three Cherriots board members, and one School District Board member, several of whom also sit on the Policy Committee for our Metropolitan Planning Organization. This round of advocacy has an institutional foothold with Electeds and board members that previous efforts have not enjoyed.

In addition to the photo promoting the bond, Salem Bike Vision posted a different set yesterday, this set with City staff and without the political support for the ballot measure. (The clips of new City Manager Keith Stahley are from that set.)

Mostly it's all great to see. Though of course here we have real reservations about the bond and whether in 2035, if it passes, we'll look back with regret and wonder about missed opportunities, especially on climate. Enthusiasm for the bond seems a little forced. But it is in the range of "what reasonable people can disagree on," and critiquing it now not worth too much energy.

But more generally, this group may be able to generate a broad-based interest in, and support for, non-auto travel that is a real advance on what we have seen before. And with more Electeds and board members, there are possibilities for greater and stronger action.

If our current Mayor in 2016 said that regulations friendly to ride-booking companies was his number one priority, hopefully we will see a very different take on transportation when Councilor Hoy is sworn in as Mayor.

Cycles of optimism, in the lull after the First Boom
April 2nd, 1902

If we are going to change our transportation system permanently, as our climate emergency calls for us to do, and escape the boom-bust cycles we have had now for over a century, building support at higher levels of government will be critical.