While a big part of the National Bike Summit is about sharing information and learning from fellow bike advocates, the most important part is meeting with our Congressional delegation. In fact, we set aside an entire day to meet with the offices of all seven Oregon delegates.
One of the things you learn quickly at the Summit is that it’s good to be from Oregon. Every congressional delegate from Oregon is a member of the National Bike Caucus (we’re one of only two states to boast that), and our meetings range from pleasant to downright celebratory. When we talked to some of our other colleagues who were met with hostility, incomprehension, or even had no one show up at meetings, we remembered to be grateful that Oregon’s elected leaders generally understand that bicycling is good for their constituents and the communities they represent.
What did we want from our electeds? Among other things, the main two ‘asks’ were:
1) Co-sponsor Rep. Blumenauer’s Bicycle Commuter Act, to allow employers to offer the same tax-free benefits to employees that they can currently offer for vanpooling, transit passes, and parking vouchers.
2) Support the Conserve by Bike Amendment, to allow 10 pilot projects across the country designed to conserve energy resources by providing education and marketing tools to convert car trips to bike trips.
I’m pleased to say that we had great response. Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio are sponsors of both these bills, and Congresswoman Darlene Hooley signed on to co-sponsor the Bike Commuter Act within 90 minutes of our meeting with her office!
Oregon’s Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden both promised they would consider sponsoring a Senate version of the Bicycle Commuter Act (I’ll be following up with them to see that they make good on that promise).
Other highlights included the enthusiastic response we got to our proposal of a joint PSU/OSU/UofO Bike/Ped Institute; good response from all parties to our request that the Sellwood Bridge process be prioritized; and catching Congressman Wu in the halls and seeing his excitement about the Willamette Shoreline trail concept.
Of course, meeting once a year is important, but it’s not enough. Now we have to be diligent and persistent, and that’s where you come in. Please contact your Oregon legislator and thank them for their support for bicycling and ask them to continue to champion healthy, livable, bike-friendly communities.
(Thanks to Jonathan Maus of Bikeportland.org for the great photos!)
