First blog post and many more to come

Hello PDX!

My name is Scott Yelton, the new Events and Marketing Manager at the BTA, and my first task is to introduce myself to you all via the fabulous Internets (all of ‘em).  My second task is to let you know of all our wonderful events at the BTA, but I’ll forward those at a later date (probably also through the Internets ; )

Hmmm… where to begin?  Probably best to start with the resume boilerplate and move into the more interesting details later in the blog (for those of you who keep reading ‘til the end).

Most recently, I earned my Master’s degree at Portland State University in Leadership in Ecology, Culture, and Learning – which is an extremely long way to give a fancy name to ‘sustainability education.’  In defense of the name, however, the reason it’s so long is that the program takes an interdisciplinary, intergenerational, multicultural approach to sustainability, understanding that solutions to the world’s woes will come from a 1000 different sources.  Which is why I am extremely excited to join the BTA and help communicate sustainable transportation options to generations of Oregonians (as well as to work with good people, and better volunteers).

Prior to graduate school (and during… and continuing), I collaborated with Portland Parks & Recreation, neighborhood associations, and concerned community members to redesign the City’s central maintenance yard located on Mt. Tabor.  The land – about 10 acres – was slated to be sold to a private college in late 2006, but neighbors halted the sale.  The experience really hit home for me the power of community.  Which is another HUGE reason I am excited to be part of the BTA and our cycling community.  I’m always amazed at how the biking community shows its muscle when it needs to, and I’d like to help strengthen that.

Before my civic activism days and my academic daze, I worked at Wieden+Kennedy.  Some of the clients I worked with include Nike, Microsoft, and a host of others that vanished once the dot.com bubble burst.  The advertising agency is what brought me to Portland, actually.

Nope, I’m not a native Oregonian, but I’ve been here 11 years, now, which is way longer than the gazillion new Portlanders moving here from other parts of the country… so almost native?

In between drafts of my resume, I became the father of three beautiful children, all of who ride bicycles.  My boys, 5 and 6, actually just recently mastered two-wheels, and we’ve had a lot of fun exploring more and more of Portland by bike.

Which leads me to my biking background… Biking has always been an enjoyable option for me throughout my life, and despite some nasty spills, I always got back on.  I’ll admit, however, that car culture was persuasive, and it took moving to Portland and acclimating to the weather (hah!) to get me back into biking every day.

Actually, when I first began wrapping my head around sustainability, my choice of transportation seemed to be the one option that gave me authority over the PTB, and I’ve reveled in jumping on my bike ever since.  And along the way I’ve discovered the unique connection cyclists share.  I’m not car free yet (did I mention I have three children?), but I’m on my way.

And, finally, I’m interested in the interactive internet/Web 2.0/participatory media/whatever-the-pundits-are-calling-it-these-days.  If you’ve followed along with my hyperlinks, you can see that I like to blog.  Actually, I’m still pretty amateurish in my blogging habits (I’m learning), but I’m excited about the opportunities blogs, wikis, IM, tweets, etc. offer.  I think society is witnessing a paradigm shift in democracy thanks to new communication technology, and communities, businesses, organizations, and governments are benefiting from diverse, equitable opinions.

Another reason I’m glad to be part of this active community.