Portland, OR: Newly Elected Mayor Rides on Critical Mass, Police Harassment Curtailed

[randya]

On Friday evening, (Mayor) Tom Potter hopped on his bicycle and joined the activists of Critical Mass. Though more than double the age of most of the protesters, Potter chatted easily with his fellow riders. All in all, it was a surprising sight, and one not seen in the past 12-year tenure of our aloof and reclusive former mayor.

Although Critical Mass has mellowed in recent years, and friction between cyclists and police has toned down, the monthly ride is still one of the enduring symbols of the city's activist community. Over the past several years, Critical Mass has been a hot spot for police abuses, with cyclists tackled and arrested for nothing more than minor traffic violations.

Potter's predecessor tended to badmouth protesters and invariably sided with police, even when faced with blatant and videotaped incidents of abuse. To join the Critical Mass ride last Friday was, if nothing else, an important symbol that city hall is receptive to hearing all sides of the story.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/current/city.html

I was there, the cops were well behaved, and overall it was a real breath of fresh air to what had previously been an untenable stalemate between participating bicyclists and the cops.

[scarry]

What a beautiful thing.

The other paper (Oregonian) had a bad mouthed editorial, must be funded by car co.s

Best wishes for your new mayor.

[randya]

"The other paper (Oregonian) had a bad mouthed editorial, must be funded by car co's"

That would be this opinion piece, which has virtually no basis in fact. David Reinhard is a blowhard Russ Limbaugh wanna-be. If David doesn't like it, it's probably something good....

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1107435492112970.xml?oregonian?yedcdr

The Oregonian also published the following editorial and article on CM:

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1107348931257740.xml?oregonian?ede
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/110700375620660.xml?oregonian?fpfp

And yes, you are correct, the Oregonian gets the vast majority of it's advertising revenue from car and truck ads, both commercial and classified.

[Dchiefransom]

Exactly what are all these traffic laws that the riders break? Is going through stop signs the only thing? If they are following the rest of the laws, then how is that holding up traffic?

[manual_overide]

They're commuters who just want to get home to their families on a Friday evening.


Yes, no one who commutes does so by bicyle... Oh, and nice try on the sympathy play.


They're the employers and downtown business owners who don't need another reason to worry about Portland's troubled business climate.


Also, no one who rides a bike in traffic could ever be an employer or business owner


They're the bus riders forced to wait in the wet and cold because traffic is tied up.

Maybe they should ride a bike instead of just standing around getting fatter


And they're the Portland taxpayers who have to pay the overtime costs to police these affairs.

So, cyclists don't pay taxes either?? Wow! I should move to Portland and tell them, "No taxes for me, please. I'm a cyclist!"

This guy is a jerk.