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The “Towards Carfree Cities” Conference in Portland this past week was quite a fun time for me. I didn’t attend very many workshops but I made lot of new friends, saw many old pals too, and generally was in networking nirvana (and I even sold a bunch of books too!) One I went to at the very end was about direct action, street memorials and the ghost bike movement, which was super moving and beautiful. The project brings people together across a lot of populations and cultures, especially in New York where the presenters were from. Another panel I did go to featured Thiago and Eduardo from Sao Paolo and Florianopolis Brazil. They gave a great presentation of how they’re at the early stages of growing the awareness and communities that can push the local authorities into redesigning the urban spaces to accommodate cyclists too, and to reduce the total focus on autos. It’s made more difficult by the enormous car industry in Brazil, where all the multinational manufacturers have set up shop since 30 years ago. Here’s Thiago as he confers with Eduardo on a point, and then the first slide he put up, commenting on the post-dictatorship history of Brazil:
Simultaneous to the Conference was the ongoing zaniness of Pedalpalooza , a month-long Bike Festival. (Just checking their website, I see that yesterday they had a “Kidical Mass” in downtown, where 40 parents and small children took to the streets on bike–a concept they imported from Eugene, where I found a poster for it.)
I bicycled in every day from the far northeast of Portland and took the Broadway Bridge to get to the Conference. The bridge is very bike adapted, with side paths, lovely views of the city, and a well-designed split in the bike paths at the west end to send you into one part of downtown or another:
After choosing the left turn at this spot, in a few blocks you invariably find yourself amidst a group of cyclists heading south on Broadway:
Continue reading Carfree in Portland
On Wednesday past Russell, our host Katie, and her big dog Beijou, drove up the Columbia River Gorge to visit the hometown of Michael Med-o, a place called White Salmon that I’ve been hearing about for 25 years. Finally I have some visuals to associate with his memories and stories of his youth. And for a break from Portland and the Carfree Cities Conference, it was perfect.
It’s very beautiful there, the town of Mt. Hood on the Oregon side of the river and White Salmon on the hilltop on the Washington State side. There is also the White Salmon River pouring in nearby. Michael explained how the economy had crashed a couple of decades ago when the timber industry went into terminal decline, and for five years the area had 30%+ unemployment and folks were leaving in droves. Then the windsurfing phenomenon took off and this spot became of the world’s premiere destinations for windsurfers and parasailers… Now it’s the backbone of the local economy, and it’s all thanks to the relentless wind pouring upriver, countering the river itself rushing westward, leading to a unique area of crazy currents and powerful winds nearly all year long.
Michael took us to see the local elementary school named after his dad, we went by his various job sites as a teenager, and then we went up the White Salmon river to find his old highschool stoner hangout on a bridge. When we got there, we found the path had turned into a muddy creek, and the bridge itself had been destroyed by a fire some time earlier. Here’s the ruins of it:
Continue reading In the Cascades
I am in Portland at the “Towards Carfree Cities” Conference, running from Monday to Thursday this week. I took advantage of this to also arrange the northwest leg of my Nowtopia tour, and so on Monday night I appeared at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne. My trip-mate Russell Howze is also promoting his new book, “Stencil Nation” and we were pitted against each for audience by Powell’s, both presenting on Monday night at 7:30 in stores far apart. Luckily we both drew great audiences (and sold a lot of books).
I enjoyed the appearance enormously. A good discussion followed, lots of pointed questions and interesting thoughts from the 50+ people who jammed in to hear it. Earlier in the day the Carfree Conference started out with a public event of depaving:
It was an inspiring scene, dozens of folks sweating to break up the asphalt and transform a corner from a parking lot into a garden, or at least a space in which a garden will be planted. Here’s a few shots of the energetic crowd, many hands making easier work:
Continue reading Carfree Portland
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