Portland Bike Social Hour to Host District 3 Candidates on October 28
Meet District 3 candidates at Rainbow Road Plaza, review BikeLoud’s transportation questionnaire and join its weekly gathering for riders.
Portland’s cycling community can put transportation questions directly to District 3 City Council candidates at Bike Social Hour on Wednesday, October 28. BikeLoud PDX will host the gathering at Rainbow Road Plaza, on SE Ankeny between 27th and 28th, from 4 to 7 p.m. A question-and-answer session with candidates is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The format leaves time for informal conversation before and after the microphone session. Attendees can drop in at any point during the three-hour event, meet other people who bike, and raise questions about the city’s transportation choices and specific local projects. For readers weighing how cycling fits into Portland’s future, the evening offers a chance to hear candidates address those issues in person.
Questionnaire offers another way to compare views
BikeLoud has also asked City Council candidates to respond to a questionnaire covering the city’s transportation approach, local projects, progress on safety and the share of trips made by bike, as well as candidates’ own transportation habits. Responses are available in a spreadsheet with separate tabs for the two districts. Readers can use it to look across answers and see which topics candidates have addressed.
A separate comparison tool built by BikeBus PDX volunteer RJ Shepherd lets users create personal rankings based on their interpretation of the responses. Those rankings stay private, according to BikeLoud. The questionnaire and the in-person event serve different purposes: written answers make it easier to compare stated positions, while a live discussion gives attendees a chance to hear how candidates respond to questions directly.
BikeLoud says its role is to ask about cycling issues and share the resulting information with members and the broader cycling community. The group does not endorse candidates. Its stated aim for these events is both to inform people who bike and to show candidates that those residents are engaged in the city’s future.
District 4 gathering brought candidates downtown
The October 28 event follows a District 4 session held October 14 at Migration Brewing’s Pacwest Patio, the first Bike Social Hour held downtown. Eli Arnold, Jamey Evenstar, Josh Leake and John McDonald took part in that event’s question-and-answer session. Mitch Green and Jeremy Beausoleil Smith also attended and spoke briefly, then left before the session to attend another event.
Together, the two gatherings give BikeLoud a way to bring cycling questions into conversations with candidates across districts. For people who want to make the most of the October 28 session, the questionnaire can help identify topics to follow up on, while the live discussion offers room to ask about the issues that matter most to them.
Weekly gatherings continue at a winter location
After the District 3 event, Bike Social Hour moves to its winter location: Migration Brewing at 3947 N Williams. The first Wednesday there, November 4, will include a community project with Families for Safe Streets. Attendees will be invited to cut out colored flags for a pop-up memorial display, with one flag for each person killed by traffic violence in Portland since 2016. BikeLoud says the total is well over 500. The display is planned for World Day of Remembrance on Sunday, November 15.
Bike Social Hour takes place every Wednesday, and all ages are welcome. The first Wednesday of each month is Family Night, with extra activities for children and more families expected. BikeLoud also invites community members and organizations to suggest a theme or guest, or to arrange a joint gathering.
The October 28 session is one stop in a continuing weekly program: first a chance to hear District 3 candidates discuss transportation, then a shift to winter meetups and shared community projects. Readers can find details about Bike Social Hour and use the event to bring specific questions about cycling, local projects and street safety into the conversation.
This guest article was submitted by Claire Vlach, an urban designer and transportation advocate who serves as Operations Manager for BikeLoud PDX.
