Portland, and Oregon, needs more Ciclovia: Follow up on Sunday Parkways Event
By:
NWHF Staff
| Posted on: June 30th, 2008
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Public Health
For a mere six hours, on Sunday, June 22, a large portion of North Portland shut itself to car traffic, and things began to blossom. People came out of their houses, and began to walk. And ride. Some danced. As the article in the Oregonian the next day said, “enthusiasm and smiles abounded, even as cyclists hit the brakes to navigate around one other.”
CHP’s own David Rebanal was quoted, saying “there’s a personal benefit, that I’m getting exercise, but there’s also a community benefit. That’s why it worked so well.”
But coverage didn’t end there. On Monday, an Oregonian editorial asked, “Festival or not, is it about time for Portland to dedicate some streets to bicyclists, walkers, joggers and in-line skaters even if just for a few hours?”. Tuesday’s editorial said much of the same.
Five days later, on Friday, June 27, Jan Underwood wrote in an Oregonian “In My Opinion” piece, “For six hours, six miles of streets in the city were closed to auto traffic for a foot- and bike-traffic festival modeled on a similar (weekly!) event in Bogota, Colombia. Its purpose was to highlight the walkability and bikeability of our city and encourage people to enjoy the streets safely and in a spirit of fun. It was also the cheerful manifesto of a movement for life without internal combustion.”
That’s right - in Bogota, they do it weekly. The “cost” of the Portland’s event, according to the city, was $150,000.
But what are the benefits of that cost?
And how can they afford to do it weekly in Bogota, and more than a one-time basis in Havana, Amsterdam, Melbourne and Guadalajara — and even New York?
A one-time event is fun, but it’s still an event. In order to have an effect on public health, these kinds of activities must be built into our public infrastructure.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Any ideas?
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The Sunday Parkways event was a big success. I was astounded by the huge turnout because I had seen very little press in the weeks leading up to it. I joined some friends on bikes and we rode the whole loop, stopping at each of the parks along the way and passing a few areas of major bicycle congestion (unlike normal traffic jams, bike jams seem to make people smile).
In February, I visited Colombia and happened to catch part of the Ciclovia event in Bogota. This event is absolutely part of the public infrastructure! There are 1.8 MILLION people participating every Sunday throughout the year. Seventy (70) miles of roads are closed to cars. Gil Peñalosa, Executive Director of Walk and Bike for Life and the driving force behind Ciclovia, says people from all walks of life come out to exercise, de-stress, and people-watch. He was in Portland for the Car-Free Portland event in June and cited several studies showing the health benefits of Ciclovia (in Bogota, Guadalajara, and other cities).
For a great video on ciclovia, check out: http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/ciclovia/