Equity Ride Attracts Large, Diverse Group of Bicyclists to East Portland
Equity bike ride attracts large, diverse group of bicyclists to East Portland
Aug. 26 ride highlights equity efforts by several governmental and non-profit organizations
Nearly 70 bicyclists from many different walks of life turned out for the Equity Bike Ride on
Thursday, Aug. 26 in East Portland. The ride, which was co-sponsored by the Oregon
Department of Transportation (ODOT), Audubon Society of Portland, Bicyclists of Color,
Community Cycling Center, East Portland Action Plan (EPAP), Friends of Trees, and the
Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), rolled along Portland streets and portions of the I-
205 Multi-Use Path. The ride originated and ended at the Immigrant & Refugee Community
Organization (IRCO), with stops along the way that provided riders with an opportunity to learn about equity efforts by the ride’s co-sponsors.
“Equity populations are our fellow neighbors,friends and communities who tend to live in
areas that lack the things many of us take for granted, such as sidewalks, good roads, bike
lanes, and affordable access to healthy food,” said ODOT Region 1 Public Policy and
Community Affairs Manager Shelli Romero as she addressed the crowd of bicyclists
during opening remarks. “Collectively, our work traverses the
common threads found in economic, racial,geographic and environmental equity.”
The Equity Bike Ride followed on the heels of Bikes for All – a forum sponsored by the
Community Cycling Center that addressed why access to bicycling matters, especially for
communities of color.
“Bikes for All was an open forum where about 50 people, program providers, and policymakers came together to have a conversation about ways of broadening access to bicycles and improving transportation health equity,” noted Alison Graves, Executive Director of the Community Cycling Center. “People made new connections during the highly engaging discussion.”
Meryl Redisch, Executive Director of the Audubon Society of Portland, said that the
organization recently opened a satellite office in the Lents neighborhood with the “vision and
hope of serving all East Portland residents and helping to achieve the goals of the East Portland Action Plan.” Redisch added that “East Portland has some excellent natural assets, but there still exists many neighborhoods that are park deficient.”
Before taking off from IRCO, PBOT Portland By Cycle Program Manager Timo Forsberg (who
shared leading the ride with Logan Lauvray of Friends of Trees) said that the group would get to experience many different types of bicycle facilities along the ride, including local streets with and without bike lanes, unimproved streets, and parts of the I-205 Multi-Use Path. “You will see what kind of challenges bicyclists in East Portland face, but also learn how to maneuver different types of bike facilities,” he said.
A large group of diverse bicyclists gathered at IRCO before leaving on the Equity Ride, which led cyclists through city streets and the I-205 Multi-Use Path while learning about different equity effort in the region. The first stop along the ride was on the I-205 Multi-Use Path at SE Hawthorne Street, where riders learned about improvements to the path, including a three-year greening project with Friends of Trees.
Standing next to freshly planted trees, Elizabeth Craig with ODOT, and Logan Lauvray with
Friends of Trees, spoke to the crowd about a $410,000 Metro Nature in Neighborhoods grant that is funding the addition of trees and shrubs along the entire 16.5-mile path over a three-year period. The path runs through many neighborhoods and communities – some significantly less green than others – so the project is not just about improving the environment, but also about equity.
