Many of this year’s City Council candidates can hold their own in wonky transportation spaces. Here’s how activists got in their ears, and what might come of it. by Taylor Griggs Despite claims about the political influence of Portland’s all-powerful “bike lobby,” transportation issues have not been a top city priority for some time. This is partially evident from the ignorant rhetoric out of the current Portland City Council, but it’s also clear just from taking a look around the city: Portland officials have long neglected transportation issues. Pedestrian deaths are the highest they’ve been in years. Bike ridership has dropped. Carbon emissions from personal vehicles are far higher than they need to be in order to combat the climate crisis before it’s too late. Meanwhile, Portland leaders are arguing over bike lanes.  But there’s reason to believe with Portland’s government transition underway, a shift could be upon us. Many of the candidates running for City Council have made transportation a key part of their platform, discussing the industry’s contribution to climate change and the traffic safety crisis.  Regardless of who gets elected to City Council, there’s reason to hope the new government structure will better lend itself to progress on issues like transportation, which have previously been tied to individual bureaus. In the past, the siloed bureau system has made commissioners possessive of their own bureaus and unwilling to go to bat for a city office they weren’t in charge of. Even commissioners who have had progressive ideas for Portland’s transportation bureau have been unable to form alliances and get the votes they need to get anything done.  While it’s unclear who will get elected to City Council, and what the future councilors will do with their positions when they arrive, people who care about transportation in Portland have a broad slate of impressive candidates to choose from.  Some of the people who’ve been boosting transportation issues the most have backgrounds in the field. But many don’t, and have taken it upon themselves—or been encouraged to do so by local advocates—to get familiar with Portland’s transportation system during their candidacy.  Aaron Kuehn, chair of the advocacy group BikeLoud PDX, tells the Mercury the organization was inspired to get more involved in city politics last fall, after Portland Bureau of Transportation Commissioner Mingus Mapps entertained removing protective infrastructure on the Southwest Broadway bike lane at the behest of local hotel owners.  “At that moment, the relationship between our objectives and having responsible leadership in City Council was very acute,” Kuehn says. “We were basically like, ‘We need a new leader.’ With this election, and the [government transition], I think the city as a whole was also saying that.”  BikeLoud, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, cannot explicitly endorse candidates. But Kuehn says nonprofits can “educate the public and the candidates,” so the group reached out to all candidates in an attempt to “lift everybody up.” “Rather than pick a winner, why don’t we make everyone a winner? Let’s educate everybody as much as we can,” Kuehn said. “Usually, when people engage with transportation politically, they’re only doing it in a surface-level way. Anything we can do to broaden their knowledge is a good thing.”  Earlier this year, BikeLoud sent seven questions to every candidate who had, by that point, filed a notice of their intent to run. The organization asked candidates if they ride a bike regularly (and if so what kind, how often, and where), what their visions for transportation in Portland are, and how they think the city should make it safer for people to walk and ride a bike amid high rates of traffic fatalities.  Kuehn says the hope was their answers would be informative not only to voters, but to the candidates themselves, potentially preparing them to be stronger advocates for transportation reform if they are elected to office.  “It’s an opportunity to do your homework,” he says. Sarah Iannarone, director of transportation nonprofit The Street Trust, tells the Mercury the organization has a similar approach to their “Candidate Transportation School.” The program is a prerequisite for candidates seeking an endorsement from The Street Trust’s political arm, and Iannarone says it’s “very transportation 101.”  “Whether you’re progressive, a moderate, or even conservative, streets don’t have to be partisan,” she says. “I feel like it’s making a difference for these people, should they be elected, to have a baseline of shared understanding with our mission and values.”  Another venue for candidates and voters to commingle and chat about transportation issues has been at a weekly bike happy hour, created by BikePortland founder and editor Jonathan Maus. Maus issued an open invitation to City Council candidates to speak at the happy hour, and says around 40 have taken him up on it.  Maus says he thinks politicians (and would-be politicians) understand that Portlanders who are into bicycling are “engaged, active volunteers and citizens.”  “Whatever people think about the reputation of the ‘bike activists’ in Portland, that’s a pretty good audience if you’re a politician,” he says.  The happy hour stump speeches have provided the candidates with some free publicity, but they’ve also allowed transportation-minded voters to make their case directly to people who may soon lead our city. Maus says he hopes the happy hour can serve as an alternative to the events frequently held by business groups to win over politicians.  “There are a lot of reasons why bicycling isn’t talked about in Portland’s halls of power as much as it used to be. Look at where politicians are spending a lot of their time,” he says. “Some of the candidates have been to bike happy hour several times, where you’re inundated with big ideas and cool information, and the activists will get in your ear. I think the BikeLoud and The Street Trust [candidate engagement], along with stuff like bike happy hour, forces candidates to confront these ideas and people. And then they fold it into their platforms, campaigns, and ways of thinking.”