Kudos for Vancouver Cycle Chic (and Critique for Portland)

Chris Bruntlett woke up in a happy (if hungover) mood today: #CycleChicFilms had won best documentary/non-fiction at @VanWebFest.

Congrats to Chris and the CycleChic team for portraying real-life cycling in the city.   You can check out the videos and photos Chris has assembled on his blog here.  Or see all the videos in one place here – including this one that received an honorable mention at the recent “Filmed by Bike” festival in Portland:

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http://vimeo.com/68082943

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Coincidentally, Chris just sent in item on Portland based on his experience there:

I had the honour of taking the Cycle Chic Films to the Filmed by Bike Festival in Portland over the Easter weekend. I also had an opportunity to spend some time cycling their plentiful bikeways, chatting with local advocates, and photographing their many stylish cyclists.

While there’s no doubt that Portland has led North America in terms of building bike-friendly infrastructure, policy, and culture, I couldn’t help but leave there with an overwhelming sense of inertia and stagnation. The phrase “resting on our laurels” was a theme repeated to me all weekend long.

And so, I put together the following photo essay for Spacing Magazine: 1,600 words and 36 photographs that attempt to capture the state of utility cycling in Portlandia in 2014, both for better and for worse …

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Excerpts:

“Triumph and Tragedy in “America’s Bicycle Capital”

In the summer of 2012, Portland was so confident of its place in the world, that it declared itself America’s Bicycle Capital, boldly painting the phrase in 10-foot high letters on the side of a building downtown.

However, on my most recent trip to this cycling Mecca, I was told this bravado has had two adverse side affects. Firstly, it put a target on the city’s back, motivating more ambitious cities to work even harder. Secondly, it brought with it a sense of complacency; the dangerous notion that Portland had somehow reached a peak, and no more difficult decisions needed to be made. …

I learned that within days of my departure, the Portland Bureau of Transportation had cancelled a proposed buffered bike lane project in a prominent central eastside neighborhood. Apparently, the uproar over the potential removal of a few dozen free on-street parking spaces was enough to cause the city to back down, and give priority on the street back to the private automobile.

People I knew from outside the city reacted in outrage and disbelief; unable to comprehend how such a decision could be made in the progressive Portlandia they thought they knew. But the Portlanders I spoke to were unsurprised by the city’s capitulation: they saw it as just another indication that – having picked all the low-hanging fruit – they were again unwilling to take things to the next level, and aim for the double-digit mode shares seen in Asia and Europe.

Sadly, Portland is indeed at risk of being overtaken by the many places they’ve inspired. …. I hope for Portland’s sake – and for my own selfish interest – they overcome this period of inertia. That one day I’ll return on the Amtrak, undock an Alta shared bicycle, and cycle a complete network of safe, protected, separated cycle tracks, with my kids in tow. Hopefully, that’s sooner rather than later.

Full article here.