After the City of Eugene’s letter in opposition to the “Idaho Stop Bill” appeared last week the local cycling community has been active in their response to the “out of left field” obstruction on this bill. During the first hearing in Salem the letter in opposition surprised not only the local biking community but also the statewide advocacy organization, the BTA (Bicycle Transportation Alliance). There has been a lot of discussion over the past several days over how this happened. Why didn’t the BTA communicate with the local cycling community about this bill in preparation for the Salem hearing, especially if they knew cities were going to be giving statements regarding the bill? Why wasn’t the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee not used by City staff in their advisory roll? How could GEARS have been more on top of the legislation that was coming up? Why did the City oppose it?
A lot of questions were asked but one of the most important ones was, how can we change this opposition?
Today we got our answer. After several calls to the Mayor and City Council members, including the three who make up the IGR (Inter-Governmental Relations) committee (Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, and George Poling) the IGR has decided to change their position from opposition to neutral. In reference to the IGRs change in position Mayor Kitty Piercy said she thought it was “a good move.” It’s not a 180 degree turn in support but it certainly means that we as a bike community were heard!
There is still a good amount of work to be done to educate the community, our leaders, City staff, and from the BTA’s perspective the state legislature on this bill, but having Eugene change from opposition to neutral is no small step in helping the process I’m sure. There are many points of discussion to have regarding this bill; why isn’t this already the law, should it be the law, is it too confusing, will it hurt our children, is the timing right, etc? But I think the main point of what has been happening over the last week is that we missed out on that conversation and now I think we have that chance. Now is the time to read up on the legislation if you haven’t already:
You can find the pdf of the complete text here
Check out bikeportland.org for other coverage of the Idaho Stop Law
Read the Ray Thomas article on the bill
See the BTA’s FAQ regarding the bill.
To engage other GEARs members in discussion sign up to the Google discussion group (from the GEARs homepage).
If you’d like to thank the IGR for their change of position or if you’d like them to go even further to support the bill then write your council member or come to the City Council Meeting on April 13th. You are the cable that helps to move the gears, get connected and join in the change.