On Monday, Feb. 6, Portland State will host a public forum on Active Transportation featuring mayoral candidates Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith. The forum will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Lincoln Hall’s main auditorium. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and light refreshments will be provided.
The event, sponsored by the PSU Planning Club, will work to illuminate the candidate’s positions and concerns regarding issues of public transit, alternative transportation infrastructure, funding and equity concerns and safety issues.
The event is free and open to the public. Those who wish to attend are asked to arrive on time, as seats will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Attendees will have an opportunity to submit questions, via notecards, to the candidates. After the forum, from 8:30 to 9 p.m., there will be a short reception with the candidates where additional issues can be addressed.
The event will be emceed by Sarah Mirk, reporter for the Portland Mercury.
“We wanted to have the event at PSU because we wanted our students to have a chance to educate themselves on issues that are important to them,” said Rebecca Hamilton, an officer in the PSU Urban Planning Club.
Forms of active transportation include walking, biking, and skateboarding. Using public transportation may also be considered a form of active transportation as commuters will often walk or bike during their trips.
According to the PSU Department of Transportation and Parking Services, reports show that 40 percent of students used public transportation in 2010. The report also shows that in 2010, 17 percent of students walked and 12 percent of students cycled to school.
Statistics gathered by the City of Portland show that 6 to 8 percent of Portlanders use bicycles to commute, giving Portland a higher percentage of bicycle commuters than any other large city in the U.S.
Metro, a local government organization that oversees transit organization, stated in a 2009 report that “in the city, bicycling to work increased 146 percent between 2000 and 2006 despite accounting for only 0.7 percent of the Portland Office of Transportation’s capital budget.”
“PSU students rely heavily on active transportation,” said Hamilton.
The event is co-sponsored by the PSU Environmental Club, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Coalition for a Livable Future, Community Cycling Center, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, Ride Connection, Upstream Public Health and the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition.
“Given our student body’s clear preference for active transportation, we wanted to provide an opportunity for them to learn the mayoral candidates’ plans and priorities for the issues that will affect our daily life,” concluded Hamilton.