Here's a quick summary of this last meeting (Tues, June 26th). There
was another meeting the week before but due to scheduling problems the
police representatives couldn't make it. Several CM
representatives and Roland from Sam Adams' office apparently had a
productive discussion.

On Tuesday:

The June ride: 225+ riders, 15 bicycle officers, 2 motorcycle officers
for the unpermitted (first) part; more motorcycles for the permitted
part where they corked. The ride went well, sober mood, if any problem
it was that riders were TOO law-abiding and the ride got strung out to
a very long chain at the Hawthorne Bridge. The police even decided to
cork without a permit at Grand and Hawthorne to get the ride back
together.

I announced J's and my plan for a zone-style mass and the general
consensus was "why bother policing that?" But I think there is still a
police presence (18 bicycles and two motorcycles) planned in case it
doesn't go off as hoped and it turns into a regular parade-style ride.
This outcome was agreed upon to be quite likely.

I asked if the police would enforce if people ride outside the bike
lane on the dangerous stretch of Broadway, and they said that no, they
don't plan to enforce mandatory lane use on that stretch of CM. One
police rep opined that lanes should always be optional in fareless
square (though this is not currently the law).

There was some discussion about political strategies re/bike lane laws.

Mark announced that bikes with wheels under 20 inches are exempt from
lighting laws. The police reps expressed an interest in giving away
free lights (they have existing helmet giveaway programs). Nobody
could think of a reason why someone wouldn't use lights if they were
given them.

There was an extensive discussion of "sharrows," those arrows that
indicate to share the road with bicycles, which was actually really
interesting.

Someone referred to the MAX as "The Silent Death."

Last but not least, one part of the recent public records request is
apparently coming through in the next few days--all CM records since
2002, which is when Critical Mass was designated to the Traffic
Division who apparently keeps all its records for the ride compiled in
one place.

Hope this had something for everyone! See you all out there tomorrow,
neckties and bells on.

---Posted by Elly to pdxcriticalmass@lists.riseup.net--------