Last week Steven and I attended Active Transportation Alliance's 25th anniversary celebration (read our write-up here) where we heard legendary transportation guru Mia Birk deliver an stirring speech to crowd of city officials, transportation planners and advocates. Birk helped turn Portland, Oregon, into a cycling Mecca when she served as bike coordinator there in the 1990s. She gave a warning about the media backlash that is likely to result as Chicago implements Mayor Emanuel’s plan for 100 miles of protected bike lanes, and some words of advice about how to deal with this criticism. Read the text of her advice here.

Birk’s speech inspired us. Last night at a party at the Chrome messenger bag store in Wicker Park, Steven and I talked about what Grid Chicago’s role should if this backlash materializes. We have somewhat different views on the importance of community input for the bike lane locations. Steven thinks it’s a mistake for the city to install the first 25 miles without input, while I feel this is justified by the need to get the first batch of lanes in fast. But we’re both excited about the potential of this project to transform the city into a safer, more enjoyable place to bike, walk, use transit and, yes, drive.

 We agreed that in the future part of Grid Chicago’s job will be to help beat back media backlash when necessary. We will use well-documented facts to challenge inaccurate info in articles that are unfairly critical of the protected bike lane project.

Keep moving forward,

John Greenfield