[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7285]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   PORTLAND, OREGON PROMOTES CYCLING

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Following up on my good friend, I'm glad he mentioned 
bicycles, because there are some people in America that are doing 
something to provide more choices to Americans, to burn calories 
instead of fossil fuels. I am pleased that my community, Portland, 
Oregon, was just designated a ``platinum level bicycle-friendly city,'' 
the highest rating granted by the League of American Bicyclists.
  Portland celebrates three decades of consistently applying policies 
that promote cycling, and the third consecutive year of double digit 
growth in bicycle ridership. This makes a big difference for real life 
people. It's why Portlanders are nine times more likely to ride a 
bicycle that the average American, and part of the rich choice menu for 
Portlanders with cars and transit and bicycles that ends up having them 
drive 20 percent less than the average American family. That translates 
into a savings of $2,500 a year per family that they can spend on 
education, on housing, on entertainment, on investing back into the 
community.
  I would suggest that it's time to celebrate choices, and I'm proud 
that Portland, Oregon, has decided to give cyclists the choices they 
deserve and is being honored for that effort.

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