(PDX Mayor) Potter pedals with Critical Mass to test his political mettle

[HuckleB]

Potter pedals with Critical Mass to test his political mettle

Keeping a campaign pledge, Mayor Tom Potter joins the pack for a controversial whirl

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/110700375620660.xml

"Tom Potter's Friday? Well, there were the suit-and-tie meetings about the Portland mayor's upcoming trip to Japan and his recent takeover of the city's bureaus. There was a quick visit to a new Toyota import plant.

Oh, and at nightfall, he took a spin with the city's two-wheeled pirates.

At least that's how many cops and motorists see the bicyclists who participate in the monthly Critical Mass protest ride through downtown. Pedaling punks. Gear-shifting anarchists. A bunch of hoodlums with no respect for traffic laws or rush-hour motorists trying to get home after work.

But Friday night, Potter -- a man who won by 23 percentage points without taking a donation over $100 -- once again showed that he takes his mandate as the city's new mayor seriously. He pedaled his Recumbent, a bike resembling a lawn chair on wheels, through a steady rain with about 250 Critical Mass demonstrators.

.."

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I may not always agree with Potter, but I'm happy to say I donated to his campaign and voted for him. This only increases my respect for my city's mayor.

[drummer55]

1. I Love my super liberal town!!!!!

[HuckleB]

4. Durned leebruhl lubber!

:hi:

Enjoyed a sweet ride up and down and around and up and down and up and down and up and down Mt. Tabor this afternoon, myself.

[drpdx]

2. i agree, huckleB!

He said he would do it and he did. I'm pretty impressed.

[HuckleB]

3. Greetings.

Does your DU name mean you are a physician here in town?

:hi:

[Rainscents]

5. I loved the above story!!!

I wish we had more backbone democrats politician like this mayor.

[Krupskaya]

6. Someone, please...

...educate me on what Critical Mass' point is.

[billyoc]

7. http://www.critical-mass.org n/t

[HuckleB]

9. Check out the book: "Critical Mass : Bicycling's Defiant Celebration"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1902593596/ref=pd_sim_b_2/103-8153579-9405436?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

Also, online, go to: http://www.scorcher.org/cmhistory/ for a few essays on Critical Mass and its history.

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Another quirky Portland mayor!

:7

I'm happily settled in Minneapolis (despite the wretched transit "system"), but it would spice things up to have a Tom Potter or Bud Clark running the city.

[jpgray]

10. We have our own weird cyclist gangs here

:D

[HuckleB]

11. Well, Mayor Tom was smart enough not to ride with the Zoo Bombers.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/05/287698.shtml