Today the Oregonian Editorial Board asked the Portland City Council to take the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 and not build it.

Healthy kids? Too 'expensive.'

In keeping with the false comparisons in the newspaper the day prior (as illuminated by BikePortland.org), the Editorial Board calls the Plan "expensive," even though its entire potential cost over 20 years is less than one year's regional transportation budget or one single light rail line. When it comes to moving people, investments in bikeways are the cheapest we can make.

(Of course, the irony is thick here: this is the same Editorial Board that trots out support for the $3 – $4 billion Columbia River Crossing highway expansion once a month because, in essence, "we have to do something.")

You know what is expensive, though? Illness: asthma, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and all of the other health nightmares that we can't manage to spend our way out of, all caused in large part by the outdated, dangerous, costly transportation system we've built over the past fifty years. Today's children are the first in modern times who will grow up to live shorter, sicker lives than their parents.

Safe crossings? Too 'expensive.'

Today, most Portlanders do not have the choice to walk or bike for short trips in their daily lives, which health advocates and doctors agree is the most effective long-term way to get exercise and improve health.

But the Oregonian Editorial Board likes it that way. For the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, they want the City to not build it.

Do you disagree? Join the BUILD IT rally today (Thursday), at 1:30 pm, at 1221 SW 4th Ave., and show City Council your support.

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