Crunch time
You have to poke around to see it, but my former Congressman, Earl "the Pearl" Blumenauer, reportedly ran a red light and collided with another car out at 102nd and Weidler, near Gateway, last Memorial Day weekend. The other driver, Ricky Krecklow, wound up in the hospital. Krecklow sued Blumenauer, and the case has reportedly settled.
Blumenauer, of course, made a career out of being a loud, avowed car hater who wore a big bicycle pin on his lapel every day in Congress. I remember back in 2008, when a reader of this blog busted him for driving an SUV. Now Hizzoner is back in Portland full-time, cruising around in one of what the bike children call “death machines.” Maybe in his case it's a fit description. At 77 years old, it could be time for grouchy old Earl to give up driving and take an Uber.
Bikes in Portland are a religion. Complete with martyrs and saints and its own Bible, along with excluusive lanes to reach nirvana. It even has its own Vatican, known locally as PBOT, which doesn't have to pass the plate but has its hand in just about every local pocket.
ReplyDeleteNo he should ride a bike everywhere and if he needs to haul something, get one of those bike cargo trailers. He'll find out how bike friendly it is for older folks to embrace that as their only means of transport. And with all the money he's "made" in congress he can afford one of those really expensive electric bikes- so I don't want to be super cruel to an old man and make him pedal with his own feeble feet...
ReplyDeleteI think Earl’s promotion of bikes had more to do with votes than political ideology.
ReplyDeleteHis district will never be a challenge for anyone other than another Dim.
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