This month on the KBOO Bike Show we are looking back in time, broadcasting a national show that covered a topic of local interest.
Do you remember when Critical Mass was big in Portland? When instead of frothing over "bike lanes vs potholes" the newspapers, radio and TV stations obsessed over the Friday-evening ritual?
In many cities, including Portland, Citical Mass no longer takes place, perhaps because bicycling has become more mainstream, and real improvements to cities have made bicycling more normal, comfortable and safe. Has it been replaced by the World Naked Bike Ride? By Sunday Parkways? But in other cities, such as San Francisco, Citical Mass lives on, despite prioritization of bicycling improvements by city governments.
In this episode of Action Speaks host Marc Levitt interviews Zach Furness, the author of "One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility" and a professor at Pennsylvania State University, about the evolution of Critical Mass and its place in the larger story of community action and activism since 1992.
- KBOO