Bicycle Business League Portland Bike Master Plan Letter of Support

Hello Portland Business,

This is Ryan Guy of Portland Pedalworks. I am writing today on behalf of the Bicycle Business League. We are an association of businesses that include bicycles in their business model in one fashion or another. We are organizing as a business association to network, share resources, and advocate for our bicycle businesses.

The City of Portland has recently put forth the Bicycle Master Plan for 2030. This plan will continue Portland's leadership in active transportation. The Bicycle Business League thinks that this Bicycle Plan will be good for all Portland businesses by increasing customer access to retail, decreasing freight congestion, and building 20-minute neighborhoods while marketing Portland as the premier capital for bicycling in the United States. We have drafted a letter of support for Portland businesses to sign that I have included below. Please feel free to reply with your response. I welcome your feedback regarding this letter and our Business Association.

We would be delighted to have your endorsement for this letter of support regarding the City of Portland's Bicycle Master Plan for 2030.
Thank you for your time,
Ryan Guy
Portland Pedalworks
portlandpedals@gmail.com

Mayor Sam Adams
1221 4th Avenue SW Suite 340
Portland, OR 97204

November 7, 2009

Subject: Bicycle Master Plan for 2030

Dear Mayor Adams,

We, the undersigned Portland businesses, are writing you to support the adoption and implementation of the Portland Bicycle Master Plan for 2030.

We care about the reliable delivery of goods and services, affordable mobility for products and people, and healthy and productive employees.

Portland has achieved a nationally and internationally recognized "brand" as a livable, bike-friendly city. But in order to keep and hone that competitive edge (while cities like New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver aggressively expand their bicycle networks) we need to innovate and invest in our active transportation assets.

Fortunately, shifting our spending to areas in which we get great returns of investment - like moving people cheaply by bicycle - is a smart strategy in tough economic times. Even the small investments the City of Portland has made in biking facilities in the last decade have already paid off enormously.

Biking and walking are healthy and affordable transportation options for our employees and customers, and will be integral to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and fighting global climate change.

The Portland Bicycle Master Plan for 2030 offers a path to achieving these goals. We support the Plan, and we support its expedient implementation.

Sincerely,

Many Portland Businesses

Tricycles of Chile

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Portland Pedicabs is traveling all over Chile! We have been examining cargo trikes of South America.

Cargo tricycles are used all over the country. We have only seen one style of tricycle here. The typical Chileno Tricycle is based off the Mexican and Phillipino Trike design of a front load with the articulation of the steering behind the load. This is a simple style that allow for the load to be positioned very low. Unfortunately, this style can be hard to steer versus the Vietnamese and Thai front steer that swivel underneath the load.

According to a recycling tricycle driver that we spoke with in Santiago, the municipal government will sell cargo trikes on payment plans to entrepreneurs who wish to collect and sort recycling from everyone's curbside trash cans.

Mostly, the trikes are used for small delivery in the cities and towns. Natural Gas and propane canisters are delivered to houses by "Gas" Trikes, many of these are recently being replaced by small trucks.

There are many ice cream/"Helado Tricyclos" in the beach town of Puerto Montt and near the many plazas of Santiago. Tricycles are also used as small retail shops set up on busy corners throughout cities in Chile.