Aftermass

Almost four years ago Phil Sano and I began a journey to tell the story about what happened to Portland‘s Critical Mass. Within four months we made a trailer:
(Third revision from September 2011)

What does it mean that Portland, one of the best North American cities for cycling, has virtually no Critical Mass? Was it no longer relevant, did its activity not appeal to a cycling “mainstream,” or was a police crackdown just so successful? What are the new goals of cyclists? What is the new activism? How are objectives reached?

And shortly thereafter “we” became “I” as Phil moved to Seattle. The story changed too. It became clear that the narrative was more complicated than I had previously thought.

It seemed that through our experiences and the stories being told that Critical Mass had lost relevance as Portland had “arrived,” bicycle infrastructure was built, and bicycle commuting normalized. John Peterson summarized that it was “killed by a combo of aggressive “anarcho” bikers and heavy handed police tactics which made the ride too stressful and no fun. Also there are a number of more fun/interesting/less agro group rides in town now.”

Through conducting interviews, I came into possession of some historical documents and the story became increasingly complex. Why did the police response play out this way?

I opened the umbrella a little wider to look at the big picture—what was going on in Portland simultaneously in the early ’90s? What had gone on previously? How was the city government treating it? Obviously the 1971 Bicycle Bill and the lawsuit from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in 1993 played significant roles, but what else shaped the way that we bicycle today?

I spoke with Roger Geller and Mia Birk—both employed by the city to make Portland functional for cyclists. I spoke with other city employees, Critical Mass participants, politicians, former politicians, activists, police formers, bicycle commuters, former and future mayors, and lawyers. I followed the story where it led. Every step revealed three more steps and important figures of the past and present.

The documentary is character-based, meaning that it will focus primarily on 4 or 5 people and how they have interacted with bicycle commuting and activism. I want to show the complexity of the issues and the people involved: There is no good and evil—everyone is trying to manage the situation in the best way that they know how.

The end of August marks the end of production and moving on to editing. But as things move forward, the story continues to develop. No matter how timely a film is, it only ever captures a snapshot moment—a little history book.

As scenes are completed, I will share some more tidbits and excerpts here.