Snyder Bike Hang: September 12

Rocking the Rawland in Ferry County

Buddy Jon is running for re-election for District 2 City Council. He's up against an old-school conservative guy with good name recognition. Given the balance of power across the Mayor's office and the Council, this year's race is particularly important -- it's critical that Jon holds his seat and the Council can have a 4-person progressive vote.

So, to this end, Liza, Maddie, and I are hosting a house party/bike hang at our house on Sept 12.

The goal is to raise some money for Jon and give folks an opportunity to meet and talk to Jon. If you are a bikey person in Spokane, I encourage you to come by and have a listen. If you like what you hear, consider donating a few bucks to Jon's campaign.

No one (except the deep pockets that own this racket) like the $ part of campaigning. In fact, it seems that reasonable, decent people are generally disgusted by the whole thing. If you're one of those, I'm with you, but until that system changes, it's the system we must operate under.

Racing the Twilight Criterium

In any case, Jon is the kind of politician we want in Spokane: he's smart, progressive, an excellent listener, and a super hard worker. This is all true. I shared an office with Jon for over three years and I got to know Jon as well as I know anyone. He's quick to consider alternative opinions and always down for an adventure.

We've been on a number of rides together. One of my favorite day rides ever was with Jon and Patrick in the Colville Nat'l Forest. Jon is a daily (yes, even in the winter) bike commuter. You can read more about his daily riding and his commuter bike here (pdf). I tell you this because many politicians give lip service to "being green" or "alternative transportation," but Jon lives it daily. When he argues for transportation alternatives, he does so with deep policy knowledge, but also from a perspective of first-hand experience of what it means to be a cyclist, pedestrian, and transit rider.

Posing with daily driver: Kogswell 

While the alternative transportation stuff means a lot to me -- and I believe cities that include policy and infrastructure for "active transportation" are just better cities to be in -- Jon is not a one-trick pony. You can see some of the stuff Jon's done in his last 3.5 years on the council here and here.


Bike Hang Deets

• When: Sept 12, 6:30 PM.
• Where: Our house. If you don't know where that is, send me an email. john at phred dot org.
• Food: we'll have our standard "feed a big crowd" pile of pinto beans, pork, salsa, chips.
• Beer: River City Brewing Girlfriend Golden Ale.
• Glen, from Elephant Bikes, and Matt, from Matthew Larson Wheelbuilding, will be here with some examples of their work. These can be hard guys to pin down outside of their shop or at races -- so if you're never in either of those places AND you want to chat with these guys, come by and interrogate them.
• RSVP: that would be ideal, but don't let a lack of protocol stop you from dropping in. 

Trail-riding on the Kogswell. With a broken spoke.