(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Former Portland Mayor Vera Katz has died at age 84. She was a three-term mayor who led our city from 1993 to 2005.
As reported by The Willamette Week, she was Portland’s “last successful mayor.”
I moved to Portland in 2004 and didn’t get involved much in local politics until 2005, so I just missed her tenure. But I know based on what she left behind that she was a very consequential person. And I know exactly what the Willamette Week means based on the one-term mayors we’ve had since. (And she was also our last non-male mayor, so maybe there’s a lesson there?)
When I heard the news this morning, the first thing I thought of was the Esplanade; I mean the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. From its floating path on the Willamette to its grandiose ramps up to Peace Park, the Esplanade still stands out in Portland because its uncompromising quality and vision puts bicycling and walking at the top of the pedestal. Katz wasn’t a transportation expert, but she knew right from wrong. As shared by Portland State University Library today, even as a political newbie in 1972 she new that better public transit and “an end to freeways built through our residential neighborhoods” were things were fighting for. And as our friend Michael Andersen shared today, as an Oregon State Representative in 1979 she knew when the legislature voted to earmark gas tax revenue solely for maintenance and expansion of highways it was, “A triumph of concrete over the needs of humanity.”
The Esplanade is an inspiring embodiment of her values.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Vera’s Esplanade is arguably the most important bicycling connection in Portland. Its construction and completion happened under her watch. And since 2006 a lifelike statue of Vera Katz on the path near the Hawthorne Bridge has sat and watched thousands of people walk and bike by. That statue has been the meeting spot for countless bike rides and events. I looked through my archives for photos and asked readers to share theirs. Here’s what we’ve found so far…
From the 2017 Adaptive Bikes are for EveryBODY ride hosted by BikeloudPDX.
(Photo via BikeloudPDX)
Photo by Will Vanlue.
Posted by Zoobomb as a promo for their Mini Bike Winter Torch Ride in 2014.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo by rabbit282 on Flickr)
“Here’s a pic of my son back in 2010 trying to figure out if Vera’s statue was alive while we biked along the Esplanade.”
(Photo by Jeff Cropp)
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Sent in by reader Maria Schur, who also shared this: “I admired Vera, especially for everything she did to create a beautiful esplanade for Portlanders. I have a standing monthly ‘ride to wine tasting’ date with a friend and we always meet ‘at Vera’.”
If you have a bike-related photo of the Vera Katz statue, please send it in and we’ll add it to this post.
Rest in peace, Mayor Katz.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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The post Remembering Vera Katz, through her statue and her Esplanade appeared first on BikePortland.org.
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