Just a few days ago, Matt Davis asked: Will bicyclists step up or hang back on proposed “bike beats?”

So far, it’s an overwhelming step up. Yesterday, Bikeportland’s Jonathan Maus asked Portland if they’d be willing to join his bike patrol.

Over thirty people have already agreed to help patrol Portland’s neighborhoods - as Maus says, by “getting out in the streets, talking, helping each other out, offering information, playing, biking, whatever.”

While there were a few dissenters - one commented, “I would cringe seeing a group of well-minded riders tooling en masse down the avenue in front of my house, snooping for this and/or that” - most had positive responses.

Overall, people seem to see the patrol as Maus envisions it - as a means of joining neighbors together rather than as a policing force. Another comment to his site captures this sentiment exactly: “Would I join in? Probably. Would it have an ASTOUNDING impact on crime? Probably not. The benefit I see is that hopefully, a group of folks who may or may not have done something together would, and a little community building occurs. Since most folks ride their first bikes as kids an soon forget the habit, I would hope that it would be an avenue to encourage folks to drag that old Huffy out.” ERIN LACOUR