City Council chambers are standing-room only this afternoon as the five commissioners discuss whether to approve the 2030 Bike Plan, which spells out 700 miles of bike lanes for the city to build over the next two decades and aims to get 25 percent of Portlanders on bikes.

Roughly 150 Portlanders turned up for the pre-meeting rally outside City Hall, waving signs that read "BUILD IT". "Some might say this plan is expensive," Bicycle Transportation Alliance advocate Michelle Poyourow told the crowd, alluding to recent international coverage of the bike plan. "There is nothing expensive about this plan. Not only can we afford to build it, we can't afford not to build it." Poyourow pointed out that our entire existing bikeway network was completed for $60 million—the cost of constructing just one mile of urban freeway. Then she handed over the microphone to a man who led the crowd in a sing-along of Devo's "Whip It" reworked as "Build It". What's a Portland protest without an audience sing-along? (Poyourow quibbles with my estimate of how many people were outside: by her count, there were about 230. So now you know.)

Mayor Adams kicked off the council hearing with an introduction about how his job as the city's transportation chief is to make sure Portland makes the most efficient use possible of its current streets and infrastructure. "The most effective way to do that is to shift people from driving alone to walking and biking. Dollar for dollar, investing in bike infrastructure makes sense," said Adams, adding that the plan would definitely not "sit on a shelf and gather dust." Instead, the council will establish a finance task force "to look under every rock" for funding. Hooray! A task force! The hallmark of Portland public process. The team will be required to report back to council in nine months with a funding strategy.

Office of Transportation Director Sue Keil followed up with a short talk about how the plan will benefit all road users, including drivers who are "scared spitless" of hitting a cyclist. Classic.

2:53 pm — Poll! Take it.

How long will the bike plan sit on the shelf without funding?

Updated coverage and more photos below the cut.

More photos from the rally and hearing:

2:40 pm
City bicycle coordinator Roger Geller just threw out some pretty serious statistics:

• Bicycling today in Portland four times safer than it was in 1996.

• Inactivity and diet are the second leading modifiable cause of death after tobacco.

• Cyclists save $1 in healthcare costs for every mile they travel by bike.

Update 3:29 pm

Jonathan Nicholas, Cycle Oregon founder and VP of healthcare company ODS, gave one of the more articulate of the citizen testimonies at the hearing. He started off saying that, honestly, he’s not very fond of cyclists. “I think of bicycles the same way I think about broccoli. It’s good for some people, but it’s never going to be popular,” Nicholas told council. But, he continued, “We live now in a profoundly sick city.” Biking brings down healthcare costs, so the council should support it, he finished.

The BTA's Poyourow (who is rumored to be quitting the BTA soon) also received applause for her testimony, which reiterated the main points she told the crowd outside at the rally. "If you compare the cost of this entire bicycle plan over 20 long years, it will cost as much as one line of light rail," said Poyourow. "We’d like you to adopt this plan, find new federal sources to fund this plan and build it." On cue, audience members waved their BUILD IT signs.

3:40 pm
Audience members have offered some criticism of the plan. Katie Larsell and Susan Dean, citizens involved in the East Portland Action Plan committee said the plan underfunds bike projects in East Portland, ignoring the needs of people east of I-205.

George Crandall of planning group Crandall Arambula says his firm believes the plan will only allow the “strong and the fearless” to ride in Portland. By striping new bike lanes and encouraging cyclists to ride on the same streets as cars, “The plan does little to attract ridership from ‘the capable but cautious.’” Estimates that the plan will lead to 25 percent ridership are far off, the plan is at best a “ten percent solution.”

3:51 pm Mayor Adam's just issued a little pep talk on funding, "One thing is certain: You don’t get more funding unless you have something to sell. Not just a piece of paper, but the results within it... Once we have something to inspire us and something to sell, we chip away at it."

Saltzman jumped in with his own funding idea, which seems interesting but off-the-cuff. IN 2008, the City Council voted to direct a slice of the utility license fees on public utilities (like PGE, Pacificorps, NW Natural) into a fund for the Portland Department of Transportation. Saltzman suggested that if more money comes in from the license fee than the city projected would come in, it be put into a bond fund to pay for the plan. That would mean everything over $4.3 million in utility revenues would go into a bike funding pot.

Adams replied, "We'll look into that."

4:07 pm Special message just passed around the council chambers on a "BUILD IT" postcard: the Build It after party is at Lotus Room on SW 3rd and Salmon. I love it. Every city council hearing needs an after party.

4:12 pm Articulate testimony from a Portland State student and self-proclaimed Timbers Army member (even wearing a Timbers scarf, of course) named Joe Wilson. "Don’t listen to people who say this plan is for a special interest. It is no more a special interest than the fire department," Wilson told the three remaining council members, Nick Fish and Randy Leonard having slipped out for other engagements. "Just because everyone in a city does not use a service, that doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from that service. My house may never catch fire, but I am happy to pay taxes to fund the fire department. In the words of all the signs in the room: build it.”

4:16 pm The hearing isn't over yet, but Mayor Adams' official remarks are already up on his website. Check it out: "Bicycle Plan Moves Portland Forward."

Also, another critic just took to the testimony stand. Doug Youngman pointedly asked the council where the money for the plan will come from. “These people need an economics 101 course to realize that this course we’re going with our government is unsustainable,” said Youngman.

4:46 pm Whew! Two and a half hours of public testimony just wrapped up...

Planning Commissioner Chris Smith gave a moving little oration about cycling helping with his own health problem: "We have an epidemic of diabetes in this country. In 2003, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I want to share with you that cycling and other types of active transportation are important for managing my diabetes. For the sake of the health of our community, please build it."

Smith was followed up by the charming William Barnes, who introduced himself saying, "I do a lot of things in the city, some of y’all know about ‘em." He continued, "I haven’t been on a bike in 30 years. It’s going to cost someone a lot of money to put me on a bike again. But the biggest single increasing cost for the city, is healthcare. Anything a city can do to bring down a healthcare cost for the city, they should."

4:50 pm The debate has gone on so long that Mayor Adams is delaying a vote on the bike plan. "I’ll take money for this plan wherever I can get it This is gonna pass folks, don't worry," he told the crowd. You couldn't write a more upbeat ending.