I didn't say that I was against including the question, I said I was ambivalent about it. I usually like to get more information, but since you only have a limited number of questions on a survey, I didn't know that it was a priority question.

I did tell you that I was opposed to the actual policy, because it was bad public policy - when we are trying to cut oil usage by 1/2 over the next 25 years, when we are trying to squeeze the most value we can from our transportation system as it currently exists, when we are trying to actually raise an amount of revenue that would make a dent in the maintenance backlog - a bike tax doesn't make any sense!

When I talked with you at the townhall, I told you that as Sam's policy director and adviser that I would not recommend the policy of a bicycle tax. It's bad public policy. And we've gone over why many times before (see prior paragraph).

I didn't (and don't) have a strong feeling about including a bicylcle tax in the polling questions - one way or the other. And I will tell you why - if it is a policy that I do not believe we should or will implement, why devote the valuable space and time of that question at the expense of another one?

A pollster could ask, "If George Bush announced that he is bringing all the troops home from Iraq tomorrow, would you be more or less supportive of his administration?" But it would be a waste of money, because it is a fantasy-land question.

And a bike tax THAT WILL NOT GENERATE SUBSTANTIAL REVENUE is similarly silly.

That said, I do like to err on the side of too much information and do want to gauge as acurrately as possible the current sentiment of Portland voters. So we did include it as a question in the survey (which you can read above) because A) Sam told you he would, and B) we wanted to gauge the overall support for and animosity against bicycles that existed in the city.

Terry, you might not like the policy advice I give Sam (in fact, I am sure of it), but it is my job. God knows that it would be impossible to find someone who "accurately reflected" the typical Portlander on every issue. But I do think I do a good job. And I pushed to keep that question in there.

You should know that I insisted that the question be included in the survey despite some considerable staff sentiment to the contrary- because Sam told you he would include it.

Take a look at all the FULL results above. It is posted as an attachment.