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I wouldn't normally want to return to Portland so soon after I last visited, but I'm increasingly beatin the drum of just a quick, overnight trip there for Shobhit's and my anniversary next month (or really, two weekends from now). I want to go
somewhere, and it feels like the quickest, easiest getaway we could do. Even though I
also wouldn't normally want to repeat the same place for our anniversary getaway as we went
only two years ago . . .
. . . But! I learned only yesterday that the Portland Aerial Tram, which I first learned about shortly before the pandemic and then became truly eager to visit the next opportunity I had, actually
finally reopened to the public—in
late June of last year!
Until then, and since the pandemic, however, only patients or staff or students at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) could ride the Aerial Tram. This meant it was inaccessible to Shobhit and me when we took our anniversary trip to Portland in 2021; and it was still inaccessible to me when I took a day trip there on the train for my Birth Week
last year.
If we were to go again this year, it would make three years in a row that I've gone to Portland, and twice in three years that we've gone for our anniversary, both of which I would normally try to avoid, goingf so frequently. But I'm just so excited that the Portland Aerial Tram is finally open to the public again! (And has been for nearly a year; I missed its reopening last year by two months.)
I mentioned the tram to Shobhit yesterday, and noted that, although he has a campaign commitment on Saturday, June 10, we could easily go down on Sunday the 11th and return Monday the 12th (our actual anniversary is the 14th, but we have taken trips offset from the specific date in the past, if we needed to focus on the nearest weekend). I have PTO to burn, and Shobhit works really hard on his campaigning and can certainly take a break for a couple of days.
None of this is a done deal by any stretch. His response yesterday was, "I'll think about it." I'm actually thinking that if the anniversary trip idea falls through—and I hope it doesn't—then I might see if Danielle wants to go there with me. She and I took a trip there once before as well, in fact in 2013, exactly ten years ago.
That said, I just want to do something at least moderately special for Shobhit's and my anniversary this year, because it's the 10th anniversary of our actual wedding. You could argue next year would make more sense to make a big deal out of because then we'll have been
together for twenty years, but I think we should do something special for both, honestly. I just really don't want to do nothing at all, and this Portland idea seems like the easiest and most practical sdolution.
And I want to fucking ride that tram! I've been waiting literally for years!
It's about more than just the tram of course.
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— पांच हजार चार सौ दस —
Speaking of Shobhit's campaigning, I accompanied him with another one of those events last night, this one a clever twist on the usual forums where candidates just give the same answers they provide at all the forums: it was a guided walk through Capitol Hill, hosted by volunteers from
Central Seattle Greenways, which focuses on public safety for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users. Totally up my alley, much more so than would be for Shobhit were it not for hin running for City Council, so this was one event I actually wanted to be a part of for my own sake more than just as a companion to Shobhit.
It was really immuminating, and elicited a lot of discussion, so much so that the whole thing ran over time by quite a lot.
Interestingly, although Central Seattle Greenways is one of the organizing bodies putting on the actual "Seattle City Council Candidates Mobility Forum" on Saturday June 10—the event that weekend referenced above—and I'm certain all the candidates will show up to
that, Shobhit was one of only three who showed up for this guided walk. The other two were
Efrain and
Alex, neither a surprise as they are both cyclists.
In fact, when Shobhit and I were driving back from University Village with my new Macbook Pro on Sunday evening, we passed by Efrain going up a cross street as we drove north on 23rd, and he was pushing his bicycle beside him. He probably would have ridden his bike to where we met for this, which was in front of Seattle Academy (an independent high school Karen and Dave's daughter Anita attended, incidentally) at the three-way intersection of 12th, Union and Madison, except that he noted he lived in the building literally across the street from where we were standing—he pointed to his bicycle on a balcony on the top floor. Alex lives on First Hill and she actually did ride her bike to meet us all, and had it with her the whole time. Shobhit and I had walked the five blocks there from our place at 15th and Pine.
In other words, the three District 3 City Council candidates who did make it had very little excuse not to, as we all live incredibly close by. Some of the others might too, I don't know; I just know that Joy Hollingsworth, the current and longtime frontrunner, lives in the Central District. Others may have had other commitments, I don't know; I'll be very surprised if any of them are missing from the forum on the 10th.
In any case, this was the second time Central Seattle Greenways has led a walk with candidates like this, we were told—the first having been done in 2019. Brie, who kind of led the walk even though all the other volunteers (maybe four others, including one guy who lives in Shobhit's and my building) took a turn speaking at certain intersections we walked to, noted that they do this precisely because the forums tend to feature candidates just giving the same answers they provide at all forums, and this broadens the conversation and dialogue. I noted to her myself that this was a clever tactic, as it breaks the candidates out of that cycle and thus provides a better picture of a candidate's thought processes, and even personality.
Overall, we walked
1.2 miles from that meeting point to the fifth and final stop on Pike and Melrose, with a different volunteer highlighting a different concern about pedestrian and cyclist safety, using the built environment around us as examples, of both good and bad city design.
At that last stop, Shobhit went the shameless route—and I don't really blame or judge him for this—to launch into his campaign spiel. This led to further discussion with everyone standing in a circle for quite a while, until the group finally broke up, but Brie and another guy named David (they are co-chairs) walked with Shobhit and me up Pike on our way back home, and wound up stopping at the intersection of 14th and Pike and talking quite a while more, before we finally broke at nearly 9:00. The meeting was scheduled from 6:00 to 7:30 and the tour itself probably lasted until at least 8:00, so this took up the entire evening.
For Shobhit and me, starting from home and ending at home, the entire loop covered
2.3 miles—a good walk, if rather slow over about three hours, or at least two and a half.
Shobhit had good engagement with them, although a lot of the stuff he had to say was pretty frank about all the conflicting constituent concerns and City Council member will always be having to deal with. Meeting with group at all, made me think of the ways Shobhit is getting kind of overwhelmed as basically a campaign staff of one. Seattle may indeed by tiny compared to his birth city of Delhi (the metropolitan population is literally 8.25 times the size of ours; I wouldn't know how to break down what element of Delhi could compare to Seattle proper), but with an experience like this, Seattle clearly is big enough to have wildly varying points of view—even among the "progressives" that make up our clear majority! Central Seattle Greenways is just one advocacy group among countless in the city itself, all vying for prioritization by the City Council. This is how and why all these forums happen.
The bigger challenge, really, is that this group's concerns are all clearly valid. Most of the concerns of most of the other groups are too. How do you prioritize them all? and how do you make any kinds of promises with enough weight to enough of them to get a majority of voters in your district to vote for you?
India is a democracy too, but I have no idea how processes like this compare there. The U.S. has a pretty complex way of approaching it, which can favor local influence, especially the more people are involved. I'm discovering a lot more people do get involved on a local level than I might have assumed. Although even the aggregate count of people in all of these groups probably still amount to a single-digit percentage of the city's population.
In any case, the experience last night was both illuminating and put certain challenges in sharp relief. It was absolutely worth attending though, even though I was neither a candidate nor a volunteer, and I was really glad I went.
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[posted 12:38 pm]
