Bricker new head of bicycle alliance

By Jewish Review

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After a career with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance that has spanned nearly a decade, Scott Bricker has been named the cycling advocacy and education group’s new executive director.

Originally from Monroe, N.Y., where he became a bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Israel, Bricker said he moved to Portland in 1994 to work at Metro as a Transportain Planning Intern while studying for a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University. Following his graduation in 1998, he joined BTA.
   
Bricker said many people from the east coast move to Portland for quality of life issues, including its reputation as the most cycling-friendly city in the United States. A Nov. 5 New York Times article headlined “In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels,” referred to Portland as “Bike City, U.S.A.”   
   

Bricker’s appointment followed a nationwide search, during which he served as interim director. Bricker succeeds Evan Manvel who left in July.
   
“Scott has brought a tremendous amount of leadership and vision to the organization as the interim director and the board is extremely pleased to appoint him to the post on a permanent basis,” said board chair Hugh Bynum.
   
Bricker has been with the BTA since 1998, when the organization had just three full-time staff and focused their advocacy solely on Portland. Now, the BTA is a regional and nationally recognized organization with 15 full-time staffers, an additional 15 seasonal and part-time employees and 4,500 members.
   
BTA is “dedicated to creating safe, healthy and sustainable communities by opening minds and roads to bicycling.”
   
Bricker said he feels his work at BTA fits in well with his Jewish values.
   
“I think we’ve always been taught to be stewards of the earth and maintain a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “Clearly bicycling fits in with that as well.”
   
Bricker, 35, and his wife Angela Goldsmith have a 1-year-old daughter Samantha Schoen Bricker. He is also the step-father of Gabrielle, 11, and Veronica, 17.
   
For more information on BTA, visit www.BTA4Bikes.org or call 503-226-0676.