News of the Day in my part of the World
No Pants MAX Ride 2011 - Pioneer Square. Portland, OR
I see that people seem to have way to much time on their hands. I live across the river [Columbia] from Portland, Or. Several years ago Portland in its infinite wisdom declared riding your Bike downtown Portland 'nude' [yes I mean NUDE] was a right of self expression . I was not aware of it until it was on the Evening News, that some man availed himself of this right by riding his Bike around a fountain that squirts water up in the air in jets at the Coliseum { a venue for Concerts, Basketball games and odd Conventions.
In the summer it is also a place that children play in the water jets when it is a warm day. It is a big draw for the inner City kids to have some fun . It seems a policeman was clueless about the new RIGHT and stopped and arrested the man for indecent exposure. For his effort for doing his job [as he saw it] he was taken to Court, and reprimanded . All this came to light when the story hit the news paper, The Oregonian. There he was on the front page, riding his Bike amidst children playing in the Fountain.
A friend of mine who lives at the Coast came up to Portland for a Work shop at the Coliseum and on her lunch break thought she might go eat her lunch a few blocks away at the Water Front and enjoy her break. She was stopped at a cross walk waiting for the signal to change, when down the one way street comes a sea of people on their Bikes.
''[ Portland is real big on observing the clean air act and every nut job working downtown rides a bike and does his bit for impeding downtown traffic and also getting run over by other crazed citizens in their car, "late for an appointment because of the traffic jams due to our civic minded Bike riders]
Back to my friend at the stop-light. Anyway She is deep in thought and only when the Bikers ( 20 or more) stop directly in front of her, when the light changes, does she realize they are all stark nude. This guy right in front of her leers and grins at her, when she almost collapses from shock and her face must have been a sight to see. There he was with all his 'dangly Bits flopping in the breeze for God and everybody to see, wearing only his helmet. I get the first hand commentary when I meet her for dinner and she is still hyperventilating . Now she is a very Liberal minded person and had read about this legal right to ride 'nude' and thought it not so bad a thing esp. 'IT IS A PERSONS RIGHT" TO go nude if they choose.[she thinks], UNTIL she was confronted by the real deal and IT HAPPENED TO HER. The first thing she told me she thought was," what if I had my grandkids for the day and I was taking them to the Water Front for a picnic?" Also, she has a bad heart and she was impacted enough she had to find a place to sit and recover.
So I ask you all what do you think of Portland allowing nude bike riders downtown . I believe it might be only downtown, but I was told it was the city limits. Please keep remarks in good taste or don't make a comment.
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Excellent story, Karen.
It's a brilliant reminder that, however fundamental freedom of speech may be, there will always be limits. IMHO, riding a bike nude in a public park... is beyond the limit.
the pleasure of seeing this event
Um-m-m-m-m....
Wow - I did NOT know this. I have traveled to Portland a couple times for work purposes and can say that I did not experience the.....let's just say "unobstructed view" of Portland's freedom of speech and expression. My vote is "no" - this freedom infringes on other people's right not to be horrified.....just to be clear, there isn't an age limit or is there?.....hahaha just kidding. My vote remains a solid NO. NO skinny cycling.