Community-building, Racism and Gentrification in Urban Bicycle Advocacy A DISSERTATION S

268 Pages·2013·2.81 MB·English

Our Bikes in the Middle of the Street: Community-building, Racism and Gentrification in
Urban Bicycle Advocacy

A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY

Melody Lynn Hoffmann

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Dr. Mary D. Vavrus

June 2013
© Melody Lynn Hoffmann 2013
Acknowledgments
Although a very privileged life to lead, being an academic can be mentally and
physically challenging in unforeseen ways. Being able to write a dissertation is a life-
changing opportunity and I am grateful for many people in my life that shaped what is
presented here.
First and foremost, immense gratitude to my adviser, Mary D. Vavrus. Mary not
only kept up with my frantic writing schedule but also reminded me why this project is
important—something that often slips from my mind when academic fervor takes over.
She also taught me the phrase “sitting on your laurels,” something I do not do enough of
(as Mary well knows). I am lucky to have a committed and academically diverse
dissertation committee. I thank Zenzele Isoke for changing the way I think, research, and
write. Chapter 3 is a reflection of her influence on my scholarship. Mark Pedelty has been
my cheerleader since the beginning stages of my doctoral career. His enthusiasm for my
research has been an important motivator during this project. I have always enjoyed
working with Edward Schiappa because of his pragmatic approach to academia. I
appreciate all of his guidance and advice about the nuts and bolts of writing a dissertation
and getting through graduate school. Zack Furness has been an academic inspiration for
me well before this project came to be. It is his scholarship, after all, that proved one can
study bicycles and make a career out of it. In general, a huge thank you to my dissertation
committee for taking the time over the last four years to talk with me, suggest pertinent
literature and theory, read drafts of my chapters, and challenge me to make this a better
project.
The righteous feminist writing group I have been a part of for the past two years
remains an essential piece of my academic livelihood. Raechel Tiffe, Dana Schowalter
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and Sarah Wolter—thank you. No words can describe how much you have helped me
become a better scholar, writer, and person. An extra special thank you to Raechel for
sticking with me for all of these chaotic years. The stars know what is up.
This dissertation would be nothing without all of the community members willing
to speak with me about bicycle advocacy. I thank each one for their time and
commitment to making this world a better place (even if though, at times, we disagree
with how to get there). A special thank you to my Riverwest 24 comrades. The time,
energy, and compassion you have put into building the Riverwest 24 is incomparable and
I appreciate you taking some of that time to talk to me about how and why you do it. I
want to especially thank Steve Whitlow who took an inordinate amount of time to talk
with me about the Riverwest 24, the neighborhood, and all the craziness that comes with
the event. His honesty, vulnerability, and excitement for his neighborhood and the event
made this project much stronger than had his voice not been heard here.
The Communication Studies program at the University of Minnesota, as my
academic host for four years, laid some serious groundwork in preparing me for this
dissertation. It was never easy but always rewarding. I am humbled by the funding I
received while at Minnesota to attend academic conferences and conduct research. Thank
you to the generous donors at the Communication Studies department and the greater
university community for your financial contributions to my work. I was lucky to
meander outside of my department and thus owe much to the Gender, Women and
Sexuality Studies department—where I truly learned new epistemologies. It was here
where I met Zenzele and took courses from Sara Puotinen, another inspiring pedagogue
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and scholar. It was also an honor to get to know people involved with The Tucker Center
and Kinesiology department, especially Joanne Buysse.
One of my favorite parts of this research project was being able to travel to two of
my favorite cities containing some of my favorite people. I am especially grateful for the
Fox family in Portland for housing and being with me during my numerous visits. I will
never forget a rainy walk with Emily Templin Fox where, as she poked at me with
curiosity about my research, I finally figured out what my project was really about. Nic
Hengen Fox has been incredibly helpful in keeping me up to date with the Portland
bicycle scene. Without him, Chapter 3 would not exist. His ongoing advice about
navigating dissertating, and life in general, has been invaluable. In Milwaukee, thanks to
Mary Germain, Rebecca Schuster and Matt Baran for being the best friends and allowing
me to stay at your homes during my research trips. Mary, in particular, has been a strong,
positive force in my life and I am grateful for our friendship. Who knew that our crazy
idea to ride bikes together for 24 hours would not only make us closer friends but also be
the impetus for this project? And to Rebecca and Matt: Namaste!!!
There is a diverse collection of people, inside and out of academia, who assisted
me in this project. Through my discussions with numerous people, I was able to ground
my project in the communities I studied. In no particular order thank you to E.G. Nelson,
Brian Rothgery, Spencer Haugh, Elly Blue and Laura Kling for your insights,
suggestions, and sourcing of information. Bruce Epperson assisted in my retelling of
bicycle advocacy history in the United States. Jason Laurendeau and Carly Adams, via a
NASSS panel proposal, inspired the “haunting” framework in Chapter 3. A thank you to
Minnesota Monthly for sending me a back issue for my research in Chapter 4. I have
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gleaned a lot about bicycle advocacy by participating in various bike events, races, and
workshops. Due to the impossibility of listing them all, a general thank you to the
Milwaukee and Minneapolis bicycle community for what you have taught me.
As scholars, we are taught and encouraged to write and research with a fairly
positivist, rational approach. As human beings, we learn that life simply is not rational
and sometimes the structure of a dissertation contrasts against the lack of structure in our
daily lives—making us feel insane. There are people and places in my life that were
solaces in times of uncertainty. I have always found comfort in cafés and so Fuel Café,
Caffetto and Hard Times Café played a very important role as my office during my
writing process. Colleagues including Tony Nadler and Heidi Zimmermann have
intercepted a lot of my anxiety and redirected me to more productive grounds. Carol
Stabile is an indispensable person in my life, my feminist mentor, friend, and fellow
troublemaker. I can always count on Mrak for excellent life advice and Tony Unger is my
favorite n00b. I am grateful to know a lot of people under the age of 5 who have brought
me much joy, love, and stress-relief. Thank you to Tate, Naomi, and Nat for reminding
me how to have fun. Lastly, thank you to my family—Mom, Dad, Andy, Jon, and
Robby. I am lucky to have a family who is proud of me and has never questioned my life
choices. Your love and support has been crucial throughout my life.

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.
–Fred Rogers

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For all the people who ride their bikes against traffic and on the sidewalk

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Abstract
It is no surprise to people living in U.S. urban spaces that bicycling continues its ascent
into popularity. Neighborhoods and cities across the country are now committed to
making their spaces welcoming to bicyclists which include bicycling events, bicycle
lanes, and businesses that cater to cyclists. In my time as an urban bicycle commuter, I
have noticed that a particular bicyclist is being hailed by neighborhoods and cities—one
that has both racial and class privilege. Through my ethnographic research in three U.S.
cities I have confirmed my suspicion that the bicycle signifies different values and
meanings to different bicycling demographics. In this dissertation I ultimately argue that
the “rolling signification” of the bicycle contributes to its ability to build community,
influence gentrifying urban planning, and reify and obscure systemic race and class
barriers. I begin my dissertation with a case study on the Riverwest 24, a 24-hour bicycle
race, and how its organizers and participants build community but I complicate this
understanding of community building by exploring the neighborhood’s long history of
activism and its spatial connection to a major segregation line. The importance of a
neighborhood’s history as it intersects with bicycle advocacy is made clear in my second
case study in Portland, Oregon where neighbors clashed, along racial lines, about
renovating a specific bicycle lane. And thus I argue that the Black residents and history
rooted in Black culture in Portland’s Albina neighborhood produce a haunting (Gordon,
1997) within the reconstruction of that bicycle lane. In my final case study I explore
whether the theory that bicycle lanes can lead to gentrification holds any merit. In
Minneapolis I have found evidence that the local government is coopting bicycle
infrastructure to recruit educated, upwardly mobile people--with little regard to its impact
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on residents who fall outside of that demographic. This cooptation is wrapped up in
power relations that allow the city government and “creative class” to define what a
sustainable and livable city looks like. This dissertation makes a rather large intervention
in Communication Studies as it illustrates the importance of rich description, spatial
analysis, and ethnography in our scholarship.

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Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Chapter 1: One less car, one more critique: U.S. urban 1
bicycle culture and advocacy

Chapter 2: ‘A community hug disguised as a bike race’: 62
The role of an urban 24-hour bicycle race in community
building

Chapter 3: ‘Bike lanes are white lanes!’: The role of 120
haunting Black bodies in Portland’s gentrifying bicycle
infrastructure

Chapter 4: Greenways and greenwaves: Power-based 164
sustainability in Minneapolis’s bicycle infrastructure

Chapter 5: Riding into the future: The possibilities of 211
urban bicycling spaces

Bibliography 237

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