Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder was honored with a Weston Award from Oregon Walks on Saturday, recognizing his many years of active transportation leadership, advocacy and on-going emphasis on equity and social justice in transportation planning. The award was presented at the second annual Weston Award fundraising event on Nov. 10 in Portland, and honors the people who have helped make Portland a safer, healthier place to walk. Burkholder was one of four Weston Award honorees; others included Lidwien Rahman, Mark Edlen and Teresa Soto.
The awards are sponsored by Oregon Walks, formerly the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition.
As Metro Councilor, former chair and current member of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, Burkholder has consistently championed active transportation in the Regional Transportation Plan, transportation project selection and funding, and regional land use decision-making. Burkholder is credited with starting the bicycle revolution in Portland as a founder and policy director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, helping to make it one of Oregon’s most active grassroots organizations.
"Our work here is about basic freedoms," Burkholder said reflecting on his many years of pedestrian and bicycle advocacy to the standing-room-only crowd of advocates and elected officials, including the evening’s emcee, Portland Mayor Sam Adams. Accepting the award, Burkholder said his guiding mission over the years has been to "make it so our most vulnerable – our children, honored citizens and those with no choice – have the freedom and ability to explore and enjoy our city as much as anyone else."
Burkholder first joined the Metro Council in 2001, hoping to use his energy, skills and knowledge gained as a community activist to help create a sustainable region. Now in his third and final term, he is proud of the progress Metro has made towards this goal. For example, he sponsored and now leads Metro's Regional Climate Action Strategy, working with regional businesses, governments and residents to combat climate change. He has also secured funding to support region-wide conservation education for youth.
As a community activist for the past 20 years, he was a founding trustee of the nationally recognized Coalition for a Livable Future, which unites more than 50 citizen groups on the issue of sustainability. As a parent-volunteer, Burkholder helped establish the Northeast Community School, an innovative, diverse charter school in Portland. He has been honored as the 1998 Most Effective Citizen Advocate in the metro region by 1000 Friends of Oregon and as a 1999 founder of a New Northwest by Sustainable Northwest.