One Mayor’s Outreach Is on 2 Wheels
市長騎單車 擴大服務圈
By David Montgomery

FORT WORTH – On the same day that the Tour de France cyclists embarked on their annual race, Mayor Betsy Price was front and center in a pack of more than 120 riders outside a popular local restaurant, poised confidently on her 18-speed carbon-fiber racing bike.
在環法自行車賽的選手展開一年一度賽事的同一天，美國德州福和市市長貝西．普萊斯也在當地一家人氣餐廳外，夾在120多名自行車騎士的最前排中間，跨騎在她的18檔變速碳纖維賽車用自行車上，擺出自信的姿勢。

This was the Tour de Fort Worth. Following Ms. Price’s ambitious pace, the cyclists stretched out along a 34-kilometer course under a brilliant midmorning sun, eventually regrouping back at the restaurant parking lot.
這是環福和市自行車賽。跟隨著普萊斯極具企圖心的車速，自行車騎士們在上午九、十點的豔陽下，沿著34公里長的比賽路線前進，最終回到餐廳停車場重新集合。

Ms. Price, who is 64 and a longtime cycling enthusiast, created the event three years ago as part of a “FitWorth” initiative to promote healthy living in a place more commonly associated with barbecue and thick steaks than with carrot juice and kale. Now one of her signature programs, the Tour de Fort Worth – which includes more than a dozen such rides in July – is just one component in her two-wheeled style of community outreach.
64歲的普萊斯是資深的自行車愛好者，三年前創辦這項活動，這是「福和市健身」計畫的一部分，目的是在一個常讓人聯想到烤肉和厚牛排，而不是胡蘿蔔汁和羽衣甘藍的地方，提倡健康生活。現在她的招牌計畫之一，環福和市自行車賽（在七月間舉辦十幾次這樣的自行車活動），只是她的兩輪式社區市政服務的一部分。

The mayor regularly swoops into the city’s disparate neighborhoods on her bike to conduct “rolling town-hall meetings,” taking City Hall to the people. Residents bike up next to her to discuss a variety of issues and grievances, like zoning, potholes and trash pickup.
這位市長經常騎自行車突然造訪市內不同的地區，進行「滾動式鎮民大會」，把市政廳搬到市民面前。當地居民騎車到她身邊，討論各種問題和抱怨，像是區域規劃、道路坑洞和收垃圾問題。

“Every time we go, somebody talks to us about their issues,” Ms. Price said, recalling how fellow riders will sometimes pull out sweat-drenched notes from their pockets in asking her help. “In a big city, it’s hard to connect with people, and this is a great way to connect with people.”
普萊斯說：「我們每次單車出巡，都會有人與我們談他們的問題。」她記得有時候自行車騎士從口袋裡掏出浸了汗水的筆記，請她幫忙。「在大城市，與民眾接觸很困難，這是與民眾接觸很棒的方式。」

Ms. Price’s out-and-about approach has yielded results. At a rolling town hall in one neighborhood last year, residents complained about a malfunctioning street lamp that burned incessantly. A staff phone call corrected the problem the next day.
普萊斯的單車出巡已收到效果。去年一個地區的滾動式鎮民大會，居民抱怨一盞故障的街燈永不熄滅。第二天幕僚一通電話就解決了問題。

Pam Cannell and Hollace Weiner, members of a local swim team, rode with the mayor in 2012 and expressed their concerns about an alarming rise in drownings. Further research by Ms. Cannell found that Texas led the nation in swimming pool deaths. The conversations led to the creation of a citywide drowning-prevention program.
地方游泳隊成員芭姆．康奈爾和哈蘭絲．韋納2012年與市長一同騎車，表達她們關切溺死事件的增多已到了令人憂心的地步。康奈爾女士進一步研究發現，德州的游泳池溺死案件居全國之冠。這次交談催生了一項全市的預防溺水計畫。

Ms. Price has been an avid rider for more than 25 years. Her bicycling has seemingly played well in culturally diverse Fort Worth, which has grown from a cattle town in the 19th century into the 17th-largest city in the United States, and one of the fastest growing, with a population of more than 792,000.
普萊斯熱中騎單車逾25年。她的單車出巡在文化多元的福和市顯然很成功，這個城市已從19世紀的養牛鎮發展成全美第17大城，是成長最快的城市之一，人口超過79萬2000人。

Ms. Price, a fiscally conservative Republican, won a second two-year term in 2013.
普萊斯是財政立場保守的共和黨員，2013年贏得第二個兩年任期。

Not everyone in Fort Worth shares her enthusiasm for cycling. Some motorists honk in annoyance when the mayor’s security detail holds up traffic for one of her bike rides.
福和市不是人人都和她一樣熱愛騎單車。市長的安全隨扈為了讓她騎車而管制交通，一些開車族氣得猛按喇叭。

Her push for more bike lanes has also been criticized for shrinking capacity for automobiles when city leaders are under pressure to reduce traffic. But there were no dissenting voices among the cyclists who gathered at Joe T. Garcia’s, a renowned Mexican restaurant, for the start of the Tour de Fort Worth.
在市政領袖受到減少交通流量的壓力之際，她推動開闢更多自行車道，也被批評限縮了汽車的道路空間。但聚集在著名的墨西哥餐廳Joe T. Garcia’s展開環福和市自行車賽的自行車騎士，則毫無異議。

“Are y’all ready to ride?” Ms. Price asked, wearing a yellow helmet and a bright yellow-and-blue jersey.
戴黃色頭盔、穿鮮豔黃藍相間運動衣的普萊斯問道：「你們都準備好騎上路了嗎？」

Ms. Price is known for a no-nonsense pace. She started at the front of the pack but later dropped back to talk to fellow cyclists.
普萊斯以車速快聞名。她開始時一馬當先，後來退到後面與其他騎士聊天。

Back at Joe T.’s, as cyclists refueled on burritos, Ms. Price made the rounds, visiting with constituents. Many talked about the ride, but Bill Luten, 66, a retired Army sergeant, wanted to discuss grass and trash that pile up in the streets. “I want to know why we don’t have any street sweepers in this town,” he said.
回到Joe T.餐廳時，騎士們以墨西哥捲餅補充體力，普萊斯則四處出巡，拜訪選民。許多人談論這次自行車賽，但66歲的退役陸軍中士路騰要討論堆在街上的雜草和垃圾。他說：「我想知道這個鎮上為什麼沒有掃街車？」

The mayor promised to look into it.
市長承諾會研究。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/us/politics/fort-worth-mayor-betsy-price-bikes-to-connect-with-residents.html

2014-08-19聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版下