Ellen Vanderslice, an architect in Portland, Oregon, will present during our Wednesday evening sessions with Walk THIS Way; A Lighthearted Look at the Image of Walking. Ellen was the founder of one of the first pedestrian advocacy groups in the country, the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, and in 1996 helped found America Walks, the national coalition of pedestrian advocates. She served as president for of America Walks for seven years.

Ellen currently manages capital projects for the City of Portland Office of Transportation, moonlighting after hours as a jazz composer. She has been a featured speaker at more than two dozen conferences and events across the U.S. and around the world.

"Right now I'm the project manager for two big streetscape projects that are in construction, both in downtown Portland," Ellen writes. "The first, a six million dollar project funded through tax increment financing, is in historic Old Town/Chinatown. Part of the project is building two Festival Streets, which are one-block-long curbless areas that will be open to traffic most of the time, but can be closed for special events to function like a public square. These have lots of high-design elements."

Ellen describes the other project as a 10-million dollar federally funded project, the reconstruction of Naito Parkway, next to Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park, where road rebuilding has to constantly vie with major events like the Rose Festival and the BridgePedal during the ten months of construction.

"It's thrilling to see real improvements being put on the ground, and I love being part of these two construction teams," said Ellen. "I get to solve problems every day, and to be the face of these high-profile projects to the community."

Every Tuesday night Ellen sings and plays 3rd trombone with the Carroll Raaum Swing Orchestra, a 17-piece big band. "We play that classic big band sound, from Glen Miller to Stan Kenton," Ellen says. "Occasionally I gig around town as a solo jazz vocalist, too, and perform my own songs.

When she's not master-minding major projects or belting out jazz favorites, Ellen enjoys playing sidekick to her husband, Scott Parker, when he leads off-trail adventures and secret waterfall tours in the Columbia River Gorge.

This will be my Ellen's first "Pro Walk / Pro Bike" under that that moniker, but she is no stranger to the conference. "I attended and volunteered at Pro Bike Portland in 1994, and Pro Bike / Pro Walk in Santa Barbara in 1998, Philadelphia in 2000, and Saint Paul in 2002." Ellen provided a photo of herself testifying at a Portland City Council meeting while wearing her pedestrian hat, so to speak.