WORLD CARFREE NEWS >>>
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Edition no. 51 - January 2007 - English version
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Contents:
QUOTATION OF THE MONTH
IN THE NEWS
WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS
-CARBUSTERS TO LAUNCH READER SURVEY
-NEW MOBILITY JUSTICE CAMPAIGN
-BULLETIN COMES OF AGE
-SPANISH BULLETIN RECEIVES NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
-CARFREE CITIES POSTCARD ART SHOW!
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
-CARFREE LIVING PROJECT
-CHICHIMECA BIKE TOUR IN JULY AND AUGUST
-FUNDING FOR CYCLING RESEARCH
-SANTA BARBARA CAR FREE PROJECT
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QUOTATION OF THE MONTH >>
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"But in spite of the apparently anarchical layout, the traffic, a
steady stream of trucks, cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles and
pedestrians, moved along fluidly and easily, as if directed by an
invisible conductor. When Monderman, a traffic engineer and the
intersection's proud designer, deliberately failed to check for
oncoming traffic before crossing the street, the drivers slowed for
him. No one honked or shouted rude words out the window."
-Sarah Lyall, on the late Hans Monderman, architect of "shared space"
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IN THE NEWS >>
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-Dutch pioneering traffic engineer Hans Mondermann passed away on
January 7th. Monderman is known for his approach, called "Designing
for Negotiation" and the traffic concept known as "shared space",
functional in northern Holland, and tried also in Spain, Denmark,
Austria, Sweden and Britain.
http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/search?q=monderman
-Milano adopts congestion charge. Beginning on 2nd of January drivers
entering the
city have to pay a so-called "Ecopass". Operating hours are weekends
from 7.30 to 19.30, and there are special fees for residents. Fees are
also tailored to the category of the vehicle and its emissions. A 10%
traffic reduction is expected.
http://www.comune.milano.it/dseserver/ecopass/index.html (in italian)
-On January 6, members of the New York City Street Memorial Project
led over 200 participants on three separate memorial rides and a
pedestrian walk for a rally to call for safer streets. This follows on
a December 12, 2007, Time's Up! "die-in", to commemorate the death of
63-year old cyclist David Smith and to dramatically call attention to
the unsafe condition in the Midtown Manhattan 6th Avenue bike lane.
www.ghostbikes.org and
www.times-up.org
-Following legal action initiated by Friends of the Earth, on January
10th, Swedish car maker Saab was told to stop portraying its cars as
environmentally friendly or face legal action for misleading
advertising.
www.foeeurope.org/corporates/greenwash/Saab/Saab_summons_100108_EN.pdf
-Marches were held in up to 90 countries on every content on December
8, 2007, to protest against climate change coinciding with the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change on the Indonesian island of
Bali. The actions were very well documented.
http://gallery.globalclimatecampaign.org
-Santa spotted on bike in Sofia. "Christmas on Bicycles" was the motto
with which BikEvolution celebrated Christmas on December 22. Festive
costumes, hot tea, music and free bike rides welcomed all visitors to
this event in Sofia, Bulgaria.
bikevolution-bg.org
-The Portuguese government recently announced the construction of a
new 35km motorway south of Porto. The A32 motorway will coexist
side-by-side with three other expressways in a short range of 8km, in
this low-density suburban area. Portuguese motorways have grown to
2500 km, while the train network is being dismantled.
http://tinyurl.com/2pshdu (in Portuguese)
-Barcelona's bike rental scheme "Bicing" gets 100,000 users in just
nine months of operation. Transport authorities are considering
extending the scheme to the whole metropolitan area.
www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/the_th_intervie_28.php
-Action Ecologists group has been documenting the adverse effects of
large vehicles in Spain. Their study "4 x 4 = - planet" can be
downloaded at:
http://tinyurl.com/2k7d27 (pdf file in Spanish)
-Australia's Cycling Promotion Fund released a report this week
showing bicycles outsold automobiles down under by nearly 50% in 2007,
with 1.47 million bikes sold vs. 1.05 million cars. It's the seventh
straight year that bikes have surpassed autos in sales in Australia.
http://tinyurl.com/289rne
-The city of Hobart, Tasmania, initiated a Valet Bike Parking Service
during the annual food festival "The Taste of Tasmania"
www.biketas.org.au
-Snow brings traffic to a halt in Bulgaria. All of Bulgaria has been
blanketed by a thick layer of snow in early January, affecting
transport from every point of view. In Sofia, in spite next to no auto
traffic on the streets, public transport also became severely limited.
www.sofiaecho.com/article/snowfall-fight-in-bulgaria/id_27000/catid_5
-In Lima, without car. Residents of the Miraflores district in Lima,
Peru woke up on the first Sunday of the year to find ten blocks closed
to cars and instead filled with bikes, scooters, skates and other
non-motorised vehicles. This activity, called "streets to the people"
now occurs every first Sunday of the month.
www.proyectozoom.org
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WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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CARBUSTERS TO LAUNCH READER SURVEY
Carbusters Magazine will launch a Reader Survey to gather feedback for
future improvements. Non-subscribers are also invited to take the
survey. Survey will be online through March 15. Check
www.carbusters.org within the next few days.
NEW MOBILITY JUSTICE CAMPAIGN
Clean Air Action Group has called our attention to the European
Commission's practise of funding unsustainable transport projects in
Hungary and throughout Europe. This WCN member group calls on all to
send in a petition, modeled after their letter to the Commission on
December 10th, 2007.
www.worldcarfree.net/levego_petition.php
BULLETIN COMES OF AGE
The December Bulletin marked the 100th newsletter sent out by the
World Carfree Network (including 50 issues of "Car Busters Monthly
E-bulletin"). We asked our long-time readers to let us know if they're
still around, and based on our feedback, we would like to recognise
Anna Selmyen and Jean Pierre Wilmotte for being faithful readers from
very early on. To all those others who have been reading since the
early days, we extend our thanks, and we hope you'll keep it up
through the 200th issue!
We also want to take the time to thank our translators: French
edition: Jean Pierre Wilmotte (his first translation was for Bulletin
#4 in January 1999), Czech edition: Jan Valeska, German edition:
Wolfram Ploetz, Spanish edition: Agustin Villegas, Stefany Guerra and
Silvia Gonzales.
SPANISH BULLETIN RECEIVES NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
For all news items, questions and comments regarding the Spanish
language bulletin, you may now write to Boletin@???. Let
your Spanish-speaking friends know. Sign-up at
www.worldcarfree.net/bulletin
-CARFREE CITIES POSTCARD ART SHOW!
Send postcard-sized photos, paintings, drawings, collages, poetry or
prose celebrating freedom from car culture to:
SHIFT
P.O. Box 6662
Portland, Oregon
USA 97228
For display at Portland, Oregon's City Hall during the Towards Carfree
Cities Conference in June 2008, and future carfree events world-wide.
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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CARFREE LIVING PROJECT
A new website is created by a British organisation, aiming to promote
the advantages of living without a car. While it will be be formally
launched in three months time, it is now 'open for viewing' and help
is wanted in filling out the content with writing and artwork.
www.carfreelivingproject.org.uk
CHICHIMECA BIKE TOUR IN JULY AND AUGUST
An invitation is extended to participate in the Chichimeca Route's
Cyclist Relief from Paquime Chihuahua (120 km south of US border) to
Mexico City (2200 km distance), July- August 2008. The route to be
followed is the Green Route and connects with the US and Canadian
historic trail Continental Divide.
www.rutachichimeca.org (to launch soon)
email: rutachichimeca[at]yahoo.com.mx
FUNDING FOR CYCLING RESEARCH
CTC has allocated funding this year for two bursaries of 2500 GBP for
MSc/MA research into cycling. Deadline is February 25th. For more
information, contact John Meudell, (CTC National Council),
john.meudell[at]ctc.org.uk.
SANTA BARBARA CAR FREE PROJECT
The Santa Barbara Car Free Project announced its 2008 Car Free
Experience Discount Package, featuring discounts contributed by 22
hotels, 20 activities and restaurants, and transportation partners
including Amtrak(R), airport shuttle services, bike rental companies
and more. The Project is aims to encourage visitors to travel to and
around Santa Barbara car free.
www.SantaBarbaraCarFree.org
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