[sustran] fwd: Campaign to save Santiago's heart

[SUSTRAN Resource Centre]

BOUNCE sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org:    Non-member submission from
[Ciudad Viva <ciudadviva at lake.mic.cl>]

Hello everyone

We are looking for people in Italy, Spain, France and Mexico to help us
with our campaign against the Costanera Norte, a 33-km long highway that is
planned to cut through the historic heart of Santiago, destroying some of
the city's most unique neighborhoods (the central market area, the cultural
community of Bellavista, a chunk of the San Cristobal hill, which is the
city's most important park, and displacing the poor residents of
Independencia to the city's fringe where they will not have access to
services). It is a concession and the government's first attempt to tender
failed at the end of last year, because among other problems, the project
is a technical nightmare. Now it has been resuscitated and the govt is
attempting to convince companies to do it, basically by throwing a lot of
money at them -- well over US$80 million in direct subsidies, and an
unknown amount in indirect subisidies.

Anyway, we are looking for people in the above-mentioned countries to
assist us in our campaign to convince the companies not to participate in
the tender offer. We are preparing an information package that we can send
to anyone interested and what we need is the following:

1) contacts with like-minded organizations working on urban transit issues
in these countries, who could potentially organize press or letter-writing
or public awareness campaigns,

2) people willing to write letters (in their own language) to the local
press in the countries and cities of origin of these companies, critizing
them for their interest in supporting a project that will seriously damage
the quality of life in Santiago generally, and destroy traditional
neighborhoods where people still enjoy a decent standard of living, even
when their incomes aren't necessary too high.

3) people willing to write letters to the companies themselves, warning
them of the impact this will have on their corporate image, etc.

If anyone can help, please contact us directly.

All best, and thanks very much, in advance.

Lake