[sustran] Support for Bogotá Referendum - Urgent!

ecopl at n.adsl eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Thu Oct 26 18:26:52 JST 2000


Dear Colleagues,

I hope that you will forgive me for placing this before you at the very last
minute, but I have been out of communication for the last weeks due to an
illness and death in my family.  But life goes on, time presses, and those
of us who are dedicated to the inextricably intertwined, ever pressing
issues of sustainability and social justice have plenty of work cut out for
us.  Here is the situation in brief:

On Sunday, the 29th of October, two questions are being submitted to the
citizens that comprise the electoral census of Bogotá, covering issues which
in my view are critical to the future well-being of the city and its
inhabitants. The first of these asks for citizen views and support
concerning institutionalization of the annual Car Free Day, in the wake of
this year's highly successful venture which many of you were so kind as to
publicly support.  The second, much more daring, asks for their support for
a proposal to ban ALL private car traffic in the city beginning in the year
2015.  (This second proposition only makes sense if you are aware that the
idea is to build cumulatively over the next 15 years on the achievements of
their existing ingenious and successful car restriction program, Pico y
Placa, concerning which you can find further background in the Bogotá
section of the @World Car Free Day site at http://ecoplan.org/carfreeday/.)

The full Spanish language version of the popular proposal can be found on
the Web at http://www.terra.com.co/proyectos/bogotasincarros/, together with
additional background material and a spot poll of visitor views.  (A number
of existing sites also are reporting on this, including:
http://www.electorales.com, http://www.uol.com.co,
http://www.co.starmedia.com, http://www.chibchombia.com,
http://www.calle22.com, http://www.paisweb.com, and http://www.lalupa.com.)
A quick translation of the Referendum text is annexed to this note.

In this terribly tight time frame, here is what we are asking of you.  First
and if you agree, will you provide a public indication of your support of
this important sustainability initiative?  This would ideally take the form
of a short email with a few lines of comments, rounded out by your name,
title, etc., with as much immodesty and effusion as these unusual
circumstances merit.  This letter of support should be addressed to Bogotá
City Hall at consnacion at gaitana.interred.net.co, and copied to us here at
Referendum at ecoplan.org.  Our friends in Bogotá will then make industrious
use of these support letters over the next three days to show all those
concerned that this is not simply an isolated local initiative of perhaps
dubious merit, but a central issue and opportunity for this embattled city
to make a contribution in the world sustainability arena.  For our part we
shall be working hard from here to support them in this.

Second and last, they also are looking for volunteers to discuss these
matters with the local media.  They have already carried out radio
interviews with several of our colleagues, and of course for this one does
need to be comfortable working in Spanish.

There you have it.  One more example of thinking (and collaborating)
globally, while acting locally.  If this note catches you in time, I am sure
that you are going to want to join us in supporting this citizen initiative
at 2600 meters and ever so many kilometers away, in this embattled Third
World city that is trying not only to deal with its own crushing problems of
environment, life quality and social justice, but also, if we think about,
to lead the way for us all.

As our old labor union friends put it so well,

In Solidarity,

Eric Britton

ecopl at n ___  technology, economy, society  ___
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
Eric.Britton at ecoplan.org     URL www.ecoplan.org
Telephone +331 4326 1323
Voice/Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4)
Fax + Voicemail: +1 888 522 6419 (toll free)


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BOGOTÁ'S REFERENDUM IN BRIEF

The City of Bogotá is to hold a referendum on October 29, 2000 proposing a
ban on car use during peak hours beginning January 1st, 2015. Should the
people of Bogotá vote favorably on this issue, cars would be banned from
using any city street from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. until
7:30 p.m. during weekdays.  The referendum also includes a proposal about
establishing the celebration of a Car Free Day once a year, as of the year
2001, every first Thursday of February in Bogotá. Car circulation would be
prohibited on this day from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Bogotá, a 6.5 million inhabitants city, whose population is growing 160,000
per year, has a low motorization rate, with only 120 cars per 1,000 people.
More than 80% of the population uses a low-quality bus system. The present
city administration is structuring a very modern bus system based on
exclusive busways which should reach all points in the city by the year
2015. The current administration has also promoted cycle use which has grown
from 0,5% to nearly 4% in the last two years. A bicycle path network of more
than 200 kilometers is under construction and should be in operation by the
beginning of the year 2001.

Bogotá at 2,600 meters of altitude, thus with a low oxygen content in the
air, needs all the clean air it can get. Despite the as-yet low number of
private cars, the city already evidences severe air pollution problems,
which should get worse once Colombia gets over the economic recession which
it is currently going through and car sales pick up.

Bogotá has some unusual conditions and traditions, which makes it possible
for the city to become the first in the world to solve its mobility problems
based on a total restriction of car use. The city enjoys a 15 ºC (57 ºF)
temperature year round, which makes it easy to walk a few blocks to a bus
stop or to ride a bike a few kilometers. It has a high population density at
210 inhabitants per hectare and the average distance of 8 kilometers for
home-to-work or study trips is rather short. The city already restricts car
use at peak hours, effectively taking out of circulation 35% of cars every
day through a system based on the last digit of the car license plate. For
the last three years every Sunday the city closes 110 kilometers of main
arteries to all auto traffic during 7 hours, so that more than one and half
million people can use this public space for recreational purposes, mainly
for bicycles. Bogotá also held the most successful car free day in the world
last February 24 in which the city functioned normally without any cars on
the streets except for taxis.

Beyond the transportation and environmental reasons to carry out the
proposal, Mayor Enrique Peñalosa emphasizes its social integration
implications. In a city with severe income inequalities and geographical
segregation between poor and rich neighborhoods, the new system will seat
together in buses high-level managers and shanty town dwellers and have them
stand next to each other at traffic lights on their bikes, not separated by
the window of a luxury car.

City authorities believe that discussion on the issue will raise awareness
about the type of city people want for their children.


TEXT BEING SUBMITTED TO THE DECISION OF THE CITIZENS OF BOGOTÁ


I.  "CAR FREE DAY"

QUESTION: Do you agree (YES or NO) with establishing the celebration of an
annual "Day without Cars" beginning the year 2001, which will prohibit all
private car traffic in the city on the first Thursday of the month of
February of every year during the period between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.

(The following vehicles will be excluded from the above prohibition: public
transport vehicles, equipped vehicles for disabled citizens, emergency
vehicles (ambulances, firemen), properly authorized student transport
services, special transportation services like wage-earning drivers who
mobilize more than 10 passengers, vehicles delivering services for public
companies, vehicles destined to traffic control and cranes of the
secretariat of transit and transportation, presidential caravan, military
vehicles and police, vehicles assigned to diplomatic core, vehicles with a 3
level shield or superior, vehicles destined to be escorts, funeral float,
motorcycles, motorcars and bicycle taxis.)

YES     NO     BLANK VOTE


II. "VEHICULAR RESTRICTION BEGINNING THE YEAR 2015"

QUESTION:  Do you agree (YES or NO) with the objective of building an
environmentally sustainable Bogotá, with cleaner air, less traffic
congestion and a better quality of life, by prohibiting, starting January 1
of the year 2015, the circulation of all private automotive vehicles on the
city streets on all work days, in the period between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00
a.m., and 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.


(The following vehicles will be excluded from the above prohibition: public
transport vehicles, equipped vehicles for disabled citizens, emergency
vehicles (ambulances, firemen), properly authorized student transport
services, special transportation services like wage-earning drivers who
mobilize more than 10 passengers, vehicles delivering services for public
companies, vehicles destined to traffic control and cranes of the
secretariat of transit and transportation, presidential caravan, military
vehicles and police, vehicles assigned to diplomatic core, vehicles with a 3
level shield or superior, vehicles destined to be escorts, funeral float,
motorcycles, motorcars and bicycle taxis?)

YES     NO     BLANK VOTE







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