[sustran] Re: Revised position on Bogota C/FD letter campaign

[Carlos Felipe Pardo V.]

ecoplan.adsl at wanadoo.fr wrote:
Tuesday, August 24, 2004, Paris, France, Europe

 

1.         Oops:

 

Thank you Carlos Filipe for that good note clarifying the Car/Free Day situation in Bogota, which echoes an email I received late in the day yesterday from Oscar Edmundo to which I had been meaning to respond to the group this morning.

 

2.         Revised position on letter campaign as new information became available:

 

Yes, it makes a very big difference indeed that the Mayor Luis Eduardo Garzon has clearly continued the fine tradition of Bogota as a leader in the Car/Free Day movement by continuing to hold their pattern-breaking event again in February this year.  To me in fact it changes everything, for reasons that may surprise some of you and that I would now like to share with the group briefly:

 

   The right number of car free (actually “lot less car”) days in most years is of course 365.  That is in fact the only path to sustainable mobility and social justice in our cities.
   But is 2 better than 1? Yes, but only if both are equally prepared with great diligence, professionalism and with high public support and solid long term on-street results (which after all is what a Car/Free Day is all about; it’s not just a photo opportunity for this mayor or that minister to hop on to a bike once a year.)
   That said we must understand that getting a Car/Free Day right is a very challenging, complex and yes expensive business.  Sheer good will and spunkiness are not enough. The transportation systems of our cities are delicate metabolisms that are vital to the citizens’ well being, and if we do anything to impede their good functioning, we had best know exactly what we are about. This requires rigorous technical analysis by the transport and traffic planners, who in many cities should be able to come up with reasonably solid numbers for the perturbations and costs incurred.  With this in hand, responsible decisions can then be taken.
   Several years ago I publicly supported the same (Conservative) mayor of Stockholm who, after having handed the Stockholm Prize to Mayor Peñalosa and myself in June 2000, came out with a public statement in July 2000 refusing to join the first European Car/Free Day.  Mayor Cederschiöld explained that his technical advisors had informed him that getting it right in the relatively short time available was not possible, that he needed to see a credible analysis of the options before taking a positive decision, and since this information was lacking he would not be joining the program.  Fair enough.
   This strikes me as politically mature and responsible. However it leaves the burden of proof to those of us who think that Car/Free Days are a good idea.  That is as it should be. And the first step in this process in our cities is in fact three steps: (a) develop a broad based citizen consortium (that incidentally includes if only informally a fair number of people working for the city and its agencies), so that we can then (b) bring the mayor and city administration on board in principle, and then (c) work closely with the traffic planners, police, public transport operators, local business and other authorities and powers that be to get them on our side and the needed basic analysis done.  This gives us our solid base, shows us which parts of the city can be brought into the Car/Free Day changes, and, no less important if we get it right, the broad base of public support that is willing to chip in and make this a consequential event and learning experience.

 

So, dear friends, it’s my view that this time around we should leave matters in the hands of the Mayor and his associates, who after all were voted into office to make just this kind of decisions.

 

But is that the end of the matter.  Not quite. 

 

3.         The New Mobility Week in Toronto – Partnership with Bogota?

 

I propose that we now invite Mayor Garzon to send a representative to join the on-going, path-breaking Toronto New Mobility Week 2004 project (which has a Car/Free Day right in its middle) for the week of 20-24 September, to observe and determine if in 2005 Bogota might wish to become a senior partner in bringing this approach to Latin America. For now you can find first information on this project at http://newmobility.org, click Toronto NMW for current details. With this in view I am copying this note to the organizers of the Toronto events, and propose that we will be talking this over later today to determine how best to handle this. 

 

We will keep you informed.

 

With all good wishes,

 

Eric Britton

 

The New Mobility Agenda at http://newmobility.org 

The New Mobility Forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WorldTransport/

 

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Carlos F. Pardo V.
Pardinus Research
pardinus at yahoo.com



		
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