[sustran] Re: principal voices

Sujit Patwardhan sujit at vsnl.com
Thu Dec 23 12:20:29 JST 2004


22 December 2004



Friends,

I don't know how reliable is this method for determining the level of 
expertise, but prompted by Daryl Oster's message I attempted a search on 
"Sreedharan" + transportation and it turned out 863 results, all referring 
to E. Sreeedharan. Curious to try some other names and to check out if the 
number of hits  can indeed be taken as a good indicator for this purpose, 
here are some of the results:

Jaime Lerner: 661

Enrique Penalosa: 679

Todd Litman: 4,300

Ken Livingstone: 42,100

Henry Ford: 149,000

Thought I should share this with friends on the list.

--
Sujit Patwardhan














At 11:15 AM 12/22/2004, you wrote:

>To Whom It May Concern:
>
>According to your "principal voices" website, the principal voices are
>"globally-renowned experts".  If this is true, why is it that a google
>search for Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan (the principal voice for transportation)
>turns up ZERO hits?  If you are looking for an expert try the google search:
>
>"Jerry Schneider" +transportation
>
>This will turn up over 800 hits leading to Transportation Professor
>(retired) Jerry Schneider.  Dr. Schneider is likely the most renowned expert
>on leading edge transportation alternatives.
>
>Another google search:
>
>"Wendell Cox" +transportation
>
>This search will turn up 11,000 hits on this transportation expert. Why not
>ask either of these experts to debate with Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan?
>
>If this is really a debate, why are the public questions limited to 4, and
>why is there no criteria on selection? It appears to that the principal
>voices debates could likely be a showcase for a hidden agenda that will
>after the fact be claimed to have been an internationally recognized debate.
>
>
>Daryl Oster
>(c) 2004  all rights reserved.  ETT, et3, MoPod, "space travel on earth"
>e-tube, e-tubes,  and the logos thereof are trademarks and or service marks
>of et3.com Inc.  For licensing information contact:    et3 at et3.com ,
>www.et3.com  POB 1423, Crystal River FL 34423-1423  (352)257-1310
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com at list.jca.apc.org
> > [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of
> > EcoPlan, Paris
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 7:35 AM
> > To: Sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org; 'UTSG'; 'New Mobility Cafe [NMC]'
> > Cc: 'Margaret Bell'; 'Phil Goodwin'; 'Walter Hook'; 'Lee Schipper'; 'F. O.
> > Montgomery'
> > Subject: [sustran] Proposal to the Principal Voices team
> >
> > Tuesday, December 21, 2004, Paris, France, Europe
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Sustainable World Colleagues,
> >
> >
> >
> > I intend to post the following, or some version of it, tomorrow to the
> > Principal Voices team -- http://www.principalvoices.com
> > <http://www.principalvoices.com/>  -- with whom we now appear to have
> > found an effective communications channel in the person of  Stan Stalnaker
> > of Fortune. As you will possibly note, it is along the lines of a ‘gate
> > crash’ as suggested by the indomitable Dave Wetzel of Transport for
> > London.
> >
> >
> >
> > If you have any thoughts or suggestions to modify or improve on this, I
> > would be most grateful to receive them at your first convenience.  I have
> > tried hard to be a good representative for what I believe to be our shared
> > philosophy, and as you will note I have put myself further as our ‘voice’,
> > which may or my not be the best idea.  I am as always open to better ones.
> >
> >
> >
> > You know, it is my personal philosophy that occasions like this do not
> > pass twice, so when they come up we must reach out and seize them. And so
> > it is here.
> >
> >
> >
> > Your call.
> >
> >
> >
> > Salamaat, Shalom, and Merry Christmas,
> >
> >
> >
> > Eric Britton
> >
> >
> >
> > ******************************************************
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Stan,
> >
> >
> >
> > I appreciate your friendly note of Mon 12/20/2004 and in particular your
> > volunteering to serve as a channel of communication in the event that we
> > have anything of interest to convey to those people who are making your
> > program work. Since time is short with your January start-up date barely
> > ten days away, I should indeed like to get the following comments and
> > suggestions to your team without delay.
> >
> >
> >
> > 1.         Principal Voices Problem ­ The Transportation dialogue
> >
> >
> >
> > In short and speaking in the name of more than one thousand professionals
> > from more than fifty countries with a long term interest and true hands-on
> > experience and competence in matters of transportation policy and practice
> > internationally, I would like to draw your attention to what we regard as
> > two significant shortcomings in your important project as currently
> > framed.  I address you here specifically on the matter of your
> > transportation section and would like to propose a couple of simple fixes,
> > which I might add I have shared worth our several peer networks just to be
> > sure that there is no major objection in principle to what follows.
> >
> >
> >
> > First, you need at least one more transportation voice, possibly two, to
> > have full and competent coverage of the field as it is now defined (we
> > call this New Mobility, as opposed of course to old mobility, but more on
> > that just below).  Does this imply that I think there is anything wrong
> > with having Mr. Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan as leading voice?  Not at all. To
> > the contrary I think it is most exciting to have him willing to join in
> > here as a representative of contemporary thinking and expertise on one
> > side of the sustainable transport debate ­ after all a truly remarkable
> > man: “one of India's greatest civil engineers, the architect of the
> > supposedly unbuildable Konkan Railway linking Mumbai and Mangalore, and,
> > more recently, designer of the Delhi Metro system”. I think it is fair to
> > say that his expertise will do honor to the primarily supply oriented,
> > engineering, build it and they will come perspective of the transportation
> > challenge, but that is at best only half the story.  The rest of the story
> > is if anything in this day and age even more important, so in a moment I
> > will get to our suggestion as to how this might be quickly remedied.
> >
> >
> >
> > The second shortcoming of the current plan is your utter lack of a true
> > feedback and open debate forum ­ this is definitely going to limit the
> > profile, reach, usefulness and contribution of the final product.  (Not
> > only that you are going to limit the newsworthiness of the whole thing,
> > which I imagine is also a factor that need to be brought into the picture,
> > especially given who you people are.)  True enough Time, Fortune and CNN
> > are all three at heart basically broadcast media, and true too each is
> > increasingly interactive ­ why so? because it’s cheap, can get valuable
> > content, greater variety of views, and via its vigor and lively debate
> > bring each of you more faithful customers.  But in this case you seem to
> > be pretty lagged in that department, and what you present thus far is a
> > crystal clear example of one more of those tiring ‘managed debates’ of
> > which we have seen far too many.  We see this all the time in transport
> > and environmental circles, and if you chose to persist in this in the end
> > you always have a dead product
 which I am sure is not what you folks
> > want.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2.         Background ­ The missing half of the mobility story
> >
> >
> >
> > While the author of your transport issues paper has made a fair stab at
> > integrating the more complex sustainability issues in the introduction ­
> > and in particular  is to be commended for his choice of External Links
> > which really does provide a pretty good coverage of the various and quite
> > different points of view ­ the bottom line of your piece is that it is a
> > plea for (a) more supply, (b) waiting for the right time to do better, and
> > (c) tempering ‘calls for reason’ about not doing anything reach that might
> > render the plight of  the hard-pressed existing suppliers of products and
> > services any worse. But dear friends, this is only one point of view, and
> > if you are indeed to live up to your promise of a wide international
> > debate, you have to reach far broader than that.
> >
> >
> >
> > One starting place to turn for more and better is The New Mobility Agenda
> > and its extensive international network of practitioners and proponents.
> > You can find extensive background on the philosophy and accomplishments of
> > this informal, independent but not ineffective international grouping if
> > you go to http://newmobility.org <http://newmobility.org/> .  You may also
> > find good value in the handful of international ‘conversations’ about and
> > expertise on these matters which feed into this movement: via our own New
> > Mobility Cafe at NewMobility at yahoogroups.com, the Sustainable Transport
> > Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (SUSTRAN Network)at
> > http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/, the Universities' Transport Study
> > Group. at http://www.utsg.net/, and Institute for Transportation and
> > Development Policy, the http://www.itdp.org/
> >
> >
> >
> > These fora and the individuals and groups behind them offer a clear cut,
> > leading edge, world level state of the art, 21st century awareness of the
> > issues and the full range of solutions -- and while there is no aversion
> > on the part of most of us to building new systems and expanding
> > infrastructure in specific cases, we tend to be far more reserved and I
> > would like to say sophisticated, and indeed practical, when it comes to
> > better management of the infrastructure and systems we already have in
> > place. Moreover, we tend too to be rather ambitious when it comes to the
> > creative integration of new communications technologies into the overall
> > systemic infrastructure, and that too might be one of the more promising
> > avenues of the discussions and debate.
> >
> >
> >
> > Bottom line: Unless you find a way to factor in not only the points of
> > view of the people and groups who constitute this new leading edge in
> > transport thinking and policy, you will end up with a tame kitty.  It’s
> > that simple.
> >
> >
> >
> > Now how to get the structure in shape to do this job.  Well there are a
> > number of possibilities as you may well image, but here you have my no-
> > wait proposal.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3.         Solution proposed
> >
> >
> >
> > The Voices:
> >
> >
> >
> > First and with characteristic modesty, I propose that you add my name as a
> > ‘voice’  to your transportation component to ensure that the New Mobility
> > Agenda approach is also fairly and fully represented.  My thought is that
> > I can then act as a relay to ensure that our collective voices, principal
> > too, are heard.  Why me? Well, because I am here, generally competent from
> > this perspective, pretty much able to work the network that you need to
> > bring in, and ready to do to work on this because I think it’s important.
> > Also since time is short, I would save you the beauty contest to find
> > someone better.
> >
> >
> >
> > Who else?  Well, you have three slots for the Environment and Business
> > ‘Conversations’ and I think we should have three for our critical
> > transportation dialogue as well. I know several dozen each of whom could
> > do a fine job at this, but time is short so I have to work with what comes
> > most immediately to mind in this specific context.  Here you have two
> > candidates each of whom with deep qualifications and records of
> > accomplishment, a strong international reach, with ideas that often
> > diverge from my own, who might do very well indeed here (maybe better than
> > me in fact but forget I said that):
> >
> > o        Walter Hook, who is Executive Director of the Institute for
> > Transportation and Development Policy, a Non-governmental Organization
> > dedicated to promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable
> > transportation policies and projects in developing countries and Central
> > and Eastern Europe, and whom you can reach at whook at itdp.org; and/or
> >
> > o        Lee Schipper, who currently is Co-Director, of the EMBARQ project
> > of the World Resources Institute, and who has done quite a lot with your
> > Shell sponsors (which might help ease the pain). schipper at wri.org.
> > Moreover since the closing transport debate is slated for Mexico City, a
> > place where Lee works pretty extensively, it might be good to have him
> > there to factor in his competence and presence for the physical events.
> > That’s schipper at wri.org
> >
> >
> >
> > The Debate Forum/Discussions:
> >
> >
> >
> > We will be pleased to work with you to set this up in a way that will do
> > the job. The idea is that it should be wide open, lively, well plugged in
> > to the full range of expertise and views, and that it be well managed to
> > stay on topic.  Also since the web technology on all this is moving along
> > quite smartly, this could be a good occasion for us to work with your best
> > technical people to find a really strong, readable, appealing way to
> > handle this.
> >
> >
> >
> > A Final Thought for you: Other Technologies to integrate into this
> > process.
> >
> >
> >
> > *     Have a look at http://newmobilitypartners.org and see if any of the
> > dialoguing and conferencing options set out there might be put to good use
> > in this context.  It is worth at least a thought.
> >
> >
> >
> > There you have it Principal Voice friends. We invite you to respond to
> > this and work with us, because we think it is important.  And because if
> > you truly believe in sustainable development and social justice, it’s just
> > the right thing to do.
> >
> >
> >
> > Best,
> >
> >
> >
> > Eric Britton
> >
> >
> >
> > Convener, The New Mobility Agenda at http://newmobility.org
> > <http://newmobility.org/>
> >
> > Free video/voice conferencing at http://newmobilitypartners.org
> > <http://newmobilitypartners.org/>
> >
> >
> >
> > The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative at http://ecoplan.org
> > <http://ecoplan.org/>
> >
> > Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara          75006 Paris, France
> >
> > E: postmaster at newmobility.org          T: +331 4326 1323
> >
> > --- Outgoing mail certified Virus Free.  Checked by Norton Anti-Virus
> >
> >
> >
> > The Commons Open Society Sustainability Initiative: Seeking out and
> > supporting new sustainability concepts for business, entrepreneurs,
> > activists, community groups, and government; a thorn in the side of
> > hesitant administrators and politicians; and through our joint efforts,
> > energy and personal choices, placing them and ourselves firmly on the path
> > to a more sustainable and more just society.
> >
> >


Sustainable Urban Transport
---------------------------------------------------
Sujit Patwardhan
Member

PTTF
Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum,
c/o Parisar, "Yamuna",
ICS Colony,Ganeshkhind Road,
Pune 411 007

Tel: +91 20 25537955
Cell: +91 98220 26627
Email: contact at pttf.net, sujit at vsnl.com
-----------------------------------------------------  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20041223/5c0c7c84/attachment.html


More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list