[sustran] Re: UN "ambassador" for public transport?

[Chris Bradshaw]

I missed this discussion a week ago.

I favour "Streets for People" Ambassador.  "New Mobility" is ambiguous, as 
it would mean 'cars' in the developing world, and 'mobility' in my mind is 
juxtaposed with what roads are all about: access.  As to ABC (anything but 
cars), that is emphasizing what we are against, rather than what we are for. 
And 'sustainable transportation' uses two long, technical terms that will 
bore, rather than enliven.

"Streets for People", the title of one of the first books championing 
walking in cities (by Rudofsky, I think), also offers support for the 1 
million people -- a large % of whom are pedestrians -- who lose their lives 
each year being run down by motor vehicles.  Never hurts to have the health 
'angle' covered.

As to someone filling it, I feel it has to be someone with _both_ a high 
profile outside our field and a personal commitment to our work.

I nominate Bette Midler, who, during a Charlie Rose interview (U.S. Public 
broadcasting) some time ago said that she wanted to retire from performing 
in just a few years and take up urban planning causes.  More recently, she 
has championed community gardens on vacant lots in her native NYC (also the 
native city of the late Jane Jacobs).  And she is a woman.

Someone mentioned another woman, Grey's Anatomy actress Sandra Oh.  She is 
also non-White.  And, she is from an Ottawa suburb, where her parents still 
live and where she has announced she will be spending part of her summer. 
But I don't know her interests outside acting.

Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa