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

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

Hi,

I like "Streets for People" too and Midler is okay but Sandra Oh is 
younger. The most important thing it seems is their ability to be 
identified with by the target audience(s) and also that they are 
credible in the subject area, though not necessarily an activist of any 
sort.

- T

Chris Bradshaw wrote:
> 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
>
>
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Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

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