[sustran] mayor of Helsinki, Finland, wants to attract more cars to the centre

[eric.britton]

From: Silfverberg Leena [mailto:leena.silfverberg at ymparisto.fi] 
Sent: Monday, 19 November 2007 09:10



 

Dear Eric, Mari and Lee,

 

Our mayor Jussi Pajunen really has generated a lively discussion about urban
mobility: Along to Helsingin Sanomat newspaper's gallup, majority (60 %) of
people think that cars do not belong to the city at all, even the most
conservative taxi drivers say that they want to have congestion charges to
decrease the amount of cars etc. 

 

Pajunen's opinion about car drivers spending conciderable sums of money
comes from the viewpoint of the city's greatest department store Stockmann.
More extensive research shows, that the share of money flow is similar to
the modal split: public transport passengers are the most important
customers also because they visit various shops whereas car drivers only
make their purchases in one store - Stockmann offers free parking for big
purchases, which makes the cash receipts show cars even more significance.
All in all, this is not a matter of logical reasoning but attitude. 

 

Anyway, he cannot make the decisions himself. A couple of weeks ago, a new
deputy Mayor was elected for Helsinki. He is Mr. Hannu Penttilä, who now
works as head of the Helsinki Metropolitan Council (responsible e.g. for
public transport). I saw him in TV answering the question about his visions
to improve the city: "At least I can promise, that after one year it will be
much easier to ride a bike in the city centre!"

 

I want to thank you for concerning about Helsinki - - - and once again wish
the best luck for Hannu!

 

Leena

 

Leena Silfverberg

Ministry of the Environment Finland

PO Box 35, FIN-00023 Government

Tel. +358 400 143 965 

 

 


  _____  


Lähettäjä: Lee Schipper [mailto:schipper at wri.org] 
Lähetetty: 19. marraskuuta 2007 7:07
Vastaanottaja: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
Kopio: Mari Jüssi; Silfverberg Leena
Aihe: RE: [NewMobilityCafe] mayor of Helsinki, Finland,wants to attract more
cars to the centre

Strange. The Deputy Mayor was in Dalian, China, in early September at a W
Economic forum event extolling his sustainable transport plans.

 

Lee Schipper

Director of Research,

EMBARQ the WRI Center for  Sustainable Transport

www.embarq.wri.org

and

Visiting Scholar,

Univ of Calif Transport Center

Berkeley CA

www.uctc.net

skype: mrmeter

 

From: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of eric.britton
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 8:11 AM
To: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
Cc: Mari Jüssi; 'Leena Silfverberg'
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] mayor of Helsinki, Finland, wants to attract more
cars to the centre

 

Thanks for the bad news Mari.  

 

I propose that we bat this around a bit here. To get it going . . . 

 

1.     Let’s assume that the mayor Pajunen is not out to gut his wonderful
city’s sustainability profile, but simply standing right in front of a
genuine dilemma: this being the all too well known fear of center city
merchants and businesses to be driven out of business as a result of
competition with all those malls, big box stores, etc. out in the low rent
urban periphery.



2.     We have a big advantage here, since this is a very familiar problem
profile and reaction pattern. 



3.     We know too that the merchants fixate on the idea that their
customers want to, need to be able to drive right up to their front doors,
make their purchases and then lug them all in their car to wherever it is
they live. 



4.     By the same token they are blind to the ultimate implications of
car-favoritism in cities. 



5.     Our great advantage is that we have seen this same familiar sequence
many times over and we know where it leads to. 



6.     We as folks who are trying to make or influence public policy have to
understand these fears, and then be able to come up with not one, but an
integrated package of measure that will help them with this new competitive
environment.



7.     It would be  a huge pity if the expert and responsible citizen
communities in Helsinki did pull together to work with those who are
concerned about their slice of the city’s well-being and active health, to
find a creative collaborative response – instead of giving into that very
very bad primal survival instinct. 

 

So what can the New Mobility Agenda, or you, do to help the mayor and the
city in this case? 

 

Eric Britton



 

 

 

On Behalf Of Mari Jüssi
Sent: Friday, 16 November 2007 12:05
To: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] mayor of Helsinki, Finland, wants to attract more
cars to the centre

 


Interesting statement from a mayor of a city that has very good public
transport system and cycle paths, ca 70% of commuting trips are made by
public transport and the whole metropolitan region has invested a lot into
smart growth type of developments along rail corridors.
The mayor of Helsinki came out with this statement after he had met with a
trade and industry lobby group of central Helsinki.


Greetings, 
Mari
Estonian Green Movement
http://www.autovaba.ee
............................


Mayor wants more cars in central Helsinki


15.11.2007 at 18:12

Jussi Pajunen, the mayor of Helsinki, said Thursday that it was important to
attract more motorists into the centre of the Finnish capital.

Mr Pajunen added he feared that Helsinki was in danger of becoming a
US-style satellite city whose inhabitants preferred to visit large shopping
centres instead of doing their shopping in the city centre.

According to Mr Pajunen, customers travelling by car must be served well
because they spend considerable sums of money.

/STT/

© Copyright STT 2007 

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