[sustran] Re: Jakarta: Activists say Carfree Days are "A Waste" ( need confirmation)

[Roselle Leah K. Rivera]

I really wonder if that is an exact quote from Daroyni, the indonesian environmental activist 
( or maybe it might be just another  journalistic device for the desired impact of the article's strong heading).
Walter might confirm for us if Daroyni indeed declared that dangerous word "waste"--  for every newspaper to feast on.
Or maybe it was said out of context?
Hurray, cheered the die hard fossil fuel box users.

No committed  advocate in his/her  right mind would ever declare efforts as a "waste" since the process of
even having declared carless days, including all the road closures in Indonesia -- are milestones in themselves. 

Public participation is not an overnight thing.
It takes some time---- this overturning  of the tide of the power of the noise of people in their comfort zones ( bureaucrats, etc in the case as was mentioned) . Come on, they just started the carless days in 2007, its been barely  2 years.
The article mention little gains. Talk about balanced reporting.


 
 
ROSELLE LEAH K RIVERA
Department of Women and Development Studies
College of Social Work and Community Development
University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City
Philippines

PhD Fellow in Development Studies
Institute of Social Studies
The Hague, The Netherlands






________________________________
From: Carlosfelipe Pardo <carlosfpardo at gmail.com>
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org; johnernst at itdp.org; damantoro at gmail.com; Breithaupt Manfred GTZ 4413 <Manfred.Breithaupt at gtz.de>; dino.teddyputra at gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 11:42:07 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Jakarta: Activists say Carfree Days are "A Waste"

Funny... The Universidad de los Andes did a study last September comparing days with ciclovia (Sunday carfree) and regular days in Bogotá, and found, among others, that PM10 was 13 times higher during a weekday, and noise was 7 times higher. This was done with actual measurements during various days, so it would be more relevant than the opinions shown below... the full study is available (in Spanish) from Olga Lucía Sarmiento <osarmien at uniandes.edu.co> 

Best regards,

Carlos.


2009/2/24 Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory <edelman at greenidea.eu>

Activists: Car-Free Days Are ‘A Waste’http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/city/article/10931.html


Environmental
activists on Monday urged the Jakarta Administration to temporarily
halt its car-free days on selected city roads, saying a re-evaluation
was needed because the event had failed to reduce air pollution and
loose regulations have resulted in many violations, including those by
senior officials.
“Legally, the car-free
days cannot be stopped, but the city administration should halt them
temporarily and conduct a review of what went wrong. Honestly, it’s
been such a waste,” Selamet Daroyni, the executive director of the
Jakarta branch of Indonesian Forum for the Environment, or Walhi, told
a press conference.
Selamet said car-free
days, generally on Sundays, had failed to achieve the short-term
objective of minimizing air pollution and also had failed to encourage
Jakarta residents to be more environmentally friendly and less
dependent on cars.
“If we perceive this
issue from the three success indicators, I’d say these events did not
help much,” Selamet said. 
He said the indicators
were public participation, air pollution reduction and public
obedience, including by government officials and law enforcers.
Ahmad Safrudin, of the
Committee for Phasing Out Leaded Gasoline, said car-free days merely
relocated traffic flow from one place to another without reducing air
pollutants..
He said that a report by
the Jakarta Environmental Management Board, or BPLHD, that air
pollution has decreased significantly was unreliable.
“Jakarta has five air
quality monitoring systems, but only one of them is working, so I doubt
the report,” he said.
Ahmad said the
inefficiency of car-free days had been proven by many violations, with
some of the violators being government officials and policemen.
Responding to criticism,
Rina Suryani, the BPLHD head of natural resources monitoring, said they
had scientific measurements to prove that car-free days had in fact
contributed significantly to air pollution reduction. 
“In some parts of
Jakarta, the air quality has gotten better because of this program,”
she said.
Rina said the board
could not enforce sanctions against violators because the 2005 bylaw
enabling car-free days had not stipulated any.
Jakarta’s car-free days
began in September 2007 and are held on the last Sunday of each month. 
This year BPLHD has
scheduled 22 road closure events.
-- 
--------------------------------------------

Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory

Urbanstr. 45
D-10967 Berlin
Germany

Skype: toddedelman
Mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081
Home/Office: ++49 030 7554 0001

edelman at greenidea.eu www.greenidea.eu www.flickr.com/photos/edelman

CAR is over. If you want it.

"Fort mit der Autostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" 
- B. Brecht (with slight modification)
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