[Carfreeliving] Fwd: [world-carfree-news_eng] WORLD CARFREE NEWS
#23 - AUGUST 2005
Jason Henderson
jhenders at sbcglobal.net
Wed Aug 10 04:43:23 MDT 2005
Fellow carfree advocates:
I hope the happy hour was good last week and everyone
is having a good summer. I am in Switzerland at the
moment and somewhat immobilized by a back problem that
required surgery - so my stay is extended. Not a bad
place to be stuck i guess. Anyway, while laid up in
the hospital I wrote up some comments on the Draft EIR
for the Market Octavia Better Neighborhoods Plan which
I thought I would post here for feedback or critique
of the critique. Maybe I have too much time on my
hands. I have been told that the deadline for comments
was extended to Aug 23rd (it was Aug 9th). So if
anyone out there is inclined to do so, and has not
done so yet, I think that it is important for the
record to defend the M & O plan, which the EIR does
not. In fact, the EIR is disheartening to me. But no
suprises.
The big problems are the usual - LOS and parking. Also
, it took 2 1/2 years for this EIR to be released and
in that time a lot of very good ideas for
transit-bike-ped might have been analyzed but were not
- they are listed in Appendix B.
ciao, Hope to be back soon.
-jh
--- Dave Snyder <dave at livablecity.org> wrote:
> >Dear readers,
> >Thanks to all of those who have sent in
> contributions for this and
> >past bulletins. Other ways to contribute to our
> work, might see you
> >joining World Carfree Network or subscribing to Car
> Busters magazine.
> > For more information visit
> <http://www.worldcarfree.net/support/>.
> >
> >________________________
> >
> >WORLD CARFREE NEWS >>>
> >____________________________________
> >
> >Edition no. 23 - August 2005 - English version
>
>...........................................................
> >
> >
> >Contents:
> >
> >QUOTATION OF THE MONTH
> >
> >IN BRIEF
> >
> >WORLD NEWS
> >- CHINA'S RAGE: THE BICYCLE VERSUS THE AUTOMOBILE
> >- US TRANSPORT BILL APPROVED
> >- PEAK PLATINUM: THE HYDROGEN CAR
> >
> >NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS
> >- TCFC V: BUDAPEST CONFERENCE REPORT
> >
> >GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
> >- VELO MONDIAL 2006, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, MARCH
> 5-10, 2006
> >- SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
> >- HAVE YOUR SAY IN IMPROVING THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT
> >
> >DISCLAIMER
> >
> >__________________
> >
> >QUOTATION OF THE MONTH >>
> >__________________________
> >
> >
> >"A car does a service for a man as it does for a
> woman. Men need to
> >be educated in design. Women need to be educated in
> the car culture."
> > - Genevieve Gorder, television actress, in
> Celebrity Car Magazine
> >
> >__________________
> >
> >IN BRIEF >>
> >__________________________
> >
> >
> >- Ukranian president Victor Yuschenko has disbanded
> the country's
> >traffic police department because they are too
> corrupt.
> >
> >- In the wake of the attacks on the London
> Underground, cycling
> >trips are up by 50,000 a week.
> >
> >- If you walk up to a "drive-thru" window [where
> people can order
> >burgers and coffee without getting out of their
> cars] at Dunkin'
> >Donuts you will not get served.
> >
> >- Polish Environment Minister Tomasz Podgajniak
> called his country's
> >plans for a new motorway network behind the times
> because the
> >"automotive industry is not so crucial for the
> development of the
> >economy as it used to be."
> >
> >- Chrysler is organising street parties (called
> "Rock the Block")
> >for Chrysler owners only. For US$95 owners can
> learn cigar rolling
> >and improve their golf swing.
> >
> >- Denmark's vehicle registration tax is EUR16,000,
> the highest in Europe.
> >
> >- The Indian state of Gujarat, writes the Institute
> for
> >Transportatation and Development Policy, is
> promoting bike lanes in
> >the capital, Ahmedabad.
> >
> >- David Piper, the new head of General Motors
> Powertrain Europe, was
> >hit and killed by a car, a day before he was
> scheduled to assume his
> >new duties. He was riding his bicycle.
> >
> >
> >_______________
> >
> >WORLD NEWS >>
> >__________________
> >
> >
> >CHINA'S RAGE: THE BICYCLE VERSUS THE AUTOMOBILE
> >[submitted by Daniel Lerch and edited from "The
> Washington Post" report]
> >
> >A minor traffic incident on a Sunday afternoon in
> Chizhou, China
> >sparked a riot that evolved over eight chaotic
> hours into an
> >"expression of rage against the Chinese Communist
> Party's new
> >fascination with businessmen, profits and economic
> growth," reports
> >the Washington Post.
> > The following is the Post's account of what
> happened:
> > Liu Liang, a computer student, was pedaling his
> bicycle by the
> >downtown vegetable market. Driving down the same
> street was Wu
> >Junxing, deputy manager of a hospital.
> > Liu's bicycle and Wu's sedan collided, sending
> Liu crashing to
> >the ground. Almost immediately, witnesses said,
> Liu, 22, and Wu, 34,
> >began arguing over who was at fault. In the heat of
> the dispute,
> >they said, Liu damaged one of Wu's side-view
> mirrors, prompting Wu's
> >bodyguards to beat the young man, leaving him
> bleeding from his
> >mouth and ears.
> > After they saw what happened to Liu, Chizhou's
> self-described
> >"common people" rose up against what they saw as
> their local
> >government's willingness to side with rich outside
> investors [Wu was
> >not from the area] against Chizhou's own. By the
> end of the evening,
> >10,000 Chizhou residents had filled the streets.
> > "When anger boils up in your heart so long, it
> has to burst,"
> >said a Chizhou man who was part of the crowd that
> night.
> > By 5 pm, the mob turned its attention to Wu's
> sedan, overturning
> >it, pummeling it with rocks and then setting it
> afire with cigarette
> >lighters, the witnesses said. Two police cars
> suffered the same fate
> >an hour later, they added, and the police van was
> also trashed and
> >set ablaze.
> > The crowd cheered and shouted at the sight of
> government vehicles burning.
> > Before calm returned to the streets, the
> disturbance had become a
> >political rebellion against the increasingly
> intimate connection in
> >modern China between big money and the Communist
> government.
> >
> >
> >US TRANSPORTATION BILL APPROVED
> >
> >The US House of Representatives has approved a
> US$286.4 billion
> >highway and transit bill over the 2004-2009 period,
> including $50
> >billion for bus, train and other transit programs.
> It is expected to
> >be signed into law.
> > Despite committed efforts within Congress, says
> director Anne
> >Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Project,
> the bill did not
> >raise transit's share of total funding, increase
> eligibility for
> >passenger rail investment, or promote more walking
> and bicycling.
> >Under the current bill, 80 percent of the money
> will go to road
> >projects, 18 percent to mass transportation and the
> remainder to
> >transportation safety and other projects, such as
> $2.3 million for
> >landscaping on the Ronald Reagan Freeway in
> California.
> > "Congress also missed several opportunities to
> help families deal
> >with rising gas prices, curb the nation's growing
> oil dependency and
> >accelerate efforts to reduce climate altering
> emissions," says Canby.
> > "This bill takes little action to improve
> energy security," says
> >Michael Replogle, Director of Environment Defense.
> "More than ever,
> >it will be up to state and local officials to put
> in place
> >transportation policy that protects our health and
> environment."
> >
> >
> >PEAK PLATINUM: THE HYDROGEN CAR
> >[submitted by Jason Meggs]
> >
> >As the car industry puts billions of dollars into
> developing
> >so-called clean hydrogen- powered vehicles, The
> Financial Times
> >reports that "the new fuel comes with its own
> built-in commodity
> >crisis."
> > "Today's experimental hydrogen fuel cells use
> so much platinum
> >that there is not enough of the precious metal to
> replace all the
> >world's petrol engines."
> > "With the current type of technology we know
> already that
> >platinum supplies will not be sufficient," says
> Kazuo Okamoto,
> >Toyota's new head of research and development.
> > "At the current 60 grams or so of platinum in
> each fuel cell,"
> >writes The Financial Times, "the world's 780
> million cars and trucks
> >would use 46,800 tons of the metal, just below the
> 47,570 tons
> >estimated to be still in the ground"
> > "If fuel cells power 80 per cent of cars by
> 2050, miners will be
> >unable to extract platinum fast enough."
> > Furthermore, a London Department of Transport
> study found that
> >there are "significant environmental impacts
> associated with
> >platinum mining and refining."
> >
> >
> >________________________
> >
> > WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
> > __________________________________________
> >
> >
> >TCFC V: BUDAPEST CONFERENCE REPORT
> >
> >After all of the presentations, workshops and
> informal meetings over
> >food, the fifth Towards Carfree Cities conference
> in Budapest,
> >Hungary, lived up to the standards set by the four
> previous
> >conferences. Clean Air Action Group were excellent
> hosts and
> >organisers, bringing together Hungarian activists
> and politicians,
> >along with international guests. The Hungarian
> press, television and
> >radio media covered the conference extensively.
> > At the Annual General Meeting, a new steering
> committee and
> >advisory board were approved. Their profiles are on
> our website at
> ><www.worldcarfree.net/about_us/>.
> > The conference also gave participants the
> opportunity to develop
> >projects, both existing and developing.
> > A handful of groups from Poland, Hungary and
> Slovakia launched
> >The Visegrad Mobile Resource Centre, a three-year
> project, supported
> >by the Visegrad Fund, that will see translations of
> resources into
> >Czech, Slovak, Polish and Hungarian, and the
> creation of a Car
> >Busters anthology and a cutting your car use type
> book, also in
> >these four languages.
> > There was a meeting for the carfree area pilot
> project and
> >discussions are continuing on-line. A new press
> working group was
> >established, in the hopes of building on the
> success of the WCN
> >publicity campaign about the Bangladeshi rickshaw
> drivers. Their
> >first task will be to react to the current Critical
> Mass crackdowns
> >and police abuse of cyclists in New York City.
> > Thanks to Clean Air Action Group for their hard
> work, and also to
> >the Hungarian Young Greens, whose participation and
> contribution
> >made the conference productive and exciting, and
> gave all a richer
> >perspective on life in Budapest.
> >
> >
> >___________________
> >
> >ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
> >______________________________
> >
> >
> >VELO MONDIAL 2006, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, MARCH
> 5-10, 2006
> >
> >The Velo Mondial 2006 Marketplace is a venue for
> innovative
> >bicycle-friendly, sustainable transport and
> non-motorised transport
> >projects from cities and towns across the world.
> Velo Mondial would
> >like to feature a wide range of projects and
> research, highlighting
> >successes as well as failures, and achievements as
> well as the
> >problems encountered. Presented in case study
> format, they can be
> >projects underway, or recently concluded, or
> research into the
> >impact of projects that have been implemented.
> > The deadline to submit an abstract is August
> 12, 2005 and
> >successful authors will be notified by September
> 23, 2005.
> > Visit <www.velomondial2006.com> for further
> conference
> >information and to submit
> >an abstract.
> >
> >
> >SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
> >
> >Interested in staying informed about sustainable
> transport
> >initiatives in the developing world? Check out the
> Sustainable
> >Transport e-Update, published bi-monthly by the
> Institute for
> >Transportation and Development Policy. The e-Update
> typically offers
> >five to eight short news briefs covering regional
> initiatives
> >ranging from Bus Rapid Transit to bicycle safety
> and planning to
> >urban revitalization. The latest issue visits
> India, Ecuador, China,
> >and more. To view the full stories, visit
> <www.itdp.org/index.html>.
> >
> >
> >HAVE YOUR SAY IN IMPROVING THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT
> >[submitted by Todd Edelman]
> >
> >The European Commission is seeking public opinion
> on the state of
> >the urban environment and how to improve it. The
> information
> >provided by the public will [in theory] form part
> of the
> >Commission's strategy trategy aimed at improving
> the quality of the
> >urban environment.
> > The consultation document which the public can
> give comments is
> >available in many languages at
>
>http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/urban/public_consultation_2005.htm.
> >
> >
> >___________________
> >
> > DISCLAIMER >>
> > __________________
> >
> >We have heard enough about the hyper-green rhetoric
> of the hydrogen
> >economy, hybrids and sustainabilty. Why does not
> anyone hype the
> >bike-lane economy? Why aren't billions of dollars
> poured into a high
> >tech network of bike lanes? Why did we invent cars
> anyway?
> >
> >- Steven Logan
> >
> >[end]
> >
> >World Carfree News is published once a month by
> World Carfree Network.
> >To unsubscribe, send an email to:
>
><world-carfree-news_eng-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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Jason Henderson
San Francisco CA
(415)-255-8136
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