April-June 1993 Volume 1 No. 3
AUTO-FREE ZONE is published quarterly by
Auto-Free Ottawa, Box 21045, 151A Second
Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 5N1, Canada, and is
mailed to subscribers or members of Auto-Free
Ottawa (see form back page).
Auto-Free Ottawa is a non-profit volunteer
group, whose mandate is to draw public
attention to the full costs of our car-dominated
transportation system, and to point out
ecologically sustainable and socially rewarding
alternatives.
Opinions expressed in AFZ do not necessarily
reflect those of Auto-Free Ottawa members.
Readers are encouraged to submit articles,
annoucements, and graphics. Articles should
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limited to 1,000 words. Letters to AFZ must be
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Reproduction of editorial content is welcome
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Editor:
Lucy Segatti
Contributors:
Ann Coffey, Neale MacMillan, Peter Martin,
Terry McIntyre, Ken Toews, Ian Whyte
Graphic: Cathy Woodgold
Advertising:
For information on advertising rates, please
contact Auto-Free Ottawa at the address above
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Deadline for next issue: Summer solstice 1993
(June 21).
AFZ is printed on unbleached, 100% post-
consumer recycled paper.
A grant from Canada Trust's Friends of the
Environment Foundation covered the printing
and part of the mailing costs of this issue.
AUTO-FREE OTTAWA ACTIVITIES
UPDATE
Since the last issue of auto-free zone, AFO
protested the auto show at the Ottawa
Congress Centre calling for a ban on car
advertising and auto shows, submitted
comments on the Sewell Commission's
draft report, wrote letters against the
proposal for an interprovincial bridge in
Ottawa\Outaouais, and against mandatory
helmets for cyclists, had a literature table at
PEACEX '93, and began organizing for the
2nd Annual "Streets For People"
Celebration in the Byward Market in June.
IF CARS ARE HERE TO STAY,
THEN HUMANS AREN'T!!
GLOBAL COOLING
Planet Earth cooled sharply during 1992,
according to data collected by Britain's
Meteorological Office. Researchers
blame the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in
1991, which has left a thin veil of dust in
the upper atmosphere.
It also coincided with the end of an El
Ni¤o event, the periodic switch in the
winds and ocean currents of the Pacific
that is usually associated with the planet's
warmest years.
The cooling is thought to be a blip in the
strong warming trend of the past 20
years, which many believe is caused by
the greenhouse effect.
World temperatures are currently
compared with the 30-year average
between 1951 and 1980. The global
average temperature for the first 11
months of last year was 0.17øC higher
than this long-term average, down from
the +0.36øC in 1991, and +0.39øC in
1990, the hottest year on record.
(New Scientist, 9 Jan 93)
ECOLOGICAL TIME BOMB WAITING
TO EXPLODE OVER DELHI
Winter in Delhi, once a sunny season of
celebration, is now an eye-watering fog of
pollution in which breathing the air in the
city's central core is equivalent to
smoking 20 cigarettes a day.
In the evening rush hour, 1.2 million basic
two-wheel scooters, often carrying four or
five people, weave among diesel-powered
buses and heavy trucks. Overhead,
billboards warn motorists to consider
pollution masks. [...]
Like a dozen other megacities around the
world, Delhi now knows that urban
progress has its price, as upwardly mobile
Indians flaunt their economic arrival by
taking to the roads.
As many as 600 new vehicles a day, most
of them scooters, join Delhi's rush for
successþa rush that the World Health
Organization says may soon make the
city's air quality the worst in the world.
Nor is Delhi alone. A recent WHO
report indicated that motor vehicles are
turning metropolises such as Beijing,
Manila, Bangkok and Bombay into
environmental time bombs.
Over the next 20 to 30 years, the total
number of vehicles in the world is
expected to double to about 1.2 billion,
with most of the expansion coming in
Eastern Europe and the fast-growing
cities of Southeast Asia. In India alone,
the number of registered vehicles has
doubled in just five years to 21.5 million.
(Globe and Mail, 16 Feb 93)
AFTER THE INFERNO: KUWAIT HAS
STOPPED BURNING BUT QUESTIONS
STILL SMOLDER
[...] Who ordered U.S. government
scientists not to talk about the
environmental impact of the fires?
The censorship was imposed during the
war, allegedly to protect national security,
but it continued for months afterwards at
such agencies as the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. A
cable sent by the State Department on
June 16 to diplomatic posts in the Persian
Gulf region noted that predictions
concerning "the risks from the oil fire
smoke to human health, the environment,
crop productivity and the global
climate...should be considered as little
more than guesswork." At that time, U.S.
officials were publicly claiming that such
risks were insignificant. (Scientific
American, Jan 92)
RURAL RESIDENTS POLLUTE MORE
THAN CITY SLICKERS
Ottawa-Carleton's rural and suburban
residents create more air pollution in the
region than their downtown counterparts
because of their dependency on their cars,
a consultant's report says.
Rural Ottawa-Carleton, for example,
consumes energy and produces pollutants
at 1 1/2 times the rate of the urban areas,
according to the report.
The study also says the growth of new
communities in places such as Nepean
and Gloucester will increase automobile
energy use by 45 per cent by 2001.
Carbon dioxide emissions, which
contribute to global warming, will also
increase by a similar margin. That's
because these areas are bedroom
communities from which residents will
drive to work. The good news is that
toxic emissions such as carbon monoxide
could decrease because of improved car
technology.
Steve Schibuola, a transportation and
environmental planner with the Toronto-
based IBI Group which authored the
report, said Tuesday that rural residents
often have no choice but to use
automobiles because of a lack of bus
service. But he said suburban residents
are hooked on the car, and even where
there are bus services, most prefer to
drive. (Ottawa Citizen, 24 Feb 93)
Mark Roseland's
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES:
A Resource Book for Municipal and Local
Governments
The subtitle of this book is misleading. It
should be called a resource book for community and
environmental activists or "average citizens". The
suggestions and resources cited in Towards Sustainable
Communities are just too long-sighted, cost-effective
and realistic to be of any use to most goverments
intent on safeguarding the status quo. Copies of this
resource book were mailed to municipalities across
Canada, which means your Councillor probably
received a copy. However, have they read it? Do
they recall receiving it? Perhaps they need a
reminder.
This source book compiles policy solutions to all sorts
of municipal and community problems, and in some
cases, even gives examples of cities that have gone as
far as to implement sustainable policies.
For example, some of the "Tools" listed in the chapter
on Transportation Planning and Traffic Management
include: road pricing strategies; new approaches to
transportation analysis; trip reduction bylaws; parking
offsets; free or inexpensive transit; traffic calming;
traffic cells; transit marketing.
In the chapter on Land Use and Growth
Management, Roseland cites policies for energy-
efficient land use; selective densification; growth
management (i.e. planning for the future); residential
intensification; transit-oriented developments;
conservation land trusts. Among the initiatives
actually taken in this area are: proximity planning in
Denver, Colorado; energy-efficient land use planning
in Portland, Oregon; compact community policies in
Peterborough; urban villages in Munich and Freiburg;
"commute-sheds" for jobs-housing balance in Southern
California; building permit allocation in Florida.
The chapter on Economic Development refers to a
three-part paper drafted in 1990 by the Maryland-
National Capital Park and Planning Commission
which examines the links between trip reduction and
affordable housing. The self-explanatory titles of the
three parts are: "Trip Reduction, Surplus Surface
Parking and Provision of Housing Near Jobs",
"Making Housing Affordable by Giving up the Second
Car", and "Charging Separately for Parking To Lower
Housing Costs, Car Ownership and Trip Generation".
Mark Roseland makes clear the social, ecological and
economic reasons for adopting a different approach to
planning our communities, but he also provides a
comprehensive and hopeful set of tools and resources
that if used today could put us all on a sane course to
sustainability.
Towards Sustainable Communities is an especially
welcome source book for the average citizen because
it explains the problems and the solutions in clear,
accessible language, and provides innovative and
foolproof ideas (with addresses and phone numbers)
that will doubtless challenge any politician or
bureaucrat still clinging on to 1950s thinking.
Since this book is free, every community association
or citizens' group should get at least one copy and use
the information in it at public meetings to accelerate
change that must come if we hope to keep our planet
liveable and our communities healthy. þ LS
Published by the National Round Table on the Environment and the
Economy
(FREE copies available from NRTEE, 1 Nicholas Street, Ste. 1500,
Ottawa K1N 7B7 (613) 992-7189 Fax: 992-7385)
IF CARS ARE HERE TO STAY, THEN
HUMANS AREN'T!!
(cont'd from page 2)
`DISPERSED' OIL COMES BACK TO
HAUNT SHETLAND
Oil released from the wrecked tanker
Braer off Shetland, which virtually
disappeared from view during storms late
last week, is reappearing in brown
emulsified patches along the west coast of
the island.
First sightings of widespread oily brown
foam, included in reports from aerial
surveys made on Monday morning, bring
fears that the pollution disaster, far from
being over, may only be entering a new
phase.
"The behaviour of the oil has confounded
everyone," says John Baxter of Scottish
Natural Heritage. "A large amount of the
84 000 tonnes originally on board the
Braer is still somewhere in the system,
probably diluted by the water column.
But we don't know where." [...]
Evidence that the oil has done damage to
organisms on the seabed came from
divers who began a survey of 33 bays late
last week, before the storms returned.
Marine Life Rescue, a group of British
divers, found "quite large numbers of
dead urchins and razor shells" at depths
down to 20 metres off Scousburgh, close
to a bird reserve.
Mark Tasker of the Joint Nature
Conservation Committee reported this
week that 1 000 dead oiled birds had so
far been recovered from the beaches of
southern Shetland and a further 300 were
covered, oiled but still alive. "Around the
west side of Sumburgh Head, virtually
every bird inshore has died," he said.
They included hundreds of great northern
divers, shags and black guillemots. [...]
"This stuff will not disperse as quickly as
the Norwegian crude," said Tasker. "And
if it drifts towards areas of coastline
where there is still plenty of life, such as
the east coast, it could do a lot of
damage." þ Fred Pearce (New Scientist,
23 Jan 93)
LOW OIL AND GASOLINE PRICES
HAVE LED TO INCREASED
CONSUMPTION
Consumers respond to low oil prices by
consuming more oil and gasoline. For
example, after oil prices declined in 1986
to almost half their previous level,
average daily oil consumption in the
United States increased by 550,000
barrels to its highest level in 5 years.
Relatively low oil prices, along with other
factors such as higher economic growth,
contributed to a steady increase in U.S.
oil consumption between 1986 and 1989.
Consumption fell in 1990 because of
higher oil prices triggered by the Persian
Gulf War; it fell again in 1991 in
response to the economic recession. But
despite these temporary reductions,
overall, the United States used about 16.7
million barrels of oil per day in 1991,
compared to 15.7 in 1985. The Energy
Information Administration expects oil
consumption to increase to nearly 20
million barrels per day in 2010. (United
States General Accounting Office, Energy
Policy: Options to Reduce Environmental
and Other Costs of Gasoline Consumption,
September 1992, p. 8)
DEMARKETING CARS: A MULTIPLE
OF FETISHES
Exxon Shipping Co. President Frank
Iarossi stated, when it became clear that
the oil spilled off the coast of Alaska in
1989 was out of control, "that slick is
moving like a super-highway". It is a sad
irony that those gallons of oil fouling the
sea and coastline were destined for the
gluttonous car culture of California. The
oil spill merely precluded its being refined
into gasoline and spewed into the air as
toxic emissions from the exhaust pipes of
automobiles. [...]
According to anthropologist Edward T.
Hall, the car has altered our way of life to
such an extent that "we are now so
completely dependent on it to satisfy so
many needs that it is difficult to conceive
of our giving it up." [...]
The automobile expresses its impervious
force by rolling over "false idols" on a
global scale. In the Third World, public
transport is downgraded and many
human-powered technologies like
trishaws, rickshaws, and bicycles are
dismissed as "graven images".
Transportation policy in many developing
nations is skewed toward the automotive
needs of a car-owning elite. In a bicycle
culture such as China, for example, over
90% of all travel in the cities is by
bicycle. Yet China plans to invest $10
billion in the auto industry and wants to
produce a million cars by the turn of the
century.
We must recognize that transport itself is
a kind of delicate ecological system.
Environmentalists claim that without
species diversity there will be no human
beings. Michael Replogle, Preident of the
Washington-based Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy,
writes that, like the environment,
transport "requires both diversity and
balance and is at its healthiest when
offering many different ways of moving
goods and people across short and long
distances." Diversity and balance is
survival. If we are to reclaim our lives
from the automobile, retrieve the human
parts that get increasingly pulled into the
gears and the wheels of the machine, we
need not give up our fetishistic practices.
Rather, we need to switch allegiance to a
multiple of fetish objectsþwalking sticks,
bicycles, trains, efficient public transport
systems, and the odd neighbourhood
motorcar. þ James Mackintosh sold his
car 12 years ago and voluntarily returned
his drivers' license to the Motor Vehicle
Branch. (Adbusters, 93, Vol. 2, No. 3)
BIKE BAN IN CHINA
A major city in China, where bicycles far
outnumber cars, is set to ban cyclists
from the centre of town as traffic
conditions worsen. Beginning in June,
the city of Guangzhou near Hong Kong
will bar bikes and motorcycles from the
downtown area during daylight hours.
The city has two million bicycles and
220,000 motorcycles among a population
of six million. About 100,000 cars enter
town every day. The huge number of
bicycles and motorcycles is paralyzing
transport in the city. (Globe and Mail, 12
Mar 93)
MORE FUMES LOOM ON EUROPE'S
HORIZON
Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles
will continue to rise in the European
Community until the end of the century,
even though the Community's target is to
maintain emissions at 1990 levels by the
year 2000.
The forecast is included in the
Community's White Paper on transport
policy which was published [in December
1992].
When the Council of Ministers met in
Brussels at the end of My, just before the
Earth Summit, it agreed to hold down
CO2 emissions at 1990 levels. In its
report to the Commission, the British
government said this target could be
achieved by doing "business as usual".
The report stressed that transport should
play its part in meeting the CO2 target
through improvements in fuel efficiency.
However, in its "business as usual"
scenario, the White Paper says: "On
current trends carbon dioxide emissions
from the transport sector will rise by
some 24 per cent between 1990 and
2000." It adds that by 2010 road
transport will be producing 30 per cent of
the Community's CO2 emissions.
The White Paper says technical measures
designed to improve fuel efficiency will
not, on their own, stabilise CO2
emissions. "Calculations...show that even
with a 40 per cent increase in fuel
efficiency of passenger cars by the year
2005, stabilisation of CO2 would not be
achieved by 2010." It adds that "energy-
efficiency improvements will not be
sufficient to compensate for the projected
growth." [...]
Environmentalists say that the proposals
in the Green Paper published last spring
have been significantly watered down in
the White Paper. The Green Paper
argued for a sustainable transport policy,
which would include encouraging public
transport instead of private cars. (New
Scientist, 2 Jan 93)
CANADA'S GREEN PLAN
The Federal Government is slashing its
Green Plan budget for the third time in
two years. The most recent cuts will
reduce the budget by 18% this year and
lose $172 million of the next two and a
half years. (ProbeAbilities, Winter 1993)
RED HILL CREEK EXPRESSWAY
Ontario Liberal Leader Lyn McLeod is
encouraging the construction of the
controversial Red Hill Creek Expressway
through Hamilton's largest park. After
the provincial government cancelled the
project, McLeod urged that the
expressway through the environmentally
sensitive area be built anyway, and
declared that her party would retroactively
pay for the road when they get into
power. (ProbeAbilities, Winter 1993)
SALTY TASTE FROM ICY ROADS
Half the salt dumped on icy roads in
winter ends up in ground water, and
could eventually make it unpleasant and
unhealthy to drink, says a Canadian
researcher. At a meeting of the
Geological Society of America in
Cincinnati, Ken Howard of the University
of Toronto warned that the salt is not
washed away by spring rains and melting
snow as had always been assumed, but
accumulated underground.
Howard studied the fate of salt from
roads around Toronto. Between 1989
and 1991 he monitored chloride levels in
Highland Creek, which drains an area of
104 square kilometres. Using data on the
rate at which water flows in the creek and
official figures on how much salt is spread
on the roads, he calculated that even by
November only about 45 per cent of the
previous winter's salt had been washed
down the creek; the rest remained in the
ground water.
Heavy salting of the roads began about 20
years ago, and Howard says it has already
increased chloride levels in the Toronto
area to about 100 milligrams per litre of
ground water. In rural areas ground
water contains about 10 milligrams of
chloride per litre, and Howard thinks
levels were similar in Toronto 50 years
ago. Salt diffuses slowly as water flows
through the ground.
Howard has measured chloride levels as
high as 14 000 milligrams per litre near
heavily salted roads. He says the current
background levels of around 100
milligrams per litre will increase as more
salt diffuses through the ground. His
computer model predicts that chloride
distribution will reach a steady state after
30 to 40 years of salting, with more than
400 milligrams per litre away from salted
roads and levels about 10 times as high
near roads.
Howard says that over the next 20 years
"we're going to see quite a severe
degradation of water quality". Water
tastes salty if it contains 250 milligrams of
chloride per litre or more. þ Jeff Hecht
(New Scientist, 12 Dec 92)
CARPOOL LANES A DISASTER
Does adding carpool lanes to our
freeways lessen traffic congestion?
Santa Clara traffic engineers think so, as
they continue to misinform the public.
Even though building more carpool lanes
doesn't work, they get promoted as
solutions anyway.
A report called T2010 states that:
"Overall, ridesharing increased
approximately 25% on commuter lane
projects." Nowhere did the engineers
report the huge solo driver increase
resulting from contruction of the HOV
(high occupancy vehicle) lanes.
The fact is, many more solo drivers than
carpoolers were added to the freeways as
a result of the HOV lanes. [...] Solo
drivers account for 79% of the 5,769
vehicles added to the road by constructing
the HOV lane. [Source: Commuter
Lane Performance Evaluation, 1 March
1989].
What happens is that carpools move over
to the HOV lane upon construction,
creating a reserve capacity in the other
lanes that is soon taken up by solo
drivers.
Despite the construction of 115 miles of
carpool lanes in Santa Clara County from
82-90, both the market share of solo
driving and the absolute number of solo
drivers has increased. By any kind of
business analysis, if an investment is made
to increase market share, and after
spending the money the market share
decreases, the investment is unquestionably
a colossal failure.
Yet, the Santa Clara Central Transit
Authority called HOV lane construction
"a great success" as they continue to
misrepresent HOV lanes by selectively
ignoring relevant data in the T2010
report. Their purpose is to exert political
pressure for more road construciton
(their livelihood). [Sound familiar?]
HOV lane construction doesn't help the
air either. By making more space for
cars, air pollution increases. In sharp
contrast, designating existing lanes as
HOVs will decrease air pollution. This
major difference has been whitewashed by
the country traffic engineers and the
T2010 Plan.
Lane construction encourages auto use.
Travelers do not remain in the area of
construction, but travel countywide. The
decrease in congestion locally is only
temporary, while increasing county-wide.
In the constructed areas, congestion
gradually returns because the new lane
influences people's decisions as to where
they live and work. Usually in only a few
years, congestion will equal the
congestion prior to construction. Thus
the construction results in no advantage
(other than for those in the auto, truck or
highway construciton business). Vehicle
miles traveled and air pollution increase,
mobility doesn't.
The Modern Transit Society (MTS) urges
that all existing county concepts for future
HOV lanes (involving constructing more
lanes) be abandoned and that all future
HOV lanes come from existing ones.
Funds currently allocated for HOV lane
construction should be reallocated for
purposes that truly reduce air pollution.
The Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act recently signed by
President Bush give regions that latitude.
MTS plans to join with others to
challenge the clean air "benefit" of
roadway capacity to increases. The
Modern Transit Society can be reached
at PO Box 5582, San Jose, CA 95150. þ
Akos Szoboszlay (Guideway, May 1992)
FRIED SPERM?
The newspapers recently reported two
studies indicating that a significant
reduction in sperm production and semen
quantity has occurred in young men in
recent years. May I suggest a possible
cause? There has been a growing
awareness among radio amateurs of the
possible harmful effect of spending long
periods subject to a high magnetic field
from radio transmitting equipment. I
recently bought an American meter
capable of measuring the magnetic field,
to ensure that the field strength at my
operating position was below what is
considered to be the safety threshold of 3
illigauss.
Various sources of magnetic field were
found in the home in addition to my
transmitter, such as a fish tank air pump,
but as the field strength is inversely
proportional to distance, and falls away
rapidly, none of these was any cause for
concern.
However, on testing the field in my car I
discovered there was a high magnetic field
in the front passenger area which was
emanating from the alternator. The legs
were in a field of 40 to 50 milligauss, the
lower trunk 30 and the head about 2.5.
When I mentioned this discovery to a
medical friend he commented that there
could be no risk because with so many
millions of man hours spent in cars in
recent years, results would have shown by
now. Perhaps the above studies have
done just that. (Letter to New Scientist
from M. Birch, Thirsk, North Yorkshire,
23 Jan 93)
AIR POLLUTION HARMING 50% OF
CANADIANS
More than half of all Canadians are
exposed in summer to unhealthy levels of
smog, Pollution Probe said [...] in a report
released by the Toronto-based
environment group. [...]
Most provinces devote less than 4 per
cent of their environment budgets to air-
quality protection and the country has air-
quality objectivesþwhich are
unenforceableþfor just five common
pollutants, the report adds.
Among the report's disturbing findings:
- Urban smogþmainly from car
exhaustþcontinues to be serious problem
because the increasing number of vehicles
on the road is overwhelming
improvements in emission controls.
Levels of ozoneþthe main component of
smogþhaven't improved in Ontario
during the past 10 years.
-Large quantities of toxic chemicals
continue to be poured into the air. They
include 34,400 tonnes annually of
benzene, a cancer-causing product of
burning gasoline [...] (Toronto Star, 26
Nov 92)
PROMISES WON'T CLEAN CANADA'S
DIRTY AIR
Pollution Probe's report Behind the
Smokescreen: The State of Canada's Air,
released last November documents
chronic and widespread neglect of air
quality issues by both federal and
provincial governments. Pollution Probe
discovered that most provinces allocate
less than 4% of their environmental
budgets to air quality protection, and that
lead, benzene and inhaleable particulates
are among the many dangerous and
common air pollutants without national
enforceable standards or objectives.
Most provinces do very limited air quality
testing. As a consequence, Canadians in
thousands of communities are kept in
the dark about the quality of air they
breathe. Where testing does occur, it
typically takes two to four years for the
results to be released publicly.
Pollution Probe found that the federal-
provincial plan designed to fight urban
smog is wholly inadequate and years
behind schedule, even though summer
smog impacts the health of more than
half of all Canadians. Airborne toxic
chemicals are rarely monitored by either
federal or provincial governments, and
are invariably left unregulated. In most
provinces, industrial polluters are allowed
to ignore air quality guidelines and
degrade the air. Environmental
inspectors often notify air polluters in
advance of their visits, and charges are
rarely laid.
Behind the Smokescreen: The State of
Canada's Air is a useful reference
document for individuals, citizens' groups,
students, researchers and anyone else who
enjoys breathing. Available from
Pollution Probe, 12 Madison Avenue,
Toronto M5R 2S1 for $12.84 (GST
included) + $2.00 postage. (Adapted
from ProbeAbilities, Winter 1993,
emphasis added).
Growth is a stupid goal. So, by the way, is no growth. Growth is beside the point. The point is caring for people and
resources and meeting real needs with the highest possible quality. When that is done the growth will fall where it may
and where it should. þ Donella Meadows
STEPS TOWARDS AUTO-FREEDOM...
EXHAUST-FREE AMSTERDAM
Amsterdam has been declared the first
capital in Europe without private cars in
the city centre. A referendum in March
showed that 52.9 percent voted in favour
of excluding cars. Large parking lots will
be provided on the outskirts of the city,
and the canals will be revived as the mode
of transportation. The streets will be left
to pedestrians and cyclists. (Habitat, Vol.
28, No. 6, June 1992)
A BILLION TREES
The Australian government's goal of
planting a billion trees within a decade
appears well ahead of schedule.
Originally announced in 1989, the target
date will be moved forward to 1995
instead of 2000. The tree planting is part
of "Greening Australia" program to
improve urban and rural communities.
(Urban Ecologist, Summer 1993)
GET RID OF YOUR CARþAND HAVE
IT, TOO!
Stattauto is one of a number of car-
sharing organizations that have really
taken off in Europe. Berlin is one of 49
cities throughout Germany, Switzerland
and Austria where cars are shared.
Stattauto in Berlin has 57 vehiclesþsmall
cars, station wagons, and
minibusesþshared by 800 registrants.
Each has a magnetized plastic card to
open a safe, placed near each car's
parking spot, that contains the car's keys
and registration documents. The card
doubles as a ticket on the Berlin public
transport system and can also be used as
a charge card for taxicabsþso all urban
transportation needs are met by one card,
reinforcing the idea that the various
forms of transport all have different
functions to play in an integrated city
transportation policy.
Those planning out-of-town travel can
book cars in other cities through a
network of car-sharing organizations.
That way, they can travel by train to their
destination, and then use a share car for
trips around town.
Surprisingly enough, problems are few.
In Berlin, only once has a member taken
a car without booking it. Only about
once a week does someone not get the
car they want exactly when they want it.
If a car returns late, and a member has to
wait, the latecomer pays a fine equivalent
to about US$20 directly to the person
inconvenienced.
For more information on car sharing, write
Stattauto, Manteuffelstrasse 40, D-1000
Berlin 36, Germany, telephone: 01049-30-
611 35 27. (Adapted from In Context,
Winter 1993)
CAR AND TRUCK SALES DRIFT
DOWNWARD IN FEBRUARY
Ford blamed the weather, GM the timid
consumer and Chrysler the soft market as
auto makers reported that vehicle sales
slid last month from year-earlier levels.
New vehicle sales fell 16.7 per cent in
February from a year earlierþthe second
consecutive decline in a year that is
supposed to end a four-year slump in
retail sales. Sales were down 14.3 per
cent in January from a year earlier.
February car sales dropped 20.6 per cent
from a year earlier and trucks, including
minivans, fell 9.2 per cent.
(Globe and Mail, 4 March 93)
SPORTS CARS IN AMERICA: OUT OF
FASHION
[...] GM executives wonder whether they
should continue building the racy ZR-1
version of the Corvetteþwhich at $65,868
costs about twice as much as the standard
model. In 1990, its first year of
production, American buyers snapped up
more than 3,000 of them. This year GM
will be lucky to sell 500. Corvette sales,
as a whole, have slumped since their 1979
peak, when a record 53,807 were sold.
Just 19,422 were built last year, and this
year rebates of up to $2,000 are being
offered to tempt buyers.
"The past year has been the worst time in
20 years for sports-car manufacturers,"
says James Blackwell, boss of American
sales for Britain's Lotus. In June, Lotus
stopped production of its new Elan model
little more than two years after its launch.
It blamed faltering sales in America, the
world's biggest market for most sports
cars. The slump has hit other producers
too. Germany's Porsche expects to sell
barely 4,000 cars in the United States this
yearþdown from a record 30,471 in 1986.
(The Economist, 29 Aug 92)
GERMANY TO IMPOSE ROAD TOLL
The German government has announced
plans to privatise the autobahn network
and make drivers pay for their motoring.
Germany's 33 million car ownersþand
foreign road usersþwill be asked to pay
an annual motorway fee of around
DM300 from January next year. The
Swiss-style stickers, would later be
replaced by an electronic system charging
the driver for the distance driven.
The funds collected form the car and
lorry drivers in Germany will primarily by
used to pay off a DM 70 billion deficit
incurred by the state-run railways.
Experts have predicted that the combined
deficit of the east and west German
railways could climb to more than DM
200 billion early in the next century, a
prospect the government is hoping to
avert by selling off the railways. [...]
The latest plan, which could be followed
by a rise in petrol tax later, is certain to
prove highly unpopular. The one thing
car-loving Germans cherished was a
motorway network free of fees an speed
limits. Motorway levies are already part
of life in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland
and Austria. (Manchester Guardian
Weekly, 21 Feb 93)
CITIES AIM TO CUT GREENHOUSE
GASES
Mayors from 50 cities in 20 countries
gathered at the UN in New York last
week to find ways to reduce the effect of
energy-hungry urban living on the
environment. The mayors issued a
declaration aimed at cutting carbon
dioxide emissions from cities.
"Most people in the industrial world live
and work in citiesþand it is in cities
where most energy is used," says Jeb
Brugmann, secretary-general of the
International Council for Local
Environment Initiatives (ICLEI), the UN
affiliate that organised the Municipal
Leaders' Summit on Climate Change and
the Urban Environment. More than 50
per cent of the world's population lives in
cities, and the number of city dwellers is
growing.
A two-year study that compared energy
use and CO2 emissions in 14 cities as
diverse as Toronto, Denver, Helsinki and
Ankara was presented to the summit. Its
findings highlight the energy gluttony of
North America: the average urban North
American generates 30 per cent more
CO2 than a European.
Philip Jessop, head of the group that
issued the report, blames the American
dependence on the car. "About 30 to 35
per cent of all the CO2 emissions comes
from automobiles. North American
cities use four to five times more
transport energy per capita than the
European cities do."
Municipalities have considerable powers
to reduce global warming. Land use,
transport and planning are all municipal
responsibilities and the project outlined
some of the successes cities have had.
Over the past 20 years, the German city
of Hanover has been able to persuade
people to abandon their cars by
restricting driving in certain streets and
providing better facilities for pedestrians
and cyclists. Portland in Oregon created
a boundary around its urban area to
prevent sprawl. This move increased
population density within the boundary
to the point where a new light rail
transit system became viable.
Heating and cooling systems are also big
consumers of energy. But Helsinki, which
has the coldest climate of the 14 cities
studied, also has the lowest CO2 output
per head, mainly because it recycles waste
heat from power stations and other
sources for district heating. Communities
in Denmark are taking part in a scheme
to convert their household waste to
methane, which is then pumped back into
district heating.
At last week's summit the mayors
produced a declaration on climate
change that commits those who sign to
develop local action plans for reducing
CO2 emissions. "My hope is that at the
end of next year we'll have over 100 cities
signed on," says Jessop. (New Scientist, 6
Feb 93)
DECONSTRUCTING HIGHWAYS
Only after an earthquake in 1989 forced
the closing of San Francisco's long
detested waterfront elevated freeway, the
Embarcadero, did political leaders finally
accept that the city could survive without
it. A similar double-deck Cypress Street
Freeway in nearby Oakland tragically
took the lives of 44 persons when it
collapsed during the same earthquake.
Some 15 years before that, in New York,
an overloaded asphalt truck crashed
through the elevated West Side Highway,
shutting it down. None of these highways
has been replacedþthere was no need to.
In each case, the sudden reduction in
highway capacity was matched by a
reduction in traffic demand. (Auto-Free
Press, Jan/Feb 1993)
BUILDING ON PARKING SPACE: AN
IDEA FOR MALLS TO BUILD ON
Imagine a suburban shopping mall whose
parking lot is not filled with cars but with
tree-lined streets, offices, schools and
housing.
The idea may sound far-fetched now, but
it may one day come to pass at a
shopping centre near you.
One person who belives in the idea is
Bruno Freschi. The former Vancouver
architect, who is now dean of the school
of architecture and planning at State
University of New York at Buffalo, says it
can be done under the right conditions.
He points to a feasibility study in New
Jersey he did in 1988 for a number of
local investors.
One of his designs calls for an existing
enclosed shopping centre on 100 acres of
land to be remodelled into a town centre
in tandem with adjacent redevelopment
work by the local municipality. It uses
what Freschi calls a "simple grid" of
streets with parking meters and broad,
tree-lined sidewalks.
Along the streets built on the parking-lot
apron, schools, residences and offices will
be housed in two- to six-storey buildings.
This gives sufficient density without
overcrowding.
The mall itself will be "dissolved" into this
streetscape, creating more of a town
centre feel, he says, adding that the
project, which would cost US$50 million-
US$100 million, is now going through the
approval stages. [...]
Changing mall parking lots into housing,
office space and other uses has a lot to
do with economics, but as Freschi notes,
most suburban-mall developers find it
hard to fathom such developments
because their shopping centres "are held
captive by very specific land-use
strategies".
Those strategies came about because of
rapid suburban growth aided and abetted
by cheap land, single-family homes on
large lots, and the car.
It was therefore with good reason 30
years ago that the late American urban
critic Lewis Mumford called suburban
malls "space eaters". They consumed
acres of land to accommodate parking,
because without the car, travelling the
great distances to a suburban shopping
centre would have been very hard, given
that many of these suburbs were
underserved by public transit. [...]
With the focus nowadays on economics,
the environment, traffic congestion and
crime, low-density suburbs make no
sense.
"There's this awakening that the city is a
more viable economic model than the
suburb," Freschi says.
Also taking place is a "social
reconstruction of thinking which says you
can live better in greater densities than
you can spread out".
Using suburban malls as nodes, planners
could encourage more medium-density
housing developments nearby and
encourage the city to provide better
public transit. McGill architecture
professor Witold Rybczynski also suggests
developers place their malls along one of
the main streets rather than putting them
in the middle of the parking lot as is
usually done. These changes would
create more of a streetscape and
encourage more people to walk or take a
bus rather than drive.
"The glue to this argument is
residential," Freschi says. "You've got to
create places for people to live 24 hours
a day."
The parking lots in malls that are out in
the middle of nowhere can also be targets
for car theft, robbery and other crimes.
Some developers and planners "are
reading the tea leaves and seeing these
developments are anti-urban," he says.
"The urban environment is more complex
and safer."
It's also probably more energy efficient
because it encourages people to walk or
use public transit.
Over time, Freschi sees suburban
shopping malls devolving into urban
streets, as with the New Jersey example.
(Adapted from Financial Post, 19 Feb 93)
U.S. CYCLISTS AND WALKERS GET
PIECE OF PIE
The Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA), passed by
congress, directs states to plan for
bicycling and walking as a vital part of the
nation's transportation system.
States are required to develop long-range
plans as well as annual plans that must
take into account pedestrians' and
bicyclists' needs. Furthermore, states
must appoint a bicycle and pedestrian
coordinator in their transportation
department. For more information,
contact BIKE-WNY, P.O. Box 1101 Ellicott
Station, Buffalo NY 14203-1101.
TRAFFIC CALMING POLICIES
ADOPTED
The city of Laguna Beach, in southern
California's Orange County, has adopted
a new General Plan specifically promoting
"traffic calming" approaches. The Plan
calls for steps to change road design, alter
the texture and feel of streets, and reduce
and enforce speed limits. The city will
also discourage new roads and the
widening of existing roads, as well as the
creastion of new building sites that would
increase traffic. For information, contact
planner Tamara Campbell, (714) 497-
0713. (Urban Ecologist, Summer 1993)
THE CHOICE IS UP TO US: SMOOTH
OR CHAOTIC CHANGE
People in developed countries consume
an average of 35 times more of the
world's resources than people in less
developed countries. This appetite raises
issues ranging from international to local:
ozone depletion, endangered species,
smog, loss of the cod fishery,
disappearance of farmland, garbage crises,
decaying buildings, "No Swimming"
beaches.
Individuals, corporations and governments
know they have to change. The choice
now is between smooth and chaotic
change.
The past decade indicates how
interconnected environmental issues are
with the economy and lifestyles. Cars
became more energy efficient, less
polluting and more expensive. Unleaded
gas cut carbon dioxide emissions, again at
slightly higher cost. Propane and natural
gas power appeared. Exclusive lanes for
bicycles, buses and taxis were painted
onto roads. Parking rates skyrocketed in
urban cores.
Counterbalancing these environmentally
responsive trends were others.
Metropolitan Toronto's car ownership
went to 1.6 a household in 1986 from 0.9
in 1961. The number of daily car trips
grew twice as fast as the population
while occupancy dropped to 1.2 persons
a trip. Automobile commuting from
outside Toronto's boundaries jumped
more than 100 per cent, clogging roads
at rush hours. Similar patterns occurred
all over North America. [...]
In the next decade environmentalism will
affect daily life profoundly. [...] Work will
change too. Xerox Canada Inc.
reassigned territories for service
representatives in the core of Toronto so
they can take public transit or walk from
one customer location to another. Ian
Tedford, Xerox's manager of
environmental programs, says their cars,
which were used primarily for taking
supplies and spare parts, have been
replaced by a courier service, which
delivers the parts directly to the
customers' locations. [...]
Metropolitan Toronto's response has
been a visionary discussion paper called
"The Greater Toronto Area: Concepts
for the Future". According to John
Gartner, Metropolitan Toronto's
commissioner of planning, the basic
"themes", aimed at livability, are:
A healthy environment with clean air,
soil and water;
Social well-being with community,
cultural and social activities;
Economic vitality.
The paper recommends, among other
things:
Directing growth to "centres and
corridors" along major public transit
routes, such as the subway that connects
downtown Toronto to both North York
and Scarborough centres, making it easier
to get to work and leisure activities by
transit.
Reurbanizing underutilized urban areas
emphasizing redevelopment based on
mixed residential, commercial and
recreational clusters with
"pedestrianization" as well as bicycles and
urban transit.
Emphasizing metropolitan design with a
"multicentred urban structure" for
creating new urban centres away from the
waterfront development that was the
historic heart of Toronto.
Integrating land use, transportation
planning and urban design. This would
encourage two-way public transit use
during peak morning and afternoon
periods and reduce dependence on cars.
Making order out of the isolated
environmental activities will have to
happen swiftly. The pace, scale and scope
of resource depletion demands it.
Plans, products and individuals'
commitment exist. But the environment
has yet to galvanize the collective efforts
to make the changes in a rapid, ordered
way. Society can still make the
adjustments relatively smoothly. The
likelihood diminishes, however, with
every passing day. (Globe and Mail, 4
Mar 93)
BREAKING AWAY: Bicyles are winning
the race over cars to become the world's
leading choice for personal
transportation
Each year, cars kill more children, women
and men in accidents than most armies
lose in wars; they imprison millions of
people for two to three hours a day;
contribute to epidemic levels of lung and
heart disease; and threaten the stability of
the climate itself.
The roads we use for most trips are no
longer open; the speed cars are built for
is useless; the freedom is mostly gone.
Only belatedly have we begun to consider
seriously the need for alternatives.
Even in the United States, which has the
world's highest rate of car ownership, an
estimated 4 million people commute
regularly by bike.
The frustration of slow-moving traffic
may be exacerbated by the incongruity
between the "image" of automotive
freedom and mobility still perpetuated by
advertising and the reality of the daily
grind.
In Japan, bikes have been incorporated
into the mainstream commuter system as
an extension of the mass transit
systemþthe last link from the train
station to the doorstep. Japanese train
stations now include parking garages for
bikes.
Many governments now recognize
advantages in bicycles and other
alternatives that were not widely
recognized in the heyday of the American
auto. With prodding from bike activists,
some governments are encouraging
bicycle use through car-free zones, bike
lanes, improved bicycle parking facilities,
and programs inducing employers to
provide shower facilities.
The universality of bikes may be further
expanded by the development of "green
roads"þnew kinds of roadways that are
cheaper to build and less environmentally
destructive than conventional paved
roads, and are suitable for bikes and
other light transport, but not for cars.
In the next generation, the development
of urban transportation will be profoundly
affected by factors that were little
recognized during the rapid growth of the
automotive system. In the past, successful
transportation was measured in fairly
narrow termsþspeed, comfort, and user
satisfaction. In the future, different
considerations will dominate. The most
successful planners will be those who see
the movement of people and goods as
part of a larger process, in which a
personal transport vehicle is not part of
an occupying army of aggressive
commuters, but an efficient, non-intrusive
participant in community life. þ Ed
Ayres (Abridged from WorldWatch
Magazine, Jan/Feb 1993)
REUTERS BUG
Cyclists in the Toronto office of the
Reuters news agency have earned
themselves a reputation as one of the
most active and ground-breaking bicycle
user groups (a BUG, that is) in the city.
Last year, they came away winners in the
public works department's Bicycle
Transportation Awards.
Reuter's BUG is credited with the idea of
using intra-office E-mail to publicize
cycling events, something that's caught on
bigtime in downtown workplaces, and with
major facilities innovations for commuters
such as inhouse showers and change-
rooms. (NOW Cycling Guide 1993)
BICYCLE RECYCLING
A bicycle can be a sizeable investment,
especially for the top-of-the-line models,
but Paul Murphy and his fellow
volunteers at the Cabbagetown Bicycle
Club spend Saturday afternoons giving
new meaning to "bicycle access".
They repair old donated bicycles and
resell them for about $30, or if that's too
much, give them away (for a couple of
Saturdays spendt working).
Last month, the group received a $1,800
provincial grant to start a women's bicycle
maintenance program. "That will be
women training women," Murphy says.
(416) 363-4234 (NOW Cycling Guide
1993)
BLUEPRINT FOR DEPAVING:
ECOCITY ZONING
In September, Richard Register of
Ecocity Builders and Katie Scarborough
of the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium
have announced an ecozoning plan for
Berkeley, California.
The ecozoning plan is a grassroots
alternative to the city's official zoning
map. It indicates which areas should
become more or less dense, which should
become wildlife centers and which should
become walkable town centers.
Ecozoning plans enable the rebuilding of
cities into ecocities, and cluster human
development. Over two to four
generations, homes and workplaces shift
from into these higher density walkable
centers, and away from locations which
will become wildlife corridors and
restored natural areas. Within walkable
centers, people can then travel much
more easily on foot and by bicycle,
eliminating the need for new roads and
many existing roads.
Ecocity Builders is already using the
Berkeley rezoning map to site Restoration
Development Projects, locating lots from
which to remove existing buildings and
restore nature or agriculture as well as
lots on which to build higher density
housing and workplaces.
"The kind of ecozoning mapped here for
Berkeley moves us in the direction not
only of stopping road building but being
able to take out roads in places we never
should have built them in the first place,"
said APT's Scarborough. "Ecozoning like
this needs to take place not just in
Berkeley, but everywhere. It is an
integral part of the conservation
revolution we've called for." (Paving
Moratorium Update, Fall 1992)
WHERE TO PUT HOUSING?
One common misconception is that urban
sprawl is needed in order to
accommodate more housing, particularly
affordable housing. Yet wise use of
existing urban areas can more than satisfy
housing needs while preserving the
greenbelt and avoiding battles between
environmentalists and housing developers.
In its 1983 study entitled Room Enough:
Housing and Open Space in the Bay Area,
the Greenbelt Alliance proposes five
strategies for adding housing to already
urbanized areas. Taken together, these
strategies could provide one and a half
times the region's housing needs over the
next 20 years.
The groups recommendations are: 1)
use vacant land more effectively; 2)
build more housing along major streets;
3) bring homes and people downtown;
4) add second units on existing
homesites; 5) recycle lands no longer
needed for industry. For more
information, contact the Berkeley
Greenbelt Alliance at (415) 543-4291
(Urban Ecologist, Summer 1993)
AUTO-FREE CITIES
NETWORK GROWING
The Auto-Free groups so far identified are:
Auto-Free Bay Area (San Francisco)
Auto-Free DC (Washington)
Auto-Free Kingston (Ontario)
Auto-Free New York
Auto-Free Ottawa
Let us know if there are any others!
SIGNS INDICATE CAR-FREE CITIES AHEAD
Berlin - Europeans are coming to regard a city
without noisy traffic, traffic jams or pollution as a
positive vision.
When the Berlin political group Alternative List first
put forward its proposal for a city without cars six
years ago, a lot of people laughed. Now fewer and
fewer people are ridiculing the dream of a pedestrian
city dominated by parks.
German politicians from all parties agree that things
have to change. The dream of individual car
ownership for all is turning into a vision of horror for
city dwellers.
Even some members of car clubs and top managers of
automobile manufacturing companies are speaking
out for change. "If you sow roads, you will reap
traffic," says Daniel Goeudevert, board member at
Volkswagen and former chief of the Ford works in
Cologne.
Supporters of car-free cities are getting
encouragement from the European Community.
Former EC environmental commissioner Carlo Ripa
de Meana favors new town planning policies.
A recent study by an Italian institute concluded that
city centres ought to be out of bounds to cars and a
network of complementary alternatives should be
created. It said attempts to adapt cities to cars had
achieved only negative results.
Transportation systems in car-free modern cities
would be at least 50 per cent cheaper and perhaps as
much as 80 per cent cheaper than the costs of roads,
bridges, underpasses, traffic lights and parking spaces,
the study said.
To encourage research and an exchange of knowledge,
Ripa has suggested founding a club of traffic-free
cities. What will happen to the idea now that he has
left the EC is unclear. [...]
Environmentalists have long advocated the car-free
city. "Our concepts are capable of gaining a majority
vote," says Michael Cramer, spokesperson for the
Green Party faction in the Berlin city parliament.
His statement is based on a 1990 survey of 2,000
Germans that showed a majority were prepared to
accept tangible restrictions in car travel to improve
the environment. The survey showed that 73 per cent
favoured a car-free city centre, while 70 per cent were
in favour of a ban on Sunday driving.
In Zurich, Amsterdam and Bologna, people voted for
a restriction of car traffic. In Zurich, the policy
change led to a 40 per cent increase in the number of
people using public transport.
Zurich achieved a level of public transport usage
twice as high as that in comparable German cities by
altering traffic light sequences in favour of buses and
trams, cutting parking spaces by 10,000, and extending
the cycle-lane network by 290 kilometers (180 miles).
In Bologna, traffic levels were cut by 62 per cent by
dramatically reducing prices for public transport and
restricting access to the centre by car. In Amsterdam,
traffic levels are lower than those of any German city.
A study by the Berlin department for town planning
shows that fears that the economic development of
these cities could be harmed by limited car traffic are
groundless. Instead, the city centres had become
more attractive and the number of visitors increased.
In Germany, cities such as Lubeck, Karlsruhe and
Freiburg are experimenting with new traffic concepts.
Experts say that these experiments have shown that
more people can be encouraged to leave their cars
and use public transport if the systems are subsidized
and improved, and car traffic is discouraged. (Auto-
Free Press, Mar/Apr 1993)
(Left) Skateboards mean business during emergency traffic ban in 11
Italian cities in January 1993.
COSTS OF THE CAR REVISITED
THE MATHEMATICS OF DRIVING IN NEPEAN
Ken Toews
The value of any system is a relationship between
its costs and benefits. The automobile's perceived
benefit is its speed and resulting convenience: 0 to 60
in 6 seconds give an impression of unrestrained
freedom.
What is relevant is the car's actual speed. I'm
going to give you a 6-step formula to figure out how
fast you really travel in your car.
Step 1: Have a passenger record the speed your car
travels at one minute intervals. Do this for a week or
so to get a realistic average. Include the time at red
lights as well as the time you spend moving. With this
data you can determine your average speed.
Step 2: Once you know your average speed you can
divide that speed into the total number of kilometres
you drive each year. This will give you the number of
hours you spend driving your car.
Step 3: How much time you have to work to earn
the money you spend on your car is relevant.
According to the C.A.A. it's about $7,000 a year. If
you don't keep accurate records use the C.A.A. figure.
Calculate your after-tax hourly rate and divide it into
$7,000. That gives you how many hours you have to
work to own your car.
Step 4: Now consider all the time you spend tending
your auto in one year. The time in lineups for oil
changes, the wash on Sunday afternoon, changing a
headlamp or anything else that you do because of
your car.
Step 5: Total your number of hours driving, number
of hours working to earn the money to buy your car
and pay for the related bills, and finally the number of
hours tending your car.
Step 6: Last step: divide the total number of hours
into your total kilometres driven per year.
If you are like most people in Nepean your
average speed (from step 1) will be about 30 km/hr or
less. Your actual speed which includes all the time
you spend on your car ( Step 3 and Step 4) will
probably be less than 15 km/hr. Actual studies that
include all auto related costs have shown that cars
cannot exceed a real speed of more than 5 miles per
hour.
Other studies undertaken by Pollution Probe
indicate that in Ontario we subsidize the auto system
$8 billion a year. This goes to a system that kills 3
and maims 2,000 people every day in Ontario alone.
Now let us get back to the original contention;
the value of any system is a relationship between its
costs and benefits. Considering the real speed with
the real cost, it's a wonder we have designed our cities
around cars. (Originally published in Marketplace Magazine,
February 1993)
OUR BELOVED CARSþWHAT A PRICE WE PAY
The Going Rate: What It Really Costs to Drive reveals
that if the hidden, subsidized costs of our private-
vehicle-dominated transportation systemþat least
US$300 billion a yearþwere instead passed on to the
motoring public, it would raise the price of gasoline
by several dollars a gallon.
Why is public transit in the US so poor? Why do
European cars get so much better gas mileage? There
are no controls, no incentives to limit the ever-
increasing rise in automobile use precisely because the
costs are not borne by the user.
Americans drive 2 trillion miles a year: double the
distance of those in other industrial countries. With
less than 5 percent of the world's population, we
consume a quarter of the world's oil, half of which is
burned in motor vehicles. We drive more and more:
per capita motor vehicle use has tripled since 1950.
And one car is just not enough: in 1990, there were
23 million more vehicles than licensed drivers.
Some costs are conspicuous: freeway speeds
averaging less than 31 mph result in lost time, lower
worker productivity, more accidents, wasted fuel, and
increased auto maintenance.
Americans spend $200 million a day building and
rebuilding the nation's roads. Gas taxes and other
user fees covered only 60 percent of the $33.3 billion
spendt on building, improving and repairing roads in
1989.
Also not covered by user fees is the $68 billion spent
annually on services such as highway patrols, traffic
management, and traffic accident policework. Truck
owners pay only 32 percent of national highway
disbursements, yet it is estimated that a 50-ton, 4-axle
truck can cause an estimated $6 per mile worth of
damage to a rural arterial highway.
Other costs of our automotive obsession are
associated with the 47,000 people killed in motor
vehicle accidents each year. These deaths, and 5
million additional injuries annually, result in medical
expenses, lost work time, and other costs not directly
covered by user insurance.
Parking costs are a normal cost of operating a motor
vehicle. Yet free parking, e.g., at the mall, effectively
subsidizes this expense. Shoppers who walk or take
public transportation pay for spaces they do not use,
while drivers are deprived of a reason to carpool.
Ninety percent of all commuters park at no cost and
receive this fringe benefit tax-free.
Other hidden costs are the security costs of importing
oil. Motorists use half of the imported oil, and
arguably should pay half the $50 billion annual cost of
maintaining a US military presence in shipping lanes.
(This figure excludes the costs of the Persian Gulf
War.)
Another impact is land loss. In the US, more than
60,000 square miles have been paved overþincluding
wetlands, scenic areas, and historic areas, not to
mention farmland. Nearly half of our urban land is
covered with asphalt.
In response to regulation, efforts have been made to
lessen automobile emissions. But any improvements
have been offset by more miles and vehicles driven.
The costs are real: acid rain, chronic health
problems, forest damage and reduced agricultural
revenues.
Motor vehicles have a major role in global warming,
climate change, and ozone depletion. Unchecked,
they will have incalculable, perhaps incomprehensible,
effects.
How can we stabilize automobile use and reduce its
effects? Shift the costs of motor vehicle use to the
drivers. Imposing user charges that reflect the full
costs of driving will almost certainly have direct and
lasting effects.
One method is increasing existing state and federal
fuel taxes. Fuel tax revenues expand directly with fuel
consumption. One proposal is a phased-in tax on
fossil fuels, reaching $60 per ton of carbon in the year
2020. It would cut US carbon dioxide emissions to 80
percent of the 1990 level by 2005 and hold it at that
level indefinitely. This would translate to a price
increase of 20 cents per gallon at the pump. Another
idea is to raise charges on trucks according to weight-
per-axle and annual mileage. They would then share
the cost of road maintenance more equally.
Pay-as-you-go is another concept. Levying road tolls
based on time of day helps reduce congestion. In
Hong Kong, electronic number plates are scanned by
sensors at the toll site, and bills are sent out monthly
to each driver. Similar systems are in place in San
Diego and Dallas. "Congestion tolls" would range
from 25 cents to $1.25 for a 10 mile urban trip.
True medical costs could be incorporated into
insurance premiums, or insurance taxes paid at the
pump could be placed in an insurance fund.
And employer-paid parking can be reformed;
companies could offer a tax-free travel allowance
instead of free parking.
Significant public policy changes are also needed.
Reforms in zoning and land use planning should
result in a balanced transportation system. Zoning
can be used to encourage densities suitable to public
transit. The Going Rate's authors note:
European cities are living proof that a high standard of
living is compatible with a reduced need for cars and that
the key is fairly high residential densities combined with
mixed zoning and integrated public transportation
planning.
A doubling of residential population density is
associated with a 25 to 30 percent reduction in the
number of miles people need to travel by car.
Densities of over seven housing units per acre are
needed for cost effective bus service; nine for light-
rail service. Communities must design for bikes and
pedestrians. þ Joel Ohringer
The Going Rate: What It Really Costs to Drive is
available from World Resources Institute
Publications, P.O. Box 4852, Hampden Station,
Baltimore, Maryland 21211, USA. US$9.95 plus $3
shipping and handling. For more information,
contact World Resources Institute, 1709 New York
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006. (Adapted from
In Context, No. 33)
INTERNATIONAL HEALTHY CITIES
CONFERENCE
December 8-11, 1993
San Francisco, USA
The conference will bring together practitioners to
share their experiences from around the world. It will
examine the healthy communities concept within an
interconnected environment. And it will examine how
the government and private sector can use the healthy
communities process to build improved social and
physical environments that support "health" within
complex urban communities.
For information:
International Healthy Cities and Communities
Conference
2151 Berkeley Way, Annex 11, 3rd Floor
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
(510) 540-2960 FAX: 540-3472
WIN-WIN TRANSPORTATION CATCHES ON
It didn't take long for the alert mainstream press to
note the importance of Charles Komanoff's and Brian
Ketcham's work on the true costs of automobile
dependency ("Should Drivers Pay More?", Auto-Free
Press, Nov/Dec 1992). Newsday's Ellis Henican
devoted his Nov. 12 "In the Subway" column to an in-
depth overview of Komanoff and Ketcham's "Win-Win
Transportation," which proposes shifting the social
costs of driving onto motorists to finance means of
freeing up the road and improving air quality.
Henican pointed out that they have "done something
no serious social scientist has ever quite bothered to
do. They've added up all the hidden social costs of
automobiles."
On Nov. 24, a traffic jam gridlocked half the front
page of The New York Times Tuesday Science section.
Captions suggested the thoughts of gridlocked drivers:
"stress", "getting stuck in traffic means more
pollution", and "why do I subject myself to this
torture?" Peter Passell's accompanying article
reported on the growing acceptance among
environmentalists, economists and politicians of
charging drivers taxes or "user fees" for the pollution
and congestion they generate.
Now that the "paper of record" has turned its
attention to road pricing, Auto-Free Press readers can
expect that the idea will gain currency with the public
and decision-makers. "Win-Win" has been discussed
at meetings of the NY Metropolitan Transportation
Council. NY State Department of Transportation
Commissioner Franklin White has said that the
approach described in the Komanoff-Ketcham report
was the "obvious" solution to the region's
transportation problems (though still far removed
from official DOT policy). (Auto-Free Press, Jan/Feb
1993) Komanoff and Ketcham's 100-page report on
"Win-Win Transportation" is available from
Transportation Alternatives, 92 St. Mark's Place, NY
NY 10009 (212) 475-4600.
CAR CULTURE
CAR ADVERTISING SHOULD BE BANNED SAY
PROTESTERS AT OTTAWA-HULL AUTO SHOW
Ottawa -- The Green Transportation Coalition
(GTC), an umbrella organization of transportation
and environmental groups representing roughly 500
members, picketed the Ottawa-Hull Auto Show at the
Congress Centre in February.
Local groups are calling for a ban on car
advertising and auto shows because they promote cars
by appealing to emotional needs which cars cannot
satisfy.
According to GTC organizer, Dave Garand,
"The auto industry spends billions of dollars a year
promoting cars as more than a means of
transportation. The reality is that cars have made our
cities unsafe and unhealthy. It's time to face this fact
and begin to wean ourselves off the car."
The GTC advocates that the current car-
dominated transportation hierarchy must be inverted
so that pedestrians, cyclists and transit users are given
priority in land use and transportation planning.
Unlike motorists, cyclists and pedestrians are not
subsidized and do considerably less damage to city
infrastructure and our environment.
For more information on the Green Transportation
Coalition, please contact David Garand: 827-1682.
BAD CAR-MA
In late April, Sue Zielinski and Mark Surman in
Toronto will be releasing Bad Car-ma, a full-length
video on radical environmental reform, in which they
transfer car myths and images onto more ecologically
benign modes of transportation.
According to Zielinski, cyclists are more used to
fighting for space on the road than in cultural
consciousness. "We need to have all sorts of media,
especially films and TV, where non-car oriented
transportation is made to seem exciting," says
Zielinski. "What we're trying to do is to start the
discussion, and show people they have the
opportunity to talk about transportation things
differently."
For info, call Transportation Options, (416) 960-0026.
(NOW Cycling Guide 1993)
THE ULTIMATE DRIVING CAMPAIGN
A few well-placed television spots can smash a
conception, and that is precisely the strategy for
Adbusters' latest TV campaign. Far from being an
accident, "The End of the Automotive Age" is a finely
tuned 30-second spot designed to meet the needs of
all North Americans who suffer at the expense of the
automobile.
Every year, the American automobile industry spends
$20 billion to prolong the illusion that cars are
sensual, sexy, sporty and worthy of their role as our
primary mode of transport. But the truth is that cars
are among the worst polluters of the planet. Back in
the 1930s, General Motors' Charles Kettering used to
boast, "As a consumer of raw materials, the
automobile has not equal in the history of mankind."
Over time, the demarketing of North America will no
doubt have a profound effect on the way we live.
Without cars, the 40 percent of urban space
controlled by the automobile will likely yield to green
land. The air will improve, stress will evaporate,
health costs will fall, and the quality of life will rise.
Even in some of the roughest parts of the cities, a
semblance of community will return.
But it will take more than a single, precision crafted
performance to make North Americans realize they
are being taken for a short and ugly ride. Adbusters
will continue to encourage North Americans to place
our TV spots on local channels. Airtime costs about
as much as an annual cable bill, but will buy peace of
mind. Write or call to find out more about our TV
campaigns and how to join the fight. Sometimes, you
just have to get out and push.
VHS and broadcast quality 3/4" or 1" copies of the
End of the Automobile Age 30-second TV spot are
available from Greenpeace, 185 Spadina Avenue, 6th
floor, Toronto, ON M5T 2C6 (416) 345-8408, FAX:
345-8422 or the Media Foundation 1243 W. 7th
Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1B7 (604) 736-9401
FAX: 737-6021. (Adbusters, 1993, Vol. 2, No. 3)
COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
REFORM IN ONTARIO
Neale MacMillan March 25, 1993
New Planning for Ontario
180 Dundas Street West
22nd Floor
Toronto, ON
M5G 1Z8
Dear Chair and Commissioners:
Auto-Free Ottawa (AFO) supports the general thrust of the draft report. The document promotes a vision of
planning in Ontario that would help strengthen our organization's objectives; namely, more compact urban areas
that favour the use of green transportation modes (walking, bicycling, riding public transit, rail freight) and
discourage the use of private cars and trucks.
We are particularly supportive of the proposed provincial policy statements under the following sections:
A. Natural Heritage and Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Policies
Apart from the intrinsic value of protecting the quality of ecosystems, such areas, particularly when close to
urban centres, provide valuable recreational opportunities and commuting links for non-motorized
transportation modes.
B. Community Development and Infrastructure Policies
This section is likely the critical section from our perspective. Maintaining the compact nature of cities,
towns and villages is essential to the viability of public transit services and to the feasibility of trips on foot
or by bicycle.
Close attention to the friendliness and quality of downtowns, main streets and public places is vital to
promoting the use of the non-motorized modes. In addition, preserving the quality of life in central areas
gives urban residents every reason to locate themselves in the centre rather than flee to new "greenfield"
suburban developments.
Article 14, regarding protection of abandoned railway corridors is a particularly significant objective. Most
parts of Ontario need expanded inter-city and commuter train services to shift people out of the private car
mode.
C. Housing Policies
Again, this section would encourage higher urban densities and increase the viability of the green
transportation modes. The section could be strengthened by consideration of controls on paving of private
green areas attached to housing (yards, gardens, etc.) for car parking, which increases toxic runoff to storm
sewers and impairs the health of trees.
D. Agricultural Land Policies
Clearly, agricultural lands are under great stress from ill-conceived urban encroachment. Zoning
amendments have been far too easy to obtain (witness the scandalous approval of the Palladium
development near Kanata for the Ottawa Senators hockey team). A real commitment to protecting these
areas would both safeguard our capacity to produce food locally and promote intensified urban development.
E. Conservation Policies
The draft report plainly recognizes the central role of urban planning in making possible more use of the
energy-conserving transportation modes and avoiding the need for use of the least energy-efficient
modeþthe private car.
In terms of the mechanics of policy-making and planning, AFO is most concerned that the proposed Ministry of
Municipal Affairs and Planning be well coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation.
In closing, we wish to signal a serious concern. While the Commission has been doing its work, many provincial
planning decisions have been made that would seem to move development in a direction opposite to that taken in
the draft report. In other words, decisions have been taken by the province (or regional governments have been
permitted to make certain decisions) that promote less compact urban areas, reinforce car-centred development and
make the green modes less viable.
These decisions are mainly in the realm of transportation infrastructure. Significant examples are the announcement
by the province of financial commitments to six major super highway projects, mainly around metropolitan Toronto,
but also including the Highway 416 project to Ottawa. These projects violate the spirit and intent of all the
proposed provincial policy statements, from Section A to Section F.
Market value assessment, adopted by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in late 1992, also undermines
the intent of the draft report insofar as it encourages flight by businesses and residents seeking lower tax assessments
from central urban areas to outlying suburban areas.
It may have been wise, and certainly more respectful of the process, for the province to stay these decisions until the
Commission had issued its final report.
Yours sincerely,
Neale MacMillan
Member, Auto-Free Ottawa
cc: The Honourable Bob Rae, Premier of Ontario
Gilles Pouliot, Minister of Transportation
Evelyn Gigantes, MPP Ottawa Centre, Minister of Housing
EPT SEEK MEETING WITH RAE TO DISCUSS
TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL CORPORATION
Toronto - In a letter to Bob Rae and other provincial
politicians, Environmentalists Plan Toronto (EPT)
expressed their concern over the lack of consultation
with community and environmental groups prior to
the announcement that a Transportation Capital
Corporation had been set up to build roads and
subways.
EPT asked for a meeting with Rae and his staff to
discuss alternatives to the Transportation Capital
Corporation to achieve the government's objectives.
However, if created, EPT suggest that the
Transportation Capital Corporation's mandate should:
reduce the number of vehicles while increasing the
number of people moved; give priority to transit
vehicles; establish an inter-city network of transit
lanes and corridors; develop a system of levies to be
applied to new development that is road-reliant and
benefits from provincial investment in roads.
EPT proposes that a majority of the members of the
Corporation's Board of Directors represent transit
and the environment.
For more information, call Lyn Adamson at (416)
397-3074 (FAX: 397-3114), or evenings, Melanie
Milanich at (416) 690-5925.
FOUNDING MEETING OF BETTER
TRANSPORTATION COALITION
Toronto - The Better Transportation Coalition (BTC),
a new coalition of transportation reformers in
Ontario, held its first meeting on Saturday, April 3 in
Toronto. Keynote speaker was Jane Jacobs, and the
meeting was also attended by a Ministry of
Transportation representative.
For more information: Better Transportation
Coalition, c/o Healthy Cities Office, 20 Dundas St.
W., Suite 1036, Toronto, M5G 2C2, (416) 832-9241 or
Fax: 392-0089.
TORONTO PUBLIC WORKS TO STUDY CAR-
REDUCED ST. LAWRENCE MARKET
Following a proposal to restrict cars on some streets
around the St. Lawrence Market by Toronto architect
Astra Burka, the Commissioner of Public Works has
agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the concept.
After consultation with the local business association
and retailers, a low-cost demonstration project will
begin this summer on weekends. If the trial street
closures are successful, the project may be expanded.
þ LS
OTTAWA-CARLETON: IT'S YOUR HOME
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
HOW TO BOIL A FROG
Peter Martin
Here's the wrong way to boil a frog. Bring a big pot
of water to the boil. Take your frog and drop him in.
Ha! The frog jumps out, hops across the floor and
away. No boiled frog today.
Later, sadder and wiser, you go about frog-boiling the
right way. You put your pot on the stove and fill it
with nice, comfy, swamp temperature water. Gently,
gently, you ease your frog into the water. He's as
happy as, well, as happy as a frog in swamp water.
Then, cunning frog-boiler that you are, you turn on
the heat under your frog pot. But not on Highþoh
noþon Low.
Your frog stays happy as the temperature slowly rises.
There never comes a time when poor froggie realizes
he's being boiled, no moment when he says to
himself, "Hey, this water's too hot. I'm outta here!"
And voil…! After a while, boiled frog.
If you're still with me, by now you may be wondering
what this disgusting parody of Julia Childery has to do
with cars in our cities. Well, no. Since you're reading
auto-free zone, you're good at figuring things out, so
you already know where this is leading.
You never boil your frog by dropping him in hot
water. We won't get the cars out of our city by trying
to ban them outright and all at once. You boil the
frog by ratcheting up the water temperature
imperceptibly. And that's how we get rid of the cars.
We (the citizenry and their elected representatives)
introduce a hundred, a thousand small changes, none
of them important enough to arouse or enrage the
motorists, but all of them, incrementally, enough to
persuade the drivers that buses are better.
And, we're very careful never to reveal what our real
objective is (boiled frog; auto-free Ottawa), so every
tiny change has a specific, limited rationale, a
justification that will make it attractive to at least a
portion of the community. Here are some of these
little changes:
þ Whenever you see a car parked illegally,
phone the traffic wardens at 564-1457. If the car is
still there half an hour later, it will get a ticket.
Enough tickets, and the scofflaw driver will consider
alternative modes of transportation. Rationale:
nobody likes illegally stopped/parked cars. They make
downtown streets difficult for other drivers and they
clutter residential neighbourhoods; besides, the City
makes money out of tickets.
þ Support higher rates for parking meters and
City-owned parking lots. Parking charges should rise
faster than whatever rate of inflation bedevils us at
any given time. Rationale: the City is open to the
argument that parking is an underexploited source of
revenue; higher charges can help pay for the Mayor's
new desk.
þ Fight bridge widenings. Prevent new
bridges. Rationale: any of the currently proposed
bridge projects will disrupt neighbourhoods, damage
the environment; the NIMBY factor is at work here,
but so is a growing awareness that more bridging
means more carsþthe field of nightmares: if you
build it, they will come!
þ Support traffic-calming measures.
Rationale: "traffic calming" is not yet generally well
understood hereabouts, but all the evidence from
elsewhere indicates traffic calming dramatically
reduces accidents, property damage and injuries. The
insurance companies should be enthusiastic allies.
þ Work to change traffic light timing to
favour pedestrians. Rationale: many of our
controlled intersections are hazardous, or perceived to
be so, for the elderly, little kids, the handicapped,
mothers pushing strollers; no need to mention that
changing the light cycles to improve the pedestrians'
environment makes downtown driving less attractive.
þ Be sure to tell your car-using friends all
about your holiday in Cancun, the one you paid for
with the money you saved by not operating a car.
Rationale: obvious, especially in winter, and
especially if you talk about your trip right after your
friend has paid $500 to get a bumper straightened.
þ When you take a cab, talk to your driver
about the traffic. Rationale: cabbies and their
industry feel hard done by.
þ Organize events (street parties, etc.) that
are eligible for temporary street closings. The more
streets are closed and the oftener this happens, the
less attractive city driving will become. Rationale:
encourages neighbourliness; makes Ottawa a livelier,
more interesting place to live in or visit.
þ Support roll roads. Rationale:
governments are strapped for cash and road tolls are
becoming increasingly attractive, an old idea whose
time is coming round again. The beauty of tolls, of
course, is that they can be used as a traffic-control
measure; as tolls go up past the pain threshold, traffic
will go down. (Don't point this effect out to the
politicians; let them believe this is an ever-yielding
cash cow.)
þ Reduce the snow-clearing budget. Don't
plow streets that aren't bus routes. Rationale: this
will save bid money for the taxpayers.
þ Get cars out of Byward Market during
tourist season. Rationale: tourism is big business in
Ottawa and lines a lot of pockets. The Market is a
prime attraction. Are there cars in Disney World?
þ Reduce on-street parking spaces on bus
routes. Rationale: buses will move faster, more
efficiently. OC Transpo will save money. Fares won't
go up as fast as they would otherwise.
The list is partial and haphazard, but it does, I think,
embody two points. First, every measure on it
provides a direct and obvious benefit for part if not
all of the citizenry. And secondly, nothing on it calls
for an outright ban on the private automobile.
We'll boil our frog. And he'll never know what's
happening to him. (Peter Martin is a board member of
Action Sandy Hill)
STREETS FOR PEOPLE IN THE BYWARD
MARKET
Auto-Free Ottawa is now organizing the
second annual "Streets For People" Celebration in the
Byward Market in June to promote the trial closure
of William and Byward Streets on weekends.
Some AFO volunteers are collecting
information on successful examples of pedestrianized
commercial districts, while others are preparing to
visit Byward Market merchants, craftspeople and
other Market groups to discuss the concept of an
auto-free Market.
If all goes well, AFO will be holding a public
information meeting on the idea of an auto-free
market in late spring.
The next planning meeting will be held on
Tuesday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Dalhousie
Community Centre at 755 Somerset Street West (at
Empress). No. 2 bus.
WANTED!
Proof positive that pedestrianization is good for
business
The social and environmental benefits of having fewer
cars on our streets, and specifically in the Byward
Market, are obvious. But AFO has to prove to Market
merchants and associations that restricting cars from a
couple of streets in the Market will not hurt their
business--especially during these recessionary times.
If you know of any documented examples of
neighbourhoods or cities (especially in cold climates)
where business actually improved when car traffic was
restricted, please contact Lucy Segatti at 234-0923.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY EDUCATION IN
THE DECADE OF DECISION
Saturday, May 1, 1993
Carleton University, Ottawa
Workshops include: Anthony Friend on Ecological
Economics and Dennis Meadows author of Limits to
Growth and Beyond the Limits on The Strategem
Model.
For more info, contact Energy Educators of Ontario,
517 College Street, Ste. 406, Toronto, M6G 4A2,
(416) 323-9216 or Fax: 323-0689.
FACT SHEET ON CARS FROM ENVIRONMENT
CANADA - Just released!
Available from SOE Reporting (Publications),
Environment Canada, Ottawa K1A 0H3,
fax: (613) 941-9646.
A CYCLING ODYSSEY: EnviroRide 10,000
In October 1992 Ted Cox and Erin Nelson embarked
on a 10,000 km bicycle ride around North America to
promote environmental awareness and to encourage
the use of bicycles instead of cars. Starting from
Vancouver they hope to visit about two dozen major
cities before ending their ride in Ottawa.
For more information on EnviroRide 10,000 or to offer
support and help organize local media coverage,
contact: EnviroRide 10,000 c/o Society Promoting
Environmental Conservation, 2150 Maple Street,
Vancouver, BC, V6J 3T3 (800) 927-1527 x 865 (takes
messages only). Donations are tax-creditable.
MORE BIKE PARKING PLEASE
Anyone interested in drawing public attention to the
need for more bicycle parking space can help organize
the occupation of parking spots with bikes for a few
hours in troublesome areas in Ottawa.
To volunteer, please call: Lucy Segatti at 234-0923
AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET LIKE-MINDED
PEOPLE
AFO needs volunteers in order to participate in the
following events:
April 19: The People's Earth Day (organized
by the Environmental Youth
Alliance)
May 12: Pedestrian Rights Awareness Day
(organized by Ottawalk)
June 5: Walk for Peace, Social Justice and
the Environment
June 5 - 12: Environment Week
late June: 2nd Annual "Streets for People"
Celebration in the Byward Market
ON MAY 12
BE A PROUD PEDESTRIAN!
Ottawalk is organizing the first pedestrian rights awareness day (PRAD) in Ottawa on May 12, 1993.
We want to celebrate walking and walkers, and a healthy environment. Walkers make a valued
contribution to a cleaner urban environment and a healthier community.
PRAD will recognize these contributions and also advocate greater public recognition of the rights of
pedestrians on our road system. Pedestrians deserve a safer and more amenable walking environment.
We encourage individuals and community groups to become involved.
Please contact D'Arcy Harris (days: 235-7144; evenings: 231-4585) for more information.
PEDESTRIANS: HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CUT OFF BY A MOTOR VEHICLE?
Although a law exists under which motorists can be fined for cutting off people on foot, it is rarely enforced because
the requirements for reporting the incident are rather stringent. In addition to the license plate number, there must
be at least two witnesses and they must be able to describe the driver.
AFO supporters will be holding a PEDESTRIAN SAFETY DAY this summer, when during the course of an average
walk, pedestrians in pairs will witness and record the license plate numbers and physical descriptions of cars and
drivers. These incidents will be reported to the City of Ottawa police. If enough incidents are reported on that day,
Ottawa police may acknowledge the severity of this problem might be persuaded to pursue, if not all, at least the
most flagrant cases.
This event will happen only if enough people volunteer to help organize and/or participate on the designated day.
To volunteer, please call: Lucy Segatti, 234-0923.
Ottawa oughta be auto-free
Ottawa oughta be auto-free
Ottawa oughta be auto-free
Ottawa oughta be auto-free
Ottawa oughta be auto-free
TALK BACK: DON'T KEEP YOUR IDEAS TO
YOURSELF!
Ottawa Citizen
1101 Baxter Road
Ottawa, ON K2C 3M4
596-3699 FAX: 596-8458
City of Ottawa:
Ottawa City Hall
111 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON K1N 5A1
Mayor Jacquelin Holzman
564-1342 FAX: 564-8411
Councillors FAX: 564-8412
George BROWN Riverside 564-1296
Jill BROWN Britannia 564-1336
Richard CANNINGS By-Rideau 564-1320
Alex CULLEN Richmond 564-1333
Peter HARRIS Dalhousie 564-1305
Diane HOLMES Wellington 564-1311
Peter HUME Alta Vista 564-1317
Tim KEHOE Carleton 564-1299
Jacques LEGENDRE Overbrk-Forbes 564-1339
Jack MacKINNON Canterbury 564-1314
Mark MALONEY Carlngt-Wstbro 564-1326
Nancy MITCHELL St. George 564-1329
Joan O'NEILL Billings 564-1302
Jim WATSON Capital 564-1308
Joan WONG Elmdale 564-1323
Region of Ottawa-Carleton:
Ottawa-Carleton Centre
Cartier Square
111 Lisgar Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 2L7
Peter D. Clark, Regional Chair
(613) 560-2068 FAX: 560-6010
Tim Kehoe, Chair, Regional Transportation
Committee
(613) 564-1299 FAX: 564-8412
AUTO-FREE OTTAWA NEEDS
REPRESENTATIVES TO ATTEND PUBLIC
MEETINGS
There seem to be more roads and bridges being built
in Ottawa-Carleton-Outaouais than active Auto-Free
Ottawa members. If there is a proposal to pave over
even more of your neighbourhood to make way for
more cars, you might want to find out what's going on
and get involved.
Public information (pacification?) sessions are
currently being held to explain what the decision-
makers are planning to do to our neighbourhoods on
our behalf. We are even being invited to make
comments and contribute suggestions.
If you do decide to attend these meetings, don't be
intimidated by the jargon! At public information
meetings, we have a right to demand that plans or
programs be explained in language that we can
understand, and if we can't, then the people giving the
explanations are not doing their job. However, we
share responsibility in ensuring that these
consultation sessions are carried out in good faith.
To do that we have to be there, and we have to keep
asking questions until we get the answers we need.
Southeast Sector Transportation Study -
Environmental Assessment Proposal
For an update or meeting information, contact: Janet
Snider/Marguerite Lewis, UMA Engineering Ltd. at
739-3339, FAX: 739-5504.
NCC Integrated Recreational Pathways Network
For meeting information, contact: Sherry Berg, NCC
Design and Construction Division, 239-5555
Interprovincial Bridges
For a copy of the Study progress report or public
meeting information, contact: Gabriel Ahad,
Communications Officer, Transportation Dept.,
RMOC 560-2064 x 1911
Written comments can be sent to: Michel Gravel,
Interprovincial Bridge Study Project Manager, Delcan
Corporation, 2001 Thurston Drive, P.O. Box 8004,
Ottawa K1G 3H6
Ecovision has drawn up a petition against the bridges.
For info, call Andrea Prazmowski at 722-2629 (h) or
728-2781 (w).
Environmental Review of RMOC OP
To receive newsletter or more information, call David
Miller at 560-2053.
Transportation Environment Action Plan (TEAP)
(RMOC Citizens' Advisory Group)
For information on meetings, etc., call John
McKenzie at 560-2064 x 2783 or Steve Lyon at 1721.
If you would like to help, please call Lucy Segatti at
234-0923.
Are you consuming fossil fuels and petrochemicals with your vegetables?
Buy local organic produce instead!
The Ottawa Organic Food Group
Community-supported agriculture in the Ottawa area since 1990.
For produce, call Randi Cherry at 733-0606
For bulk groceries, call Leonard or Raymond at 741-4329
OR
Visit the Ottawa Organic Farmers' Market at Kingsway United Church, 630 Island Park Drive
Every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information, call Sue Bailey at 563-4167 or Millie Johne at 729-7704
CYCLISTS WAKE UP!!! THE ANTI-BILL 124 CAMPAIGN CONTINUES...
The Ontario Coalition For Better Cycling is campaigning against Bill 124 which would make bike helmets
mandatory. While encouraging the wearing of helmets, the Coalition maintains that a helmet law will not prevent
accidents.
Instead, the Coalition is asking for cycle skills training in Ontario schools; education of car drivers on sharing the
road; bikeways, bike lanes and paved shoulders; enforcement of existing laws against motorists who fail to share the
road; enforcement of existing bicycle laws.
HELP FIGHT THE BILL!
VISIT, PHONE, WRITE OR FAX your local MPP, Premier Bob, members of his cabinet, leaders of the opposition,
and other legislators. Remember to also write to newspapers and cycling newsletters.
ACCESS TO PROVINCIAL POLITICIANS
Phone your local ACCESS ONTARIO office to get Queen's Park addresses and phone numbers for MPPs. You can
phone Queen's Park numbers toll free by dialing 1-800-268-3747 during business hours, but you will need the MPP's
Queen's Park number to use the toll-free number.
Premier Rae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-1941
Gilles Pouliot, Min of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327-9200
Ruth Grier, Min of Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327-4300
Brian Charlton, Gov't House Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-7873
Bud Wildman, Min of Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327-2936
Tony Silipo, Min of Comm. and Social Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-5225
Lynn McLeod, Liberal Opposition Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-7155
Murray Elston, Lib. House Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314-4676
Greg Sorbara, Lib. Transport Critic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-7280
Mike Harris, PC Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-7800
Ernie Eves, PC House Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-7747
David Turnbull, PC Transport Critic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-3877
For more information on the Coalition's campaign, in Ottawa call Avery Burdett, Co-Chair Bill 124 Task Force at
567-3226 (Fax: 729-2207).
CARS ARE RUINING MY LIFE AND OUR BIOSPHERE!
Here's my membership/subscription fee in support of AUTO-FREE OTTAWA's efforts to promote the virtues of
car-free lifestyles and cities.
___ $20.00 individual or family ___ $10.00 un/under-waged
___ $50.00 corporate/institutional
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AUTO-FREE OTTAWA
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