October-December 1993 Volume 2 No. 1
SAVING ENERGY BY DESIGN
by Richard Register
You would think that all the attention on
energy in the 1970s would have made it quite clear
that city form is the chief culprit in energy
squandering. Cities are home to almost half of
humanity and are physically our largest creations.
Thus to fail to mention cities while pursuing
ecological solutions is folly akin to finding the
bathtub overflowing and reaching for a mop without
turning off the water. Close to a third of the energy
used in developed nations goes for transportation
and another third for heating and cooling buildings,
while much of the rest is consumed in the creation of
transport systems and buildings. Obviously, a city
built for pedestrians¾one that could be easily
negotiated by foot and bicycle¾would save
enormous quantities of energy. It is only a little more
subtle to notice that buildings sharing walls use far
less heating and cooling energy than those standing
alone.
Ultimately, our built habitat should not just
cease to damage nature, it should contribute to the
growth and diversity of healthy nature. Presently
cities expend resources, deplete soils, and accelerate
the extinction of species; they should reuse almost all
materials and only then recycle them, actually build
soils with human, kitchen, garden "wastes", and
provide such a benefit over the ages that they would
preserve and help foster more species diversity, not
less.
So what would the ecological city look like?
Structurally it would resemble Old World or
colonial cities more than their contemporary
American or Australian counterparts. It would be
relatively dense, with a great diversity of land uses
close together. Older European and colonial cities
were built largely for the pedestrian. That design
guideline lost importance after the railroad
locomotive was invented, and was virtually forgotten
after cheap energy and cars came along.
The ecological city would support
"appropriate" and "sustainable" technologies: it
would glint with sunshine reflecting off solar
collectors and greenhouses, it would shimmer in the
wind (in those kinds of climates) as the wind electric
generators and wind water pumps twirled overhead
or on nearby hills or plains. (cont'd on p. 3)
PUBLIC CONSULTATION OR PUBLIC
CONSTERNATION??
A growing number of public
information/consultation sessions and community
advisory group meetings on development proposals
and transportation studies are being held in Ottawa-
Carleton. Unfortunately, these consultation efforts
are nothing but a smokescreen for business as usual
when it comes to transportation and land use
planning in Ottawa-Carleton. They are doomed to
failure as long as studies are based on archaic
assumptions and the "experts" lack good will, not to
mention creativity.
Any studies carried out by the Regional
Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (RMOC), for
example, inevitably favour widening or building new
roads as a solution to problems anticipated from
population growth in Ottawa-Carleton. The RMOC
is, after all, in the business of building roads. It even
uses road metaphors to promote its 3-Rs waste
reduction programs.
The RMOC's transportation study for the
Southeast Sector or the interprovincial bridge study
being carried out by JACPAT (Joint Administrative
Committee on Planning and Transportation) both
perpetuate the same 1950s car-based assumptions
that have given us sprawl, dependence on cars,
unhealthy cities, unsafe streets, and global climate
change. To justify their plans for a new
interprovincial bridge, RMOC traffic planners
ironically use the threat of increased levels of air
pollution and driver frustration if nothing is done,
and proceed to predict 115% more car traffic by 2011.
Based on this simplistic linear projection of growth,
the planners and engineers working on both the
Southeast Sector and JACPAT studies insist that we
need to increase road capacity. The only
"alternatives" being considered are alternative
locations for roads that the experts take for granted
must be built. (cont'd on p. 4)
PEDESTRIANS OUTRAGED
Recently, a father of two children was killed in a Metro Toronto park by a reckless
cyclist. The phenomenon of riding bicycles on sidewalks and other pedestrian
designated areas has elicited words of outrage from many pedestrians. (Transport
2000 Ontario ewsletter, Summer 1993)
The City of Toronto approved 13 km of new downtown bike lanes. An estimated
30,000 people bike into the city daily. (Transport 2000 Ontario Newsletter, Summer
1993)
THE CITY AS PARASITE
Car Dependency
A parasite is an organism that lives, and is dependent on, another host, from which it
is nourished. Cities fit this description perfectly. They are dependent on a steady
flow of supplies from the world's farmlands, forests, and fishing grounds, without
which they simply could not exist. Ever more artificial ecosystems are created for
producing maximum food and timber yields, employing industrial production
methods. Unfortunately, these are often obtained using environmentally damaging
and highly polluting techniques of production and disposal. The actual
environmental costs of urban consumption patterns are still unacknowledged in the
purchase price of commercial products and processed foods.
Paragominas¾Sawmill capital of the world
Located on the Brasilia-Belém highway, Paragominas, with a population of 40,000
people, has some 500 mills using several thousand trees from the virgin forest
everyday. The cut trees are worth perhaps $100 each, but by the time they are sold as
planks in London or Frankfurt they can be worth tens of thousands. In addition,
harvest offcuts, often perfectly good mahogany planks, or even trees straight from
virgin forest are taken to make charcoal. This is used for smelting pig iron using iron
ore from the nearby Carajas mine. Much of this pig iron is exported to Germany and
Japan, to be used for making cars. (The Gaia Atlas of Cities, p.86)
EMISSIONS TARGET DIFFICULT, REPORT SAYS
Ottawa¾Canada may have trouble meeting its target of stabilizing greenhouse-gas
emissions by 2000, a draft report from Environment Minister Pierre Vincent
acknowledges. Emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases could rise 10.6 from 1990
levels by 2000 unless new control measures are implemented, the federal report says.
(Globe and Mail, 23 Sept 93)
GET ROADS OFF WELFARE: HIGH PROPERTY TAXES PAY FOR ROADS
"Making the Car Pay Its Way: The Case of Minneapolis Roads" is the name of a report
now available from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The report, by John Bailey,
shows that more than half of the money spent on Minneapolis roads comes from non-
transportation revenue sources. The majority comes from property taxes.
"The subsidy from the property tax payer to the motorist causes two problems," says
Bailey. "First, the motorist doesn't feel the true cost of driving. This encourages more
cars and more driving and discourages alternatives like mass transit, bicycles or tele-
commuting." The second problem is an equity one. Many urban dwellers don't own
cars. "Yet they subsidize cars through their property taxes," Bailey says.
The report suggests shifting the cost of road maintenance and repair from property
taxes into gasoline taxes. Such a measure could lead to a 40% decrease in residential
property taxes levied by the city of Minneapolis.
Making the Car Pay Its Way is available for a charge from the Institute for Local Self-
Reliance, 1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite 306, Minneapolis, MN 55414, (612) 379-3815, (FAX:
379-3920)
AUTO-FREE ZONE is published quarterly by Auto-Free
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Deadline for next issue: Winter solstice 1993 (December 21).
ISSN 1195-1958
AUTO-FREE OTTAWA ACTIVITIES
UPDATE
Since the last issue of auto-free zone, AFO
commented on a proposal for intersection
modification, the Southwest Transitway Extension
and Fallowfield Road study, attended public
meetings on the Southeast Sector Transportation
Study and the interprovincial bridge. In
preparation for an open-house next spring on a
long-term proposal for an auto-free By Ward
Market, AFO members are approaching local
merchants, property owners, city councillors, as
well as collecting signatures on our petition.
ECOLOGICAL CITIES (cont'd from p. 1)
The ecological city would be green, usually,
with rooftop gardens, and its pedestrian streets
would be alive with orchards, song birds, flower
boxes, bees, butterflies. Creeks, shorelines, ridgetops
and other sensitive or rich biological zones would be
restored. Agricultural land would extend right up to
the city limits. And since the infrastructure would be
on a much smaller scale than today's sprawled
vascular system of asphalt, water, sewage, gas,
electric and phone lines, much less of society's
investment would go into building and getting
around what's built. There should be then far more
freedom to pursue the arts, contemplation,
recreation, and deeper forms of human fulfilment
than the survival struggle that dominates social,
political and economic imaginations today. [...]
Wildness in the City
As much as I like European cities and hold
them up as partial models for the future, after
travelling to Australia and Brazil and rethinking
something of the American Southwest where I grew
up, I began to realize that a certain stuffy,
uncomfortable feeling I had experienced in some
European cities suggested that the ecocity of the
future should have an air of wildness that is missing
from the manicured garden parks of Europe, the
highly managed forests, and the "working"
agricultural landscapes. People control nature in
Europe, in some places disastrously and in other
places with lovely results, but results that
nonetheless show the human influence in every
stone wall, goat-rubbled field, or replanted
woodland.
Somehow, we have to give nature large
zones of freedom even as we design built
environments to give us our own kinds of cultural
freedoms. We should leave¾or recover from low
density and inappropriate development¾very large
areas for nature, areas with absolutely minimal
human interference. This means restoring natural
features such as creeks and shorelines, and
reestablishing wildlife corridors of continuous
habitat for plants and animals in their seed dispersal,
foraging, and migrations. Cities must shrink back to
finite limits. Some should coalesce around centers of
activity in the suburbs. The process might look
something like galaxies of stars condensing into
bright sparks of light out of a vast, relatively uniform
cloud of gas. Establishing greenbelts marks that
moment, hanging in time before the present pattern
is reversed, after which we will begin withdrawing
from car-dependent sprawl and restoring nature in a
big way. [...]
Ecological Zoning
I am not as encouraged by the current
attempts at creating an ecologically healthy future as
I would like to be. The small pieces of the picture
simply aren't adding up fast enough. We are not
getting down to real fundamentals. And I think that
will continue until we begin to deal with our pattern
of land uses. The physical foundations of our society
rest upon the land itself. If we don't know how to
arrange buildings and "land uses", we can continue
to expect the disasters we are already seeing, despite
a few wonderful buildings here and there and
despite hundreds of millions of energy-efficient cars.
Perhaps the way to break through to those
more fundamental issues is to approach land use as
directly and controversially as possible. Stir up
people's interest, even hostility, then put out a
complete vision and defend it for all its creative
potential. [...] Ecocity Builders, a non-profit
organization I have launched to demonstrate
"restoration development", along with the Alliance
for a Paving Moratorium [has] rezoned Berkeley and
is moving ahead with plans to use that new
ecological zoning map.
Ecocity Zoning Guides
This ecological zoning for Berkeley features
what we call "walkable centers" in our downtown, in
two other major centers, and in our several
neighbourhood centers. In the areas farthest from
those centers, all manner of incentives will be applied
to remove automobile dependent development and
bring back nature. In the walkable centers higher
density development will be encouraged, requiring
increased levels of cultural, economic and social
diversity¾"access by proximity". The ecological
zoning map we have produced, which looks a lot like
the one in my book, Ecocity Berkeley¾Building Cities
for a Healthy Future, calls for nature corridors at those
locations farthest from the centers and for restoration
of creeks everywhere in town.
For several years I am sure, the ecological
zoning map of Berkeley will not be officially adopted
nor integrated into the code, but it is likely to gather
legitimacy since it relates honestly to the problems of
the future while the existing zoning does not.
Environmental groups opposing
development outside of the walkable centers or
development that promotes auto dependence can
refer to the map in justifying their positions. For
builders, the map will indicate what can go where
with good social and ecological results.
Neighbourhood activists, when they become
comfortable with the new guidelines for change, may
identify what makes sense in their part of town, and
either get behind it or fight against ecological
development on clearer and more thoughtful
ground. And, it will be up to the imaginative
architects, entrepreneurs, and city economic
development bureaucrats to make sure that the new
buildings are a major contribution not only to a
better relationship between people and nature, but to
a more vital community.
Reshaping existing cities into ecocities using
ecological rezoning maps (and many other means)
will take several generations, but if changes are made
steadily and resolutely in the direction prescribed,
very positive results will become clear in a decade or
less. (Extracted from article that first appeared in The
Permaculture Activist, February 1993 via ORBnet,
Summer 1993)
For more information: Ecocity Builders, 5427 Telegraph
Ave., W-2, Oakland, CA 94609.
PUBLIC "CONSULTATION" (cont'd from p. 1)
Already 30 to 50% (65% in Los Angeles) of
land in North American cities has been paved over.
For every car in North America, there are 4,000
square feet of pavement, compared to 1,000 square
feet of housing space on average. As a result, car
ownership has increased from 0.9 in 1961 to 1.6 in
1986, while occupancy has dropped to 1.2 persons
per trip. Current planning trends accommodate cars
instead of people, and in so doing greenspace,
wilderness, farmland are smothered under asphalt,
which is really a solidified oilslick on land.
Instead of looking at predicted future trends,
existing studies are based on statistics of the past. In
Traffic Calming, the Citizens Advocating
Responsible Transportation (CART) describe their
experience in defeating plans to build a freeway
("arterial road") through their neighbourhoods.
When asked by local residents to consider broader
issues such as the Greenhouse Effect, they replied that
this was not their job. In fact most traffic planners are
not "planners" at all. They are traffic "facilitators" or
road "builders".
Generally, these "planners" passively defend the status
quo and are committed to its continuation. They do not
examine the eventual results of continuation of present
directions or how appropriate these results may be in a
changing world. A narrow prognosis on future traffic
growth is allowed to dictate "solutions". The attitude is,
"What is, shall be."
Planning which merely reacts to the past will leave the
city ill-equipped to handle the social, environmental
and political changes of the future."
Besides being indifferent to the true needs
and wants of the communities who will be affected
by their plans, the experts are so specialized that they
can't see beyond their field. That's how
transportation planners or traffic engineers have
managed to provide us with transportation networks
in our cities that have led to spiralling health costs
(asthma, cancer, allergies caused by air pollution),
low productivity (stress of getting to work, traffic
deaths and injuries), reduced crop production due to
ozone depletion, and global climate change.
The bibliographies to these studies are long
lists of traffic studies and transportation reports, but
do not include neighbourhood plans drawn up by
the local community or environmental studies. As
they are being carried out now, transportation
studies are oblivious to the social and environmental
impacts they directly cause.
How many millions are being spent on
studies that are obsolete even before they get started?
Even though actual construction of a bridge is not
planned until about 2008, the JACPAT study, for
example, was contracted in 1987. Phase 1 of the
JACPAT study cost taxpayers $174,000. In 1991,
Phase 2 was given a budget of $450,000.
Another reason for unsuccessful public
consultation is that municipal and regional public
"servants" no longer see themselves (assuming they
ever did) as being accountable to the public. In
Saving the Neighbourhood, Washington activist
Peggy Robins describes her experience with local
planners and politicians:
How could city planners be so indifferent to the threat
that we saw in the development proposal? As public
servants, it was their job (so I assumed) to guide the
developers into doing what the people wanted. So it
was obvious they had either made a glaring error in this
case, or else they did not understand their jobs quite as I
did.
Unfortunately the latter turned out to be true.
And it's so, I'm afraid, in most American city and
county planning departments. Those with authority
over land-use (whether city planners, county officials,
or elected representatives) generally do not see
themselves as advocates for the citizens. They see
themselves as an impartial body, pulled on the one side
by development interests, on the other side by the
citizens. They try to maintain "balance" between these
two equally competing interests.
In an increasingly materialistic and cynical
society, where mobility and scale of bureaucracy
make accountability elusive, many municipal
planners seem to view their work as just a temporary
job to be used to advance their careers or ensure an
easy retirement. Progressive planners, who
recognize the need for change, are either ignored or
risk losing their jobs.
Comments gathered from the public are
quoted in study reports, but are usually not
published in full unless they come from a major
developer or institution, whose wisdom obviously
carries more weight than that of local residents. In
the section entitled "Community Observations" in its
"Problem/Need Identification Report" on the
transportation demands to and from the Southeast
Sector, UMA Engineering smuggly observes that
"This commentary, while largely subjective, does
assist in identifying transportation concerns in the
Southeast Sector by providing confirmation of earlier
noted analyses." Even the City of Ottawa's award-
winning new Official Plan, which was revised with
substantial public input, is now being amended to
conform to the wishes of developers and regional
government.
However, the public too must take
responsibility for the lack of sincerity and goodwill
on the part of paternalistic professionals at public
meetings. Our "public servants" may no longer feel
accountable to us because we don't bother to remind
them of that often enough. No matter how
exasperating public meetings are, they are a vehicle
for demanding accountability and that public money
be spent on socially useful projects, instead of make-
work programs for consultants and engineers.
To solve Ottawa-Carleton and the
Outaouais's current transportation woes, and to plan
adequately for the future, current transportation
studies should be scrapped. Instead, we need studies
on how to change our current transportation system.
We do not need more studies on what we already
know is an ecologically unsustainable, uneconomical
(due to hidden subsidies) and socially detrimental
car-dominated transportation system.
As has been often suggested by
environmental and community activists, instead of
piecemeal studies, we need to carry out a
comprehensive and integrated transportation and
land-use study for Ottawa-Carleton and the
Outaouais. In the meantime, a moratorium should
be placed on new road, bridge or parking
construction. To succeed, such a study has to involve
the communities affected from the very start. The
study should be based on a green-transportation
hierarchy that puts walking, cycling, public
vehicles¾in that order¾ahead of private cars.
Such a study should also apply full-cost accounting
to factor in social and ecological costs that are now
being treated as mere "externalities".
In a recent article published in a professional
planning journal, Jane Jacobs, the author of several
books on cities including Cities and the Wealth of
Nations, contrasted the achievements of professional
planners with those of community activists. "First of
all, our official planning departments seem to be
brain-dead in the sense that we cannot depend on
them in any way, shape or form for providing
intellectual leadership in addressing urgent problems
involving the physical future of the city." She
reserved her praise for the "intellectually lively non-
planners" who, despite bureaucratic obstacles, have
succeeded in defeating plans for urban expressways
and rebuilding city's main streets. Identifying
grassroots groups as the principal source of virtue in
local politics, she urged them to "push and push and
push" against the dead weight of City Hall.--LS
References
1. JACPAT, Study of the Interprovincial Bridges in the
National Capital Region - Phase 2. Progress Report.
January 1993, p. 4.
2. Renner, Michael, Rethinking the Role of the
Automobile. Worldwatch Paper 84, June 1988, p. 46.
3. "Towards 2000 - The Choice is Up To Us: Smooth or
Chaotic Change", Globe and Mail, 4 March 1993, p. C4.
4. Robins, Peggy. Saving the Neighbourhood: You Can
Fight Developers and Win. Rockville, MD, Woodhouse,
1990, p. xi.
5. Citizens Advocating Responsible Transportation
(CART), Traffic Calming, Ashgrove Q Australia, 1989,
p. 14.
6. UMA Engineering Ltd., Environmental Assessment
Study of the Transportation Demands To and From the
Southeast Sector: Problem/Need Identification Report.
RMOC, 20 May 1993, p. 82.
7. JACPAT, op. cit., January 1993, p. 1.
8. Barber, John. "Ambushed by their urban priestess",
Globe and Mail, 23 Sept 93.
CITIZENS ADVOCATING RESPONSIBLE TRANSPORTATION (CART) EXPOSE CAR MYTHS!
In 1989, faced with a proposal to build an
arterial bypass (The Route 20 Freeway) through their
neighbourhoods, CART, then Citizens Against Route
20, chose to tackle the root causes of this problem.
Their research and commitment resulted in a
visionary plan which they published in Traffic
Calming: A Solution for Route 20 and a New Vision for
Brisbane". Traffic Calming was intended to help local
residents, people concerned about their cities, and
planners and politicians. It now has been
republished under a new title¾Traffic Calming: The
Solution to Urban Traffic and a New Vision for
Neighbourhood Livability¾for people facing similar
problems in other cities.
The research contained in Traffic Calming
shows that if this plan is adopted, the following
results could be expected:
• up to 60% drop in deaths and serious
injuries
• up to 50% drop in noise and pollution
• up to 50% less peak-hour traffic
• dramatic drop in public transport deficits.
Eight Myths of Traditional Traffic Planning
While not deliberate, bad planning in the
past has been the result of tunnel vision and an
appalling lack of accountability on the part of
planners, bureaucrats and politicians. The following
are the eight myths behind traditional traffic
planning according to CART.
Myth 1: Traffic projects are important in deciding what
roads are needed.
Such an approach looks eminently sensible
and forward thinking until one realises it
makes a prior assumption¾it assumes the
present is ideal...
Myth 2: Planners are not responsible for how much people
want to use their cars.
The volume of traffic in a city is not
something like the rainfall that has to be
accepted...
Myth 3: Predicted traffic growth must be provided for.
Traffic expands to fill the available road
space.
Myth 4: Bigger roads are safer roads.
While planners build roads that encourage
greater speeds they must bear some of the
blame for a rising road toll.
Myth 5: Bigger roads increase people's mobility.
The net result of bigger roads is that we are
condemned to spend more and more time
behind the wheel of a car to reach fewer and
fewer destinations. Believing the myth that
"bigger roads improve mobility" has put us
on a technological treadmill. We have to run
faster just to stand still.
Myth 6: Bigger roads advantage more people than they
disadvantage.
Contrary to popular belief, bigger roads
disadvantage everyone and advantage no
one¾except for the planners and engineers
who build them.
Myth 7: It is not the job of traffic planners to look at wider
social, political and environmental trends.
Planning which merely reacts to the past will
leave the city ill-equipped to handle the
social, environmental and political changes
of the future.
Myth 8: Planning should be left to the experts.
The community must have an opportunity to
undo some of the mistakes of the past and to
creatively shape their future.
The Principles of Traffic Calming
Principle 1: Roads are not just for cars.
Principle 2: Residents have rights.
Principle 3: Maximise mobility while decreasing the costs.
How Traffic Calming Works
Technique 1: Reduce the speed limit.
Technique 2: Change the road design to force traffic to
travel at a slower, more even pace.
Technique 3: Change the psychological feel of the
street.
Technique 4: Increase incentives to use public
transport.
Technique 5: Discourage use of private motor vehicles.
Technique 6: Optimize the number of people using each
car.
Technique 7: Encourage people to organize their own
travel more efficiently.
Technique 8: Optimize choices for travel.
Technique 9: Create strong, viable local communities.
The 12 Goals of Traffic Calming
Goal 1: Reduce current noise level below recommended
levels
Goal 2: Reduce air pollution below current levels
Goal 3: Increase safety for motorists
Goal 4: Create a safer and more pleasant environment for
pedestrians and cyclists, especially children
Goal 5: Reduce industrial through traffic on residential
streets
Goal 6: Reduce the amount of non-local traffic "rat-
running" along residential streets
Goal 7: Restrain or reverse growth in traffic and
encourage more energy-efficient alternatives
Goal 8: Avoid creating a new traffic corridor through
existing residential areas
Goal 9: Provide better mobility for those without cars:
the poor, the elderly, the handicapped and
children
Goal 10: Maintain and enhance the existing character of
suburbs
Goal 11: Impose the minimum burden on taxpayers while
bestowing maximum benefits
Goal 12: Allow the maximum flexibility to cope with
future events or social changes.
Traffic Calming includes a chapter on implementation
of traffic calming techniques and possible future
trends and their impact on cities, depending on
whether traditional planning or traffic calming
techniques are used.
Traffic Calming is an invaluable resource book for
community groups and environmentalists trying to
reverse the current car-dominated trend in
transportation and land use planning.
Copies of Traffic Calming are available from Auto-
Free Ottawa for CAN$10 (shipping included), or from
Sensible Transportation Options for People (STOP),
15405 S.W. 116th Avenue #202B, Tigard, OR 97224-
2600 (503) 624-6083 for US$6.
WILL OTTAWA BE NEXT?
On September 24th, Le Monde à Bicyclette in
Montreal held its first critical mass bike ride (CMBR).
Modelled after similar regular events held in other
North American cities. According to Le Monde, these
non-confrontational events serve: to bring cyclists
together in solidarity; to highlight cyclist's needs and
demands; and to bring the presence of cyclists into
the public (political) eye. Le Monde stresses taht
CMBRs depend on the participation of individuals:
without the commitment of each to an hour of action,
the weight of cyclist numbers in policy-making wil
not change.
Cyclists in San Francisco have been having
CMBRs for about a year, with hundreds of cyclists
turning out for monthly one-hour rides at 5:30 p.m.
every last Friday. During a recent CMBR, 63 cyclists
were arrested for entering and taking up four lanes
on the Interstate 80. Later charges were dropped
against 50 of the cyclists arrested. The Auto-Free Bay
Area Coalition (AFBAC), which believes that CMBR
should display the positive experience of human-
powered movement, not the venting of hostility at
motorists or anyone else, is now working on flyers
and strategies to help make CMBRs the positive
experience they should be. AFBAC is not an
organizer of any CMBR. The CMBRs are advertised
by word of mouth and individual initiative, i.e.
someone writing something and making photocopies
to be handed out at the ride. David Cohen, co-
founder of AFBAC, noted that the decision to ride
along the interstate was completely spontaneous.
"By riding on the highway we were exercising our
right to have a traffic jam just like motorists," Cohen
said.
After 3 cyclists were killed in New York City
within the space of a few days last June and a rash of
pedestrian deaths, Transportation Alternatives
sponsored Critical Mass Bike Actions/Days of
Outrage Rides to demand stricter enforcement of
speed limits and other traffic laws. CMBRs are now
being held monthly to rally support for an Auto-Free
Central Park and safer conditions for cyclists on New
York streets. Along the way New York cyclists do
"bike lifts" where they stand in the middle of a major
intersection and lift their bikes over their heads for
about one minute. Most drivers reportedly just look
and smile, while only a few react negatively. At the
June CMBA, 5 cyclists were arrested, but charges
were later dismissed against 4. (From AFBAC's
Going Clean Journal, Summer 1993 and
Transportation Alternative's The New York City
Cyclist, Jul/Aug & Sept/Oct 1993 and Auto-Free Press,
Sept/Oct 93)
BIKE Week Challenge '93 by Mike Buckthought
Everyone knows that cars are bad for the
environment, but what can you do about it? Try
cycling instead: it's good for your health and our
planet's health too.
On June 2, 500 people did just that. They
participated in BIKE Week Challenge '93, an
environment-friendly contest to see who could
reduce pollution the most by cycling to work or
school. Participants included teams from
Bell-Northern Research/Northern Telecom, Carleton
University, CIDA, Confederation Heights,
Conference Board of Canada, Corel,
Environment Canada, Forestry Canada and Indian
and Northern Affairs.
The winners were the Conference Board of
Canada (highest participation: 10%) and Corel
(greatest reduction in pollution per person). Total
reductions in air pollution were estimated from
distance travelled, using Environment Canada's
MOBILE 4.1C model. If the 500 participants had
been driving cars instead of cycling, they would have
produced 2.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 62 kilograms
of carbon monoxide, 11 kilograms of hydrocarbons
and 7 kilograms of nitrous oxides.
You can estimate how much damage your own
car has done to the environment (if you have one).
Just get the distance in kilometres from your
odometer
and divide by 4. That will give you a rough estimate
for the number of kilograms of carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and other
pollutants produced by your car, assuming it's an
"average" car. If you have a gas guzzler it'll be more.
So if you travel 20000 km in a year, you produce
about 5 tonnes of air pollution. That's your
contribution to global warming and acid rain.
Like a lot of environmental problems, the effects of
cars are not always obvious because we can't actually
see carbon dioxide and other gases. We can wait
until we see effects such as climate change, but by
then it'll be too late. By taking part in the Challenge,
a few people did something to change things and
showed us it is possible for the individual to make a
difference.
This year's Challenge was the third. The first was
in 1991 when I organized a floor-by-floor challenge
for Environment Canada and Forestry Canada
employees at Place Vincent Massey in Hull. Last
year there were two more teams, Bell Canada and
Bell-Northern Research (last year's winner).
For more information contact Mike Buckthought,
BIKE Week Challenge coordinator at 567-7244 or
953-3678.
Results of BIKE Week Challenge '93
CB = Conference Board of Canada; Corel = Corel Corporation; CIDA = Canadian International Development Agency; PVM = Place Vincent Massey: Environment Canada, Forestry Canada;
BNR = Bell-Northern Research/Northern Telecom; CH = Confederation Heights; INAC = Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; CU = Carleton University (employees and summer students)
CB Corel CIDA PVM BNR CH INAC CU Total
# people 160 289 1150 1175 5889 3665 1400 3000 16728
# cyclists 16 26 55 45 198 95 27 37 499
% participation 10 9 5 4 3 3 2 1 3
Distance (km) 166 402 847 945 4088 2100 483 586 9617
Reductions (kg)
Carbon dioxide 40 97 205 229 989 508 117 142 2327
Hydrocarbons 0.2 0.5 1 1 5 2 0.5 0.7 11
Carbon monoxide 1 3 5 6 26 13 3 4 62
Nitrous oxides 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.7 3 2 0.4 0.4 7
Total 42 101 212 236 1023 526 121 147 2407
Per person (g) 260 348 184 201 174 143 86 49 144
(Reprinted from Peace and Environment News, July/August 1993)
IMPROVING ACCESS FOR THE POOR IN URBAN AREAS: SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORTATION
by Michael Replogle and Walter Hook
Not all countries have followed the US
model. Unlike the US, where not even a fraction of
1% of all transportation spending is spent on
infrastructure support for bicycles and other non-
motorized vehicles, in Holland 10% of the surface
transportation budget is spent on bicycle facilities.
Today more than 30% of all trips in the Netherlands,
and 25% of trips to train stations, are by bicycle.
Currently there are plans to increase the taxation
levels on cars and fuels by nearly 50%, while
increasing subsidies to public transportation by $5.7
billion a year. These measures are projected to
reduce CO2 emissions by 8% by the year 2000.
Denmark has implemented similar
measures. In Denmark, car owners pay a 200% sales
tax when purchasing a car, and nearly $1000 in
annual registration fees, while gasoline taxes have
driven up the cost of fuel to $1 pr litre or nearly $3.79
a gallon. These funds are used to subsidize public
transportation and pay for infrastructure for bicycles
and non-motorized transportation. Thanks to such
policies and the continued expansion of a network of
arterial 'bikeways', currently 30% of all trips in
Copenhagen are by bicycle.
In Tokyo only 15% of the population
commutes by car, while the vast majority commute
by train, subway and bicycle. Many Japanese people
cycle to commuter train stations and shopping hubs,
and sophisticated, computerized, secure bicycle
parking facilities are becoming available at an
increasing number of stations.
The advantages of this approach to the
economy are clear. Japan spends only 9% of its GNP
on transportation costs, and only 9.2 % of personal
expenditure is spent on transportation and
telecommunications, whereas in the US between 15%
and 18% of GNP is spent on transportation, as is
between 16 and 22% of personal consumption.
These differences are driving up the cost of US goods
in international markets and are undermining the
competitiveness of US products.
The South needs to use appropriate models
for the development of their transportation system,
and to learn from each others' experiences as well. In
China, for example, all urban streets are divided
roughly into thirds, with one third dedicated to
pedestrians, one third to bicycles and carts, and one
third to trucks, buses and cars. As a result, between
60 and 90% of all personal trips not made on foot are
made by bicycle. As the economic liberalizations in
China have made bicycles more readily available, the
number of bicycle commuters has increased rapidly,
crowding urban networks and leading to new
investment in more sophisticated road designs for
separate modal flows in saturated urban
intersections.
Meanwhile, Cuba, by rapidly turning to non-
motorized transportation, is projected to be able to
save as much as $500 million per year by reducing
the need for imported fuel.
The most important aspect of sustainable
transportation policy, and the one most often
neglected, is the impact that it has on the everyday
lives of men and women. For example, as a result of
making non-motorized vehicles available to
fishermen in Beira, Mozambique, families were able
to double their income by bringing their goods to
markets which were previously out of reach.
Helping to make non-motorized vehicles available to
most people in the South will increase their
productivity and their standard of living.
As the transportation systems in the North
are still the source of most transportation-related
pollutants, and because the North has been
providing the technical expertise and funding for
pro-car lending policies in the South, Northern
environmental and development organizations have
a responsibility to push for a change in
transportation policy at home, and to urge their
representatives in aid agencies and multilateral
lending institutions to change their lending policies.
As a result of some initial efforts, many of the major
multilateral development banks are now far more
receptive to alternative transportation policies, but
their lending practices remain substantially altered.
Meanwhile, real change in the nature of lending by
multilateral development banks will not occur until
the South begins to ask for international funding for
non-motorized transportation and other projects
which address the basic mobility needs of the urban
poor and working class. This in turn will not happen
until Southern and international non-governmental
organizations, and individuals, put sufficient political
pressure on Southern governments to meet the basic
mobility needs of their people in an environmentally
sustainable way. (Appropriate Technology, June 1993)
"Linking Bicycle/Pedestrian Facilities with Transit"
by Michael Replogle and Harriet Parcells details the
successful integration of bicycle and pedestrian
facilities with transit in Europe and Japan and
developments in U.S. cities, recommendations for
future action. The 150-page report also contains
extensive bicycle parking, bike-on-rail, and bike-on-
bus information. Send $18 to the Campaign fro
New Transportation Priorities, 900 2nd Street NE,
Suite 308, Washington, DC 20002.
ECONOMIC CONVERSION NOW!
As in the logging and fishing industries,
environmentalists are often blamed for the loss of
jobs, when mechanization and global markets are the
real culprits. In the case of the auto industry, the use
of robots in Canadian factories and a declining global
economy are the reasons behind headlines like "GM
workers on road to extinction" (Globe and Mail, 2 Oct
93).
The growing need for new jobs presents a
perfect opportunity for alternative, community-based
economies (bike-oriented businesses maybe?).
While not as glamorous, high-tech or high-paying, at
least these jobs would keep people working, keep
money in the community and maybe even restore a
greater sense of community as local small businesses
bring people together.
Ironically, if Canada continues to lose auto-
manufacturing jobs, the infrastructure lobby may no
longer be able to claim that building roads and
bridges generates long-term jobs. Maybe then our
decision-makers will not continue to pave over our
land for the sake of ecologically unsustainable jobs.
DAIMLER CUTTING 40,000 JOBS
Daimler-Benz AG announced a $776-million
first-half loss and a 20% cut in staff¾40,000 jobs¾by
the end of 1994 to cut costs. The Mercedes-Benz
motor division suffered a 16% sales drop from last
year's first half. The European auto industry is in its
worst slump since the Second World War. German
auto makers' sales have fallen 18% this year because
of the recession and growing competition from less-
expensive Japanese models. (Globe and Mail, 18 Sept
93)
AUTO SALES REMAIN IN RUT: REVVING
TRUCKS CAN'T OFFSET STALLED CARS
Auto sales drooped again through July,
despite a pickup in demand for light trucks and
Chrysler Canada Ltd.'s continuing success with cars
and minivans. Canadians bought 7.8% fewer cars
last month than a year ago, and a 7.9% increase in
truck purchases wasn't enough to offset it. On
balance, 2.7% fewer vehicles were sold in July than a
year ago. And year-to-date sales are off by 4%, the
fifth year of decline. Asian and European auto
makers have made notable gains, but the group's
overall performance remains weak. (Globe and Mail,
6 Aug 93)
BIKE-BASED BUSINESS BLOSSOMS
by Sue Zielinski
Cycling isn't just a healthy, non-polluting
way to get around. It's an importanat niche in our
economy. How community-based bike businesses
can be encouraged will be a major topic at the "Bikes
Mean Business" conference in Toronto on October
15-16.
Last year a group of bike lovers with an
economic bent got together to talk about bikes and
the local economy. We knew that if we wanted to
move towards a more economically and ecologically
viable city, we would have to undergo the economic
conversion related to less car-dependent
communities.
We launched into brainstorming sessions on
ways to start and improve successful small
businesses while at the same time make it easier for
people to choose the bicycle for transportation.
Many of the ideas that arose have since become
community economic development (CED) projects.
Others are still potential ones.
Here's a sample of what came up:
specialized bicycle trailer and delivery vehicle
manufacture; local bike recycling and repair shops;
bike rental services; meals on two wheels for seniors;
a bike trailer service to pick up compost and drop it
off at community gardens; Toronto tour by bike and
other bike-related tourism; summer bike camps.
The Bikes Mean Business Conference will
bring together the people necessary to get bikes and
business rolling; cyclists, researchers, inventors, CED
supporters, business people, funders, manufacturers,
retailer¾anyone who would like to realize the bike's
sustainable business potential. It will provide ideas
and networking possibilities as well as practical
advice.
Workshops include: Bikes, CED and
Building a Local Enterprise; Strengthening Your
Small Business; Green Streets, Local Economy and
Bikes; and many others.
To learn more or to register for the the conference,
which takes place at the Harbourfront Centre, call Will
Wallace at 960-0026 or Sue Zielinski at 392-1556.
(Community Economics, Fall 1993)
AUTO-FREE ZONES AND TRAFFIC CALMING GO GLOBAL!
CAR-FREE CITIES
Worldwide (17 May)¾In a car-free day of action, Greenpeace
holds simultaneous direct actions in Zurich, Mexico City, Sao
Paulo, Sydney, and Schwerin, Germany. A new report, Car Free
Cities was released in London, UK naming cars as a major threat
to the global climate and calling on governments and citizens to
oust the "plague of the cities". (Greenpeace, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1993)
Amsterdam¾Anti-car demonstrators blocked automobile traffic
in Amsterdam's historic Damrak area June 26th, in protest against
signs that the city government was backing away from an
ambitious car reduction plan. Demonstrators used a blow-torch
to cut a car in half, symbolizing the plan to cut auto use by half.
The plan which won the support of 53% of voters in a
March 1992 referendum, calls on the city government to halve
automobile traffic and parking spaces in Amsterdam's heart by
the year 2002. It also provides for auto-free streets, bike lanes,
enlarged pedestrian walks, an 18-mph automobile speed limit,
$2.25 parking meter fees, and $70 parking violation fines.
The Netherlands has pioneered auto-reduction efforts
with such cities as Delft, Groningen, and Amsterdam
spearheading traffic banning and calming measures. According
to Amsterdam's auto-free group, Platform for a Car-Free Inner
City, the government has hinted it might renege on the 50% cut.
One leading City Council member who oversees transportation
matters recently declared that the plan's goals would be too harsh
on motorists. (Auto-Free Press, Sept/Oct 93)
Scandinavia-In Helsinki, Finland, bikeways are cleared of snow
before roads for cars. In Copenhagen, Denmark, all on-street car
parking has been replaced with bicycle parking and landscaping.
(Anne Hansen's Cars Schmars via Paving Moratorium Update and
Auto-Free Times, Summer 1993)
London¾In an effort to prevent terrorist attacks and car bombs,
London police closed off automobile access to London's financial
district in July. After initial fears that the road closings would
wreack havoc on traffic proved to be unfounded, the closings
were later made permanent. (Auto-Free Press, Sept/Oct 93)
ROAD WAR VICTORY
London¾Oxleas Wood, an 8,000 year-old, 100-acre island of green
in the heart of southeast London, has been saved. On July 7, the
Government shocked the British green movement by announcing
that it was dropping existing plans for the East London River
Crossing, a six-lane highway that would, if ever built, dissect the
human communities of Plumstead and Welling, the ancient
Oxleas and Shepherdleas Woods.
The proposed destruction of Oxleas Wood has served to
bring about the widest alliance ever of environmental groups in
Britain, because it combines two of the most popular
environmental issues, the destruction of ancient woodland in a
severely deforested land, and the cancerous growth of a transport
infrastructure that causes massive environmental damage. The
Oxleas Alliance consists of The Alliance Against Road Building,
Earth First!, Friends of the Earth, London Cycling Campaign,
London Wildlife Trust, Royal Society for Nature Conservation
and the World Wildlife Fund. Along with this array of national
groups, whose combined membership numbers over one million
people, was an even more impressive network of local people.
Fully 2,500 people signed a "Beat the Bulldozer" pledge and
vowed to defend the woods, many of who had already been using
other means for 15 years.
The significance of the Oxleas Wood campaign is that,
as the hardest fought and most well known battle, its success or
failure reflects upon the future of the government's entire £23
billion road building program. Even the most mainstream of
political pundits are now predicting that the government's plans
to further carve up the country are in jeopardy. (Earth First!,
Lughnasadh 1993)
NEW YORK CITY TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
GOING GREEN?
When he first took over as NYC Transportation
Commissioner in early 1990, Lucius Riccio did not do much to
make NYC less car-dependent and more hospitable to walkers
and cyclists. Riccio once suggested that "drunken walking" was a
significant cause of pedestrian deaths, and ruled out bike lanes
unless cycling levels first reached 500 per avenue per hour.
Lately, however, Riccio has taken a more positive
approach. Consider these recent statements and initiatives by the
Department of Transportation (DoT):
• In May, the DoT convened this country's first
government-sponsored conference on "traffic calming". Agency
officials listened to European and American traffic calming
experts, and then helped brainstorm pilot projects for reducing
and slowing vehicles in the five boroughs.
• In June, the DoT unveiled a plan to remove most
motor traffic from Herald Square. Defending the plan on all-
news radio, Riccio likened cars to "an army of occupation" on the
streets of the city.
• Later in June, DoT released a list of a dozen existing
and proposed auto-free streets in lower Manhattan, and recently
began lunch time (11-2) closings of Fulton Street in lower
Manhattan.
• In July, Riccio brought his senior staff to a
presentation of Transportation Alternative's (TA) Bicycle
Blueprint report. He then asked for a list of steps the DoT can
take immediately to encourage city cycling.
• In a recent Manhattan Spirit article, Riccio publicly
announced his appreciation for TA and its development: "This is
a natural evolution for TA: at first, to be considered too radical
and then to have serious influence, and then finally, hopefully, to
be bored, with nothing left to fight. We intend to keep working
with them, and I feel good about that." (Auto-Free Press, Sept/Oct
93)
VIGILANTE PEDESTRIANS
An anonymous group of Brooklyn residents painted a
crosswalk at a dangerous Sunset Park intersection after "waiting
about a year for the city's Department of Transportation (DoT) to
do what the people felt was it's job."
DoT spokesperson Lisa Daiglan labeled the mystery
group's efforts as "vigilante approach". Most revealing of the
DoT's antagonistic attitude towards pedestrians was Daglian's
logic: "For a driver driving down the same street every day, if
there are suddenly lines and people crossing with a feeling of
security, that's going to be a problem."
So the DoT's plan for pedestrian safety is pedestrian
fear? As long as we scurry real fast, mindful that we cannot have
a "feeling of security" while crossing our neighbourhood streets,
then everything will be fine. (Auto-Free Press, Sept/Oct 93)
40 Million Would Cycle to Work
A 1992 Harris poll found that about 3 million people in
the United States cycle to work regularly. But if there were safer
bike lanes on roads and highways, 38 million recreational riders
said they would sometimes commute to work by bicycle. When
asked if they would cycle if there were showers, lockers and
secure bike storage at work, nearly 40 million said they would
commute occasionally or more often. (Bicycling magazine via
WorldWatch, Sept/Oct 93)
HOW TO TEAR UP A PARKING LOT: ECOCITY BUILDERS
TAKES INITIATIVE IN BERKELEY
On April 18, 1993, an enthusiastic group of Berkeley
activists tooks picks and shovels in hand to tear out a chunk of
asphalt parking lot.
Ecocity Builders, a member group of the Alliance for a
Paving Moratorium, and two local organizations worked together
to organize the unpaving project. They received permission from
the City of Berkeley to remove a 30 x 30 foot section of the
parking lot, which served an apartment building whose tenants
had few cars and whose owner wanted to turn it into a garden.
"It's really a small chunk of land, but it's very symbolic,"
said Richard Register, founder of Ecocity Builders and Urban
Ecology. "We need cities of walkable distances, supported by
transit, especially rail, somewhat more compact than today's
cities, far more diverse within small distances, and with nature
and agriculture restored where now we see asphalt and concrete.
Thus the importance of this small patch of land, this small act of
faith. It's about time for an historic turn-around."
"We need to see more of this kind of action if we are to
turn the tide on environmental destruction," said Jan Lundberg in
a press release praising Ecocity Builders for the depaving project.
"Asphalt is suffocating the planet. We must not only halt the
endless construction of new roads and parking lots, but depave
wherever possible¾tear up more parking lots!" (Paving
Moratorium Update and Auto-Free Times, Summer 93)
The following are excerpts taken from the Transportation Exchange
Update (TEU), a monthly newsletter of the Environmental
Exchange, 1718 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600, Washington,
DC 20009, (202) 387-2182, Fax: 319-1560.
CHATTANOOGANS VISION AND REVISION THEIR CITY
Chattanooga, Tennessee¾On May 1 of this year, the mayor and
thousands of residents of Chattanooga met for the grand
reopening of the Walnut Street Bridge. Now the world's longest
pedestrian bridge, its restoration and conversion from automobile
to pedestrian mode is just one of the projects of Chattanooga
Venture, a local nonprofit organization dedicated since 1984 to
guaranteeing residents their role in the city's revitalization.
The 100-year-old bridge used to allow automobiles to
cross the Tennessee River from the downtown district to North
Chattanooga. Initial cost estimates favoured tearing the bridge
down rather than restoring it. Chattanooga Venture formed a
committee to examine other solutions and aimed to incorporate
citizen voices into the decision-making process.
The bridge's opening has spurred economic
development and job creation on the River's north shore. The
bridge also serves as a focal point for the Chattanooga's Riverwalk
project, a 60-mile linear bicycle and pedestrian parkway along the
river.
For more info: Chattanooga Venture, 507 Broad Street, Chattanooga,
TN 37402 (615) 267-8687, Fax: 267-0018. (TEU, June 93)
MAINE TRANSPORTATION TURNING SENSIBLE
The Maine Sensible Transportation Policy opens
transportation doors so that citizen voices are heard. Enacted last
year after a voter referendum to stop the Maine Turnpike
extension, the new law requires the state Department of
Transportation to address seven policy objectives in the planning
process, including the minimization of the environmental and
energy impacts of transportation.
The Sensible Transportation Policy also favours
alternative transportation modes and road maintenance to new or
widening road construction projects. Before beginning new
construction, the state must evaluate a minimum of ten
transportation alternatives such as alternative modes and ideas
suggested by the public.
For more info: Beth Nagusky or Bruce Hammond at the Natural
Resources Council of Maine, 271 State Street, Augusta, Maine 04330,
(207) 622-3101. (TEU, June 93)
BIKES NOT LIGHTS GET FUNDING IN CHICAGO
Chicago's clean air advocates have successfully
pressured the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) to
change their Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ)
funding criteria to recognize cold start auto emissions. The result:
CATS is spending 85% of their 1993 CMAQ dollars ($50 million)
on bicycle, transit and pedestrian projects and only a few traffic
lights.
The CMAQ program makes a direct link between
automobiles and urban air pollution by funding transportation
projects which help states meet federal air quality standards.
Unfortunately, too many states and cities have not followed
Chicago's lead and instead are funding traffic flow improvements.
In Chicago, the coup was getting CATS planners to
admit that cold start emissions are a major culprit in regional
urban air pollution and that the current models did not account
for those higher emissions. "Cold starts" refer to the first few
minutes when the car is emitting pollution without the emission
controls working. More than half of automobile emissions come
during the cold start and the subsequent evaporative (hot soaks)
periods. Consequently, the number of automobile trips must also
be reduced to improve air quality. (TEU, July 93)
Cycling Plans Update by Mike Buckthought
This fall, the Region, Ottawa, Nepean, Gloucester,
Kanata and the NCC are preparing cycling plans which will
consider where to put new cycling routes. They'll also look at
standards for routes, bike parking, education of cyclists and
motorists, enforcement of traffic laws and encouragement of
cycling.
The Regional Cycling Advisory Group has asked the
Region for $500 000 to start implementing the Regional plan - a
very modest amount of money compared to the total Regional
transportation budget of over $140 million. Cyclists pay taxes too,
but unlike heavily subsidized motorists and transit users, we've
been virtually ignored in the past.
So contact your city councillor and mayor and ask them
to support the Cycling Plans. In these tough economic times it
might be difficult to get funding when they vote on a budget, so
every phone call counts.
City of Ottawa: Ottawa City Hall
111 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON K1N 5A1
Mayor Jacquelin Holzman 564-1342 FAX: 564-8411
Fax for City of Ottawa Councillors: 564-8412
Councillors Ward Telephone
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 Overbrooke-Forbes 564-1339
Jack MacKINNON Canterbury 564-1314
Mark MALONEY Carlington-Westboro 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
Tim Kehoe, Chair, Regional Transportation Committee
(613) 564-1299
National Capital Commission:
Marcel Beaudry, Chair
National Capital Commission
161 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON K1P 6J6 239-5194 FAX: 239-5039
The NCC will be holding a meeting in October to talk about plans
for the paths. Contact Maureen Hayes at 239-5110 for more
information.
The Ottawa and Regional Cycling Plans will be presented at an
open house in November - call 230-9045 for more information.
For more information contact Citizens for Safe Cycling, 722-4454.
OC-TRANSPO SAYS IT WANTS YOUR IDEAS BY OCTOBER
15TH!
OC-Transpo has just launched its Transplan 94 program during
which OC-Transpo planners will analyze the performance and
reliability of bus routes. They say they want input from us to be
included in their 1994 service plan.
They are looking for the public's ideas on:
- how to improve bus schedules
- how to improve bus routes
- where to introduce new service.
They will present their new plan in the fall for more public
comment through advertising on buses and at public information
meetings. Most route changes will take effect in June 1994.
To contribute your ideas, include the following information with
your suggestions:
- name and address
- bus routes affected
- a description or sketch that outlines your idea
- how the change would improve transit service in your
area.
Send your ideas to: Transplan 94, OC Transpo, 1500 St. Laurent
Blvd., Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z8 Fax: (613) 741-7359
AUTO-FREE OTTAWA WRITES
April 21, 1993
Councillor Tim Kehoe, Chair
RMOC Transportation Committee
111 Lisgar Street
Ottawa, ON
Dear Transportation Committee and Chair:
I am writing to urge you to vote against the proposed
"improvements" to the Preston-Carling intersection.
The changes being proposed will facilitate car traffic
flow to the detriment of people on foot or bicycles. Car drivers
will not have to reduce their speed, while pedestrians and cyclists
will be at risk of being overrun by motorists.
In Ontario alone, private car drivers receive at least $5
billion dollars in subsidies when hidden costs are factored into the
true cost of our current car-dependent policies (see Pollution
Probe's Costs of the Car). While solo drivers are being subsidized
by non-drivers, they also use up a disproportionate amount of the
precious resources on our finite planet, and contribute
significantly to the degradation of both the local quality of life
and planet health.
Why does the RMOC continue to cater to cars and
ignore the overwhelming evidence that a change in policy is
needed to put the needs of people and the health of our planet
before the convenience of car drivers?
When will the RMOC adopt a green transportation
hierarchy that puts the safety, convenience and well-being of
pedestrians, cyclists and transit users before that of private car
users?
While the RMOC has paid lip-service to alternatives to
private car use, we continue to see proposals, like this one, that
blatantly thwart any such intention.
I urge you to vote against making changes to
intersections that reflect an outdated mentality, when the
problems of the 90s demand that we implement innovative
policies that favour people traffic, not car traffic.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Lucy Segatti
August 28, 1993
Robert McCallum, P. Eng.
Project Manager, RMOC
111 Lisgar Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 2L7
Dear Mr. McCallum:
I am responding to your request for comments on the
environmental assessment study on the Southwest Transitway
Extension and Fallowfield Road.
Extending a transitway or widening a road is a problem
because of the impacts listed in the environmental assessment
proposal. So-called "solutions" provide temporary relief for this
problem, but do not deal with the cause of the problem.
As stated in the Environmental Assessment Proposal,
according to the RMOC's Official Plan, the City of Ottawa is still
being considered as the prime employment centre for Nepean.
This is one of the prime causes of the problem, and consequently,
the study should include making changes to the Official Plan.
Even if updated in 1988, the RMOC's Official Plan reflects
assumptions and habits that are 50 years out of date and not
appropriate for dealing with the economic and ecological
problems of the 1990s and beyond.
The aim of any change to a transportation system or in
land use should be to make a community like Nepean as self-
reliant as possible in order to be sustainable. This would require
rezoning much of Nepean to allow for mixed uses so that Nepean
residents would be able to walk or bike to the neighbourhood
corner store, work in their homes and have neighbourhood
schools that would not require children to be bussed to a different
neighbourhood.
Any new development should not only incorporate
these principles, but be done with economy of land and resources
(i.e. narrower streets, smaller lots), and with the long-term view
of providing a sustainable community in terms of energy
(conservation, retrofitting with combined heat and power
systems), water use (efficient use of sewerage infrastructure) and
transportation (work, shopping, schools and entertainment
accessible within a neighbourhood).
With respect to the Alternatives listed in the EAP
(section 3.1), Auto-Free Ottawa supports "doing nothing" instead
of building new or wider roads. At the same time, Auto-Free
Ottawa urges that demand management strategies be applied to
provide viable options to private car use, especially by solo drivers
(e.g. intensification and mixed residential zoning at suburban
malls). Demand management should also include collecting from
users the true cost of maintaining a car-based system (i.e. paid
parking at suburban malls, charging the true cost of
infrastructure, road pricing, etc.).
Given the current lack of public money at all
government levels, it seems short-sighted to assume that it will be
possible to continue applying the same transportation policy that
has given us unsustainable urban and suburban sprawl over the
last 50 years.
In addition to land use and compact design, there are
many other economic and social considerations that must be
taken into account. As the recession continues, many people are
not keeping second cars, some are not even replacing cars. Why
should we continue to assume and make simplistic linear
predictions that automobile use will continue to grow as it did
over the last 20 years?
As more people are unemployed, fewer people are
travelling to work. Some are setting up home businesses and
work electronically from their homes without needing to
commute. In addition, to the use of telecommunications, people
who need a car but have decided not to own and maintain one are
organizing co-transportation groups modelled after the highly
successful "stattauto" in Germany.
For social and economic, not to mention ecological,
reasons, it is imperative that any new development and
transportation system be designed in order to provide people
with viable, affordable and safe options to our current
dependence on private automobiles.
Auto-Free Ottawa welcomes the opportunity to have
further input and would like to be kept informed of future
meetings and receive additional information on the study.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Lucy Segatti
c.c. Tim Kehoe, Chair, RMOC Transportation Committee
READ YOUR WAY TO AUTO-FREEDOM
World Without Cars has so far produced two superb issues of
Imagine. Imagine contains articles by Dr. Tom De Marco on
medical aspects and solutions to the "most dangerous addiction",
stories about carless vacations, and interviews with auto-free
activists. An uplifting and inspiring read!!
To subscribe: send $15 Canadian or US (or turn in your driver's
license for a free sub and lifetime membership) to WWC, 7750
Matchette Road, Windsor, ON, N9J 2J4.
Paving Moratorium Update and Auto-Free Times is a quarterly
publication of the Alliance for A Paving Moratorium, which is a
project of the Fossil Fuels Policy Action Institute. The Update
contains looks at the broader issues behind "pavement-mania",
including roadkill, population, wilderness destruction, how to
tear up parking lots and other forms of pavement. Great for
statistics on number of roadkills and miles of asphalt in North
American cities. They also offer assistance in fighting local road
projects. A regular membership/subscription is US$30. Alliance
for a Paving Moratorium, PO Box 4347, Arcata CA 95521, USA.
What Works Report No. 1: Air Pollution Solutions focusses on 3 air
pollution challenges: urban smog, air toxics, and ozone depletion,
is available for $17 from The Environmental Exchange, 1718
Connecticut Avenue NW, #600, Washington, DC 20009.
Automobile Dependence and Denial¾The Elephant in the Bedroom:
Impacts on the Economy and the Environment by Stanley I. Hart and
Alvin L. Spivak. An analysis of the problem and practical
solutions. New Paradigm Books, Pasadena CA, 1993.
The Gaia Atlas of Cities: New directions for sustainable urban living by
Herbert Girardet. Foreword by Lester Brown of the Worldwatch
Institute. Source book of innovative ideas and strategies for
making our cities ecologically sustainable, aiming to generate
discussion of new ways of living and managing our lives in cities.
Facts, ideas and over 80 case studies. Anchor Books (Doubleday),
New York, 1992.
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.
NEW LOCATION: 70A LEONARD
For produce, call 730-0740 or Randi Cherry at 733-0606
For dry goods, call Leonard or Raymond at 457-4992
OR
Visit the Ottawa Organic Farmers' Market
Kingsway United Church, 630 Island Park Drive, south of Queensway * Every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For market information, call Sue Bailey at 563-4167 or Millie Johne at 729-7704
CARS ARE RUINING MY LIFE AND OUR BIOSPHERE!
Here's my membership or subscription fee in support of AUTO-FREE OTTAWA's efforts to promote the virtues of
car-free lifestyles and cities.
___ membership ___ subscription
___ $20.00 individual or family ___ $10.00 unwaged
___ $50.00 corporate/institutional
____________________________________________________________________________
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Box 21045, 151A Second Avenue, Ottawa River Bioregion, Ontario K1S 5N1 (613) 234-0923