With gas prices major problem: opportunity for carfree program - World Carfree Network

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Message from discussion With gas prices major problem: opportunity for carfree program
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Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 16:05:48 +0100
Message-ID: <CAMXZTAzhqZ_a_d58Z5kr6H1MgA32=SL6m6erP9coy9Of+MT...@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [carfree_network] With gas prices major problem: opportunity for
 carfree program
From: Jason Meggs <jme...@bclu.org>
To: lwri...@vivacities.org
Cc: mail...@carfree.com, aaronkmtho...@gmail.com, jag...@riseup.net, 
	carfree_network@googlegroups.com
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Great idea about building in emergency capacity for communities.
Buildings can also be more fire proof.

Here in Bologna (Italy), I rarely see a fire truck, although I see
plenty of car crashes and ambulances. This contrasts with the USA
where the Fire Department is typically the first on the scene at all
emergency response, because they are fastest and generally deployed by
default.

I assume fire engines are rarely seen because the city is built of
bricks; a building on fire seems very unlikely. Good thing too as
people tend to be locked behind multiple gates and doors, and the
density means an urban wildfire could spread very quickly.

In the USA, automobile congestion is a major factor in emergency
response delays, causing additional loss of life. (In contrast there's
no delay when there's a critical mass ride when a fire truck needs to
get through, because bicyclists clear the street almost instantly,
whereas motor vehicle gridlock has no option.)

All the more support for carfree cities, even if they must be built
with bricks with hoses dangling everywhere. :)p

The original idea was to get the word out: this is an exciting idea.
Maybe easier said than done, but one must start somewhere. Is there
any energy for this? Should a committee be created? WCN was working on
identifying media contacts around the world at one point when I was on
the Steering Committee. There is so much opportunity to put the
carfree cities idea on the web now (commenting on news articles and
blogs, for instance), and there are rarely articles about the carfree
cities solution. Letters to the editor of major newspapers is an
additional approach. It just takes time, although it can be fun, and
more effective with some coordinated energy. One approach (or first
step) would be to make resources available:

* How to make a public message

* Where to make a public message

I know such things have been made many times, most NGO/NPO groups have
at least an internal one. So we could probably find some of these and
make a super global excellent one.

Then in terms of making it happen, since we can assume zero funds at
present we could maybe make a game...you get points...

Jason




On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 1:16 PM, Lloyd Wright <lwri...@vivacities.org> wrote=
:
> I have noticed in some car-free areas of Shanghai, the fire service is bu=
ilt
> into the community's structure. =A0There are facilities with extinguisher=
s and
> hoses at certain points =A0in the community, which means the community me=
mbers
> are largely their own fire department.
>
> It is also worth noting that these communities have no buildings taller t=
han
> three stories, which also tends to mitigate the need for more elaborate f=
ire
> protection investments.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Lloyd
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: carfree_network@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:carfree_network@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of J.H. Crawford
> Sent: 29 February 2012 22:31
> To: aaronkmtho...@gmail.com
> Cc: jag...@riseup.net; carfree_network@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [carfree_network] With gas prices major problem: opportunity
> for carfree program
>
>
> Aaron said:
>
>>Surely we cannot go straight for a 100% carfree world, not least because
> car-like vehicles are needed for emergency services.
>
> Emergency services are a bit of a red herring. The actual number of trips=
 is
> very small and most of the police activity can be on bikes. The number of
> ambulance runs will be down significantly now that people aren't getting
> hurt in car crashes.
>
> Except for Venice and Fes, no existing city has streets that are too narr=
ow
> for emergency services. When we narrow the streets after cars are gone, w=
e
> must make sure not to make them so narrow that fire trucks cannot serve a=
ll
> buildings. This is not difficult, and smaller fire trucks are already in
> wide use in Japan in any case.
>
> So, there's really no reason to delay on the conversion to carfree cities=
.
>
> Best,
>
> Joel
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 ### =A0 =A0 =A0=
 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0-----
> J.H. Crawford
> mail...@carfree.com
> http://www.carfree.com
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/carfreecities Video channels:
> http://vimeo.com/jhcrawford/videos
> http://www.youtube.com/user/CarfreeCities
>
> --
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