Re: Big Protests in Zagreb / other

how are trucks good for health, even electrically powered, when they are the cause of so much carnage on the roads?!!! think again. rail freight is a much better and safer option. 

--- On Fri, 21/5/10, Jason Meggs <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Jason Meggs <[email protected]>
Subject: [carfree_network] Big Protests in Zagreb / other
To: [email protected], "carfree_network" <[email protected]>
Received: Friday, 21 May, 2010, 4:02 AM

Zagreb, Croatia: In protest of a proposed underground garage with a ramp on the main pedestrian mall, and claims of corruption, large groups of people have occupied the area and torn down fences.  This news thanks to a bicyclist friend from Croatia who walked the street as a child.


Some of the many news items:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lTvORBc8W0&translated=1

http://www.jutarnji.hr/varsavska---tisuce-gradana-u-policijskom-obrucu/777389/?secId=79&foto=1


===
As long as I'm writing:

In local news here in the San Francisco Bay Area, a new phenomenon known as "Bike Party" has begun, as an alternative to Critical Mass. Claiming to be *not* a Critical Mass; stopping at stop lights and regrouping periodically in parking lots; the ride on the Peninsula is very successful with thousands of people every month. The first copycat Bike Party begins this Friday in Oakland (concurrent with a Bike-In Movie in Berkeley). Critical Mass continues as well. For official Ciclovía style happenings: San Francisco now has "Sunday Streets" and Oakland is organizing its first "Oaklavia" for June 27 (also a good time to be at the Carfree Cities Conference in York).  The Bike Party phenomenon is valuable in bringing a taste of a better world without being at all expressly political. It is interesting in the highly racially segregated United States that there is a large Latino contingent; bicycle activists have long grappled with how to bridge the racial
 divides here.


http://www.sjbikeparty.org/
http://eastbaybikeparty.wordpress.com/

There's lots more news to be shared. If you aren't yet aware, a great source for alternative transportation news in the USA is the (also fairly new) StreetsBlog:


http://sf.streetsblog.org/

(That's San Francisco, click for other  cities such as New York.)

Petroleum provocation: what if there were a network of trucks powered by electricity (via overhead wires) rather than diesel trucks? Cheaper, quicker and more versatile than rail; able to serve decentralized land use found today; taking advantage of existing road/bridge/distribution center infrastructure, as well as existing electricity infrasstructure; and able to re-use existing truck fleets.  Powered by electricity, which can come from renewable sources, there is no other mass transport solution with a better sustainability profile. Cost effective, energy efficient, and a huge improvement for public health (reducing noise and air pollution). Why is this not more discussed more and actively pursued?


~Jason
Berkeley
+1 510-725-9991
skype jasonmeggs







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