How it works

Here is the simple seven step process by which we envisage it working:

1. Draw up Petition: A self-appointed local person or group steps forward to tailor this handy web petition engine to develop citizen support in their city asking the mayor of, say, Portland, Pune or Paris to issue, for example, a "Car Free Day Challenge" - - challenging citizens and organizations of the city to get together to plan a car free day or activities in some form of loose cooperation with city hall and others concerned. Or something along those lines which only you, the people in place, will know how best to chose and put to work.

2. Circulate and get support: Again this will be a purely local task, and different people, groups and places will figure out how to do this best. Of course if they can succeed in getting some form of local media cooperation, this can be a key. Likewise if there are local websites, these could also be valuable tools in getting this part for the job done.

3. Present the supported petition to mayor or city council:

4. Mayor edits and issues: Mayor receives the petition and responds affirmatively, issuing his city ECFD Challenge (tailoring of course the draft provided by the petitioners to reflect the special circumstances as perceived by the office holder).

5. Local Response: Citizens and organizations across the city respond to the challenge and plan their Car Free Day activities, with the help of The Commons network and sharing their plans with all involved.

6. The Day: The first Car Free Day takes place.

7. Impacts and Next Steps: The Car Free Day gets lots of people in all levels of the city to start thinking about a Car Free city for the future... in other words "what if every day were a car free day?" Our city is now well on its way to rebuilding its transportation systems and arrangements in order to create a sustainable city.

Back to top

Suggested Mayor's "Challenge Letter" to Community

The following is by way of hopefully useful raw materials which each city group will wish to tailor, and which most certainly each mayor will revise in turn accordingly to her appreciation of local conditions, priorities, and possibilities.

Dear Fellow Citizens,

I am pleased to announce today that [our City] is joining in the world-wide cooperative endeavor in which people and cities around the world are coming together to celebrate the first Earth Car-Free Day.

The date this year was 19 April, which did not give us a lot of time to plan and prepare. But it was my thought that, more important than anything that we might try to accomplish this first year in concrete action terms, perhaps it could be our first contribution to agree just to put our heads together to think about what it might mean to have our city with a lot fewer cars -- including to see if that is what a majority of us might want to see happen here. Let's start to think of how we might put this concept to work in our city.

I have to admit that I personally am more than a bit skeptical about our ability to radically reshape our city's transport systems, and our citizens mobility requirements behind the systems, in a way which entirely eliminates the need and the possibility of individual car transport on our streets. But upon reflection I have concluded that this is not what a Day like this is supposed to be all about.

On the one hand, I am aware, as I think we all are, that our present transportation arrangements are far from ideal, especially for those among us who do not, can not, or can not really afford to drive. And that we should be giving more attention to this in our public discussions about long term directions for the city. Likewise, I am pretty comfortable with the fact that if we can find some way to provide first class mobility for all our citizens and do it with a lot fewer cars out there clogging our traffic arteries, streets and intersections, this would be a great blow for both democracy and efficiency.

It is against this background that I am pleased to sign the International Mayors' Car Free Day Charter, which asks of us only this in the first Earth CarFree Day: and that is to invite our fellow citizens to look around, think about, and discuss this in public. I think this is a great idea, because at the end of the day it is not the politicians, or the administrators, or the technical planners who have to make the big decisions that shape our city and the way we lead our daily lives. It is you the citizens.

I hereby solemnly declare on this date that the [City of XXX] is participating in this great planetary event with the following local support events to be put in place in our own city:

• We are opening up immediately a Car-Free Discussion Journal in City Hall, where we invite you to come in to record your reactions and suggestions for us. This will be kept as an open 'guest book' for others to read, reflect on and, if they so wish, add their comments and suggestions.
• Likewise and in parallel with this, we agree to create an interactive section of the city's Web site, that will also provide an open space available to all for comment and consultation.
• We invite the local and regional media to joint the debate and to give people the opportunity to make there voices and views heard. And we want to hear it all: favorable opinions and those who don't agree, ideas for celebrating the Day in some very specific days, and the arguments against.
• For our part my staff and colleagues here at City Hall agree to give our full attention to these public comments and upon completion of the Day, take the time needed to compile, reflect on and add our comments and suggestions in turn.
• Then, at an appropriate time sometime later on this year, we propose to open up a public discussion with suggestions and proposals about whether or not we should build on this experience and extend our participation to Earth Car Free Day 2002.

What all this boils down to is that our position here at City Hall is that while we agree to give the idea of a Car Free Day a fair shot here in [city], we are not going to go so far as to bet the city on the Day. Ours like any city is a complicated place, and it depends on its transportation system to do its job. Getting to work, to school and to the other many places that are central to the well being of the city and its inhabitants is a very serious business. And because it is, we are taking the idea of a car free day seriously, but in small cautious steps.

For this first year we consider it too early for the city itself to take an active role in trying to plan and put in place anything as ambitious as a full scale car-free demonstration program. But at the same time we want to put ourselves at the service of any of the people or groups in our community that want to organize their own car free events. There are a lot of things that an individual or groups can do to celebrate a car free day. Some of you will want to bike, walk or run to work. Others to get together with their children to walk, skate or bike to school. Another way to celebrate is to invite your neighbors to share your car, so that there are just that many fewer cars on the street that day.

In all cases, we would ask you only to be thoughtful and careful as you make the plans for your Day, and that if you have any doubts or questions that you do not hesitate to consult with the police or city hall to get their views and advice. Because while we want you to enjoy your car-free day, we want above all that you, your neighbors, and your children do this in a way that is going to be safe.

We would also like to invite our local taxi operators and anyone else who is in the transport business to consider how they might come in and contribute to making this an enjoyable and effective event. Similarly, we hope that local businesses and employers will get in the spirit for at least this one day.

And while we here in [city] we are not prepared to commit the resources needed for the kind of huge (and costly) car free day exercise that was carried out in February of last year in the City of Bogota Colombia, a cooperative undertaking that ended up winning them the prestigious Stockholm Prize for the Environment for their enormous accomplishments and follow up program, I nonetheless would like to take a page out of their mayor's book, when he chose as the second half of their car free day title and announcement the words: "Imaginemos una nueva ciudad", "Let us together imagine a new city".

Signed on this .... (Place, date, mayor's signature and seal)

Back to top

---

Home

@Forum

Send E-mail

---

Last updated 15 April 2001. © 1994-2001 EcoPlan , Paris.
Best viewed with Internet Explorer 4.0 or better.
Site Map    What's New    Search