Auto-Free New York!

	AUTO-FREE NEW YORK!
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Serving NYC since 1989! WHAT IS AUTO-FREE NY? A movement aimed at exploring and achieving the upper limit of "devehicularization" of our nation's largest city. Get cars out of our parks. Curb the reckless motorists who dominate our streets. Cut noise, smog and traffic costs. Increase pedestrian space and safety. Invest in new transit options and expansion and make bicycling better. A livable city is possible! • NEXT MEETING: December 20th Auto-Free NY has been holding FREE monthly meetings, featuring a wide variety of guest speakers, since its founding in February, 1989. Usually held in lower Manhattan, they are open to the public, and no reservations are needed. • The Livable City Transport Plan is an affordable, comprehensive vision of our city, designed to be achievable in just one four-year mayoral term. Using innovations now common in more sophisticated and democratically run cities here and abroad, this plan would raise New Yorkers' quality of life through better functioning public transit, a noticeable reduction in car use and much more auto-free space in the core of NYC, the most densely populated city in the nation. As always, we look forward to your thoughtful review and comments. CURRENT EVENTS: • The City's plaNYC 2030 • Lower Manhattan • Light Rail in NYC • Regional Rail Working Group FEATURES: • Glossary • AUTOMOBILE HORROR! • 42nd St. Trolleys - Recent History • What's so Great about Streetcars? • Light Rail in the Lincoln Tunnel! • New York Streetcar News Index • East River Bridges • Rockaway Beach Line (Qns) • Other Voices • New Orleans Streetcars post-Katrina • Life's a Beach for Paris Mayor • Berlin: Transport Politics • How to Join/Donate • Visit These Links • Recent Books • The Five-Minute Activist • Previous "Letters from George" • Remembering Steve Dobrow CONTACT US! Auto-Free NY operates under the aegis of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc. (IRUM), a not-for-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status. Note: this website is best viewed with Text Size set to "Smaller" or "Medium." If Car Names Were Honest: Audi My-Way Chevy Fistfight Chrysler Criminal Dodge Tumor Ford Poluta XS GMC Denial Honda Discord Hyundai Enslava Lexus Segregator Lincoln Alienator Mercury Dioxin Saab Flatus Saturn UrFaddas Scion Boxian Smeli-Pootr Subaru Deforester Toyota Runovia VW Smoggia Be a patriot - use mass transit!	Above: Thousands of idling cars, most carrying just one person, the driver, in morning smog, waiting to cross the untolled Brooklyn Bridge, Sept 2011 -- daily proof of the city's success in incentivizing commuters to avoid public transportation. *Letter from George* December 1, 2011 New Designs for Modern Light Rail Cars Dear Friends of Auto-Free New York: Back on September 8, in a televised speech, President Obama laid out a strong vision of a credible national jobs program, calling for immediate federal investments that included numerous key infrastructure projects. [In case you missed this speech, we urge you to visit whitehouse.gov for the unadulterated version.] At seven minutes into the 32-minute speech, as the President discusses how infrastructure projects, in particular transit and light rail, can relieve chronic traffic congestion, a remarkable image appears on a sidepanel, of the Houston Metrorail light rail system (LRT). In today's cars-only corporate media climate, it's not often that the President of the US appears with an image of a modern light rail vehicle, and certainly not in prime time. But that's even less so with NYC's Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who apparently considers even the thought of LRT in his city radioactive. While Bloomberg dithers, dozens of more sophisticated and democratically run cities around the world have been rushing to complete new installations of this city-friendly urban transport mode. Should our billionaire Mayor ever take his private jet to Zurich some weekend, perhaps taking a sample ride on one of Zurich's new fleet of modern tram cars that are the pride and joy of this eco-friendly Swiss city could help him overcome his distaste for LRT. Modern streetcars in today's advanced cities provide a double incentive -- the proverbial "carrot and stick" -- for motorists to get out of their cars. The "carrot" consists of quiet, clean and people-friendly surface transport, while the "stick" is the taking away of some roadspace that would otherwise be pre-empted by automobiles, most of which each carry only one person, the driver. To help clarify New Yorkers' vision of the latest thinking in new design streetcars, Auto-Free NY has this fall invited representatives of three of the world's largest railcar manufacturers to each make presentations on their latest tramcar product lines, particularly those that would be suitable for the long proposed 42nd Street light rail line. New Yorkers should have the right to know about the remarkable innovations worldwide that are taking place in new LRT equipment. You are cordiallly invited to attend these free presentations: Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 6-8pm -- Bombardier Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011 6-8pm -- Siemens Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011 6-8pm -- Alstom. Please note that these meetings will be held at the Van Alen Institute, at 30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor. Sincerely, George Haikalis, Chair P.S. NYC SMOG ALERT UPDATES: NYC's air quality continues to be the worst on the East Coast. For updates, call the state Dept of Environmental Conservation at (800) 535-1345. P.P.S. Our Regional Rail Working Group also meets monthly. This group showcases the efforts of individuals from a variety of transit advocacy groups to awaken our region's sleeping giant, its commuter rail system. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, December 21, from 6-8pm, and will be held once again at Hoboken City Hall, located at 98 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ, in its Parking Utility Conference Room, on the ground floor. Hoboken City Hall is two blocks west of the Hoboken Terminal PATH Station. Bordeaux, France: More sophisticated cities, like Bordeaux, above, routinely enjoy pedestrianized areas with modern light rail. Note lane allowed for car access, on pedestrian's terms, not speeder's, like in NYC. WISHING TRAFFIC AWAY IS NOT EFFECTIVE This car-hugger illustration appeared in the New York Times, which has a longstanding grudge against doing serious transit journalism.	Vision42 Scores Letter in Dec 14 NY Times The NY Times: Befuddled by Soho Traffic Jams, then Bewitched by Bike Lanes! Scapegoating Bicyclists for NYC's Reckless Motor Vehicle Climate Recommended New Biography of Ed Koch Upcoming Auto-Free NY Meetings, 2011: Tuesday, December 20, 6-8pm Alstom Light Rail Systems Around the World Presentation by Derek Hurst and Chuck Wochelle of Alstom Transport Location: VAN ALEN INSTITUTE Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 6-8pm topic to be announced Location: to be announced * DIRECTIONS: Note that our autumn 2011 meetings will be held at the VAN ALEN INSTITUTE, 30 W 22nd Street, NOT at the TA office. Meetings start promptly at 6pm and end at 8pm. Our meetings are always FREE and open to the public. This new book, by scientist Dr. Heidi Cullen, examines weather conditions in the decades ahead, looking at places like the Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic, Greenland, Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh), and of course, NYC. The cover shows Manhattan under a 10- or 20-foot storm surge caused by a direct hit by a medium-size hurricane, which scientists say is statistically likely in the next few decades. See the Book Review page for more details. Another SUV smashed by its reckless driver (Canal Street, Feb 2011): The bulk of these top-heavy, inadequately braked vehicles makes their driver feel invulnerable, and so they drive worse, and crash more. Big business, attuned to wasteful and overdesigned products in principle, embraced SUVs as prime subjects over the past ten years for one of the most intensive marketing and indoctrination campaigns in US car company history. But eventually American price supports for lower cost gasoline are going to end, while the realities of declining world oil production and increasing political, military and climate chaos will grow more stark. Once the true costs of our national gasoline orgy start being paid by US motorists themselves rather than everyone else, these gas guzzling giants will quickly end up more worthless junk - and we will get the quality public transportation -- and the sustainable economy -- we deserve. Auto-Free New York . . . more than just bollards and paintstripes SUMMER CAR-FREE STREETS 2011: AFNY Chair George Haikalis, above, in summer 2008, enjoys a few moments of carfree Park Avenue at Grand Central. The viaduct is normally overrun with gas-guzzlers careening around the hairpin turns, but once again this summer, for three Saturdays (August 6, 13 and 20), from 7am to 1pm, Mayor Bloomberg gave us the briefest little sample of what NYC can be like without cars. Promptly at 1pm each of those days, car chaos was restored. For the future, an auto-free Madison Avenue -- not just for a few hours on three early Saturday mornings but all the time -- would really be great, maybe throwing in a light rail line as well. Oh well, all journeys begin with a first step.
Auto-Free New York George Haikalis, Chairman \| One Washington Sq. Village, #5D, NYC 10012 \| Phone: (212) 475-3394 \| geohaikalis@juno.com © Copyright 2011, 2010. All rights reserved. Auto-Free New York. This page last updated Dec 14, 2011.