gmane.politics.activism.carfree-network

Fw: ECOCITY 2013 - Preprogramme and registration online

Simon Field — 2013-05-02T13:17:11

For your information...


----- Forwarded Message -----

          
  
 
Bonjour,
 
Grâce aux 550 contributeurs du monde entier, le préprogramme d’Ecocity est en ligne,
et les inscriptions sont
ouvertes.
Profitez des tarifs hâtifs jusqu’au 30 juin.

Nous vous attendons nombreux du 25 au 27 septembre prochain.
Plus d’informations sur le site : http://www.ecocity-2013.com/
_____________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Hello,


Thanks to 550 contributors from around the world, Ecocity’s pre-programme is now available
online and registration is
            open.

Register before 30 June to qualify for early registration rates.

We look forward to seeing you all from25to 27September.
Read more on : http://www.ecocity-2013.com/en
_____________________________________________________________________________ 

Buenos días,
 
Gracias a los 550 contribuidores de todo el mundo, el preprograma de Ecocity ya está en línea
y las inscripciones están
            ab

Fw: SOS from Spanish cycling organisations

Simon Field — 2013-03-27T12:28:21

Forwarded on behalf of Bici Baix Llobregat, Barcelona:

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Bici Baix Llobregat <bicibaix-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org>
To: Bici Baix Llobregat <bicibaix-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> 
Sent: Saturday, 23 March 2013, 0:20
Subject: SOS from Spanish cycling organisations

Dear members of pro-cycling organisations,

in Spain we're having serious problems. A new traffic law with anti-cycling legislation is about to be put into use: 

Spanish bicycle advocates are demanding asylum at European embassies across Spain in protest against anti-cycling legislation and compulsory helmet laws:

http://www.ecf.com/news/spanish-cyclists-call-for-asylum/

We need help from all over Europe. Please do what you can to help us stop this law!

Kind regards,

Marta Pombo (member of the bicycle advocacy group Bici Baix Llobregat, Barcelona)

Bici Baix Llobregat is also a member of the CCUB (Coordinadora Catalana d'Usuaris de la Bicicleta), an umbrella organisation for bicycle

Some good news from Zagreb, Croatia

Pippa Gallop — 2013-03-22T12:28:33

Dear All,

Just wanted to share some good news with you about a campaign that some 
of you might remember: Zelena akcija and Right to the City's 'Varsavska' 
campaign where we tried to stop the construction of a shopping centre, 
luxury flats, underground car park and especially the ramp into the car 
park that took away some of Zagreb's small pedestrian zone in the city 
centre.

The main part of the campaign ended in Spring 2011 when the shopping 
centre and car park opened. Although we didn't win that battle, both the 
shopping centre and the car park were smaller than they were originally 
planned to be, partly thanks to our activities.

But as a result of the campaign the city assembly asked for changes to 
the General Urban Plan of the city to make sure that such a project 
would never happen again (this was important as several similar projects 
were planned in the city centre). This has taken ages to actually happen 
and as yesterday was the last sitting of the City Assembly before the 
local electio

Re: Carfree Vimeo Channel: Like it! Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

J.H. Crawford — 2013-03-14T16:27:32

Thanks, Jason, for your clear instructions. This is complex enough that I plan to release, with the next Carfree Times, a link to a page that basically gives your explanation.

Best,

Joel






-----                           ###                            -----
J.H. Crawford
mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org
http://www.carfree.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/carfreecities
Vimeo:   http://vimeo.com/jhcrawford/videos
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CarfreeCities

Re: Carfree Vimeo Channel: Like it! Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

richplane — 2013-03-13T22:57:39

Finally got around to doing the same. Good work, Joel - this is really useful. You've presented the Carefree City blueprint really well.

that channel URL again:
https://vimeo.com/channels/carfree


--- On Wed, 6/3/13, Jason Meggs <jmeggs-owVUeixkZt4< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

Carfree Vimeo Channel: Like it! Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Jason Meggs — 2013-03-06T11:15:31

Great work, Joel!

I love the new channel!

The Venice life videos are a great new addition, a nice gentle
approach to imparting ideas and impressions. The "gritty details" of
the carfree cities concept is also excellent.

I found it took only a minute or two to create a Vimeo account and
then "like" all the videos, plus click the "Follow" box to become a
follower of the carfree channel. It's very speedy!

Everyone: I encourage you to do the same, to help get more attention
on this quintessential concept. And, obviously, "share" widely. Please
do!

Jason



On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 4:18 PM, J.H. Crawford <mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Justin Hyatt — 2013-02-26T16:56:08

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone for comments, and nice to also read yours, Sam. This has
been a positive process, as in the meantime we have received extra help,
and happily we have someone who can tend to the programming side and also
someone to do extra graphic design work. Once we have the new format up and
ready, it will again be time to find more people to help with the editorial
group. I hope we'll recruit some people for that as well, it should be
getting exciting soon with new layout and look and possibilities!

And yes, it is all about streamlining and making it easier to do, both for
editors and translators. So we hope to be back on line soon. Could also be
interesting to look at alternative ways of making media, such as broadcast
bulletins - nice idea! And someone has suggested that WCN work the twitter
levers.

So if anyone else wants to comment on this thread, feel free to, otherwise,
whoever is interested in being on the editorial team, let me know and I can
invite you.

Justin

On Mon, Feb 25, 201

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Samuel Fleet - FoEE Press — 2013-02-25T10:07:20

Hey Justin,

Not much to add on what's been said. First, thanks for all your work - 
great to still have a bulletin going. I think it's still a useful tool, 
especially within the WCN network.

Very pro streamlining and combining the website and current bulletin. I 
think the bulletin is a useful tool (although Jarren makes some good 
points, we definitely need to make it smartphone accessible), but it's 
time we create more crossover and reinvigorate both website + 
newsletter. We might consider something that works along Mailchimp's 
lines (but perhaps an open source alternative?) that allows quick and 
easy content creation/editing and automated contact management; social 
media integration; smartphone accessibility etc. The editorial tasks 
would change little, but you'd be streamlining and freeing up more time 
to put into the CB website, and interlinking more between the two, 
driving traffic to both.

Evaluating the bulletin and CB website could be a good starting point, 
to see what people find usefu

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Justin Hyatt — 2013-02-21T22:54:05

Hi all,

thanks for the inputs and glad to see some discussion going on. I do agree
with Joel and Jason that a concise format is good to have, and i do believe
that in the age of instant messaging and tweeting, it is refreshing to have
something as (gasp) traditional as a bulletin. actually i think newsletters
are still quite common. i also think that printing them out in areas where
people might not be plugged into the internet around the clock is also
useful. and at least when i'm sitting in a cafe, if there is a mag or flyer
that catches my attention, i'll read it.

also nice to hear that there are people who hope for it to continue. please
keep up informing this list of your opinions it will be useful!! and
Pascal, would you mind stencilling the next issue for us? a big thanks in
advance :)

Justin

On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 7:17 PM, Pascal van den Noort <
operations-2x35Fkn8JEsVztaIl7u5sg< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

J.H. Crawford — 2013-02-21T15:18:46

Hi All and especiallyl Rich Plane (correct?),


Thanks for goading me into finallly doing something about this:

https://vimeo.com/channels/carfree

I created a Vimeo "channel" that allows some videos to be showcased and the rest sort of hidden. It also allows you to set the priority of videos and some other useful things.

I think that the channel is something that can be promoted; the miscellaneous assortment of videos was just a hash.

So, thanks again Rich! Everybody else, PLEASE pass this channel along to absolutely everyone you know.  

Best,

Joel




-----                           ###                            -----
J.H. Crawford
mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org
http://www.carfree.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/carfreecities
Vimeo:   http://vimeo.com/jhcrawford/videos
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CarfreeCities

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

richplane — 2013-02-21T13:22:15

-1 to this idea (from Jarren)! I'm very interested in edited broadcast bulletins of relevant news and information but don't want to participate in ongoing discussions and certainly won't log in to a forum to do so.

I did a lot of compilation & editing of the WCFN bulletin 2002-03, when it was plain text (and called 'Carbusters'), and I thought the move into fully designed and branded HTML was an unnecessary complication. But then I am a luddite (despite being a web developer). I would fully support reverting to a plain text bulletin every 2-3 months.

(Joel - could you perhaps thin out your videos, remove all those that seem to be tests and work-in-progress? I'm interested to see what you're producing but would like to cut to the chase! Can you categorise them somehow?)

Rich

--- On Wed, 20/2/13, Jarren Butterworth <baronjutter-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

From: Jarren Butterworth <baronjutter-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org>
Subject: Re: [carfree_network] Bulletin (+CB) to cont

Re: World Carfree Carbusters to continue or not to continue?

Justin Hyatt — 2013-02-20T20:49:37

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the answer, and thanks for sending this to other lists. You can
let me or the list know if you get any responses. Yes you are right, they
would have to be list members to have their responses go automatically to
this list, but you can easily forward them. If anyone wants to, they can
also join either this list [carfree network] or the new bulletin-cb
editorial list i described (or both) the one we are writing on now has
somewhere around 1-2 thousand subscribers (if memory aids me well) and the
new editorial list 6 subscribers.

I perfectly agree with you that there is still (or again, or even more) a
huge possibility in promoting the carfree concept, but the trick that
remains is how to harness the energies and bring together those interested
and willing people to put the best and most effective concerted effort
forward. so any ideas/brainstorming on that topic is most welcome!

Justin

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 2:15 AM, Ron Richings <richings-EynCeXvFgoheoWH0uzbU5w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

J.H. Crawford — 2013-02-20T20:08:28

There are advantages to the bulletin format. Rather than getting your news a little bit at a time, you get a bunch of it all at once. I know it's not "modern," but it works for me.

Joel






-----                           ###                            -----
J.H. Crawford
mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org
http://www.carfree.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/carfreecities
Vimeo:   http://vimeo.com/jhcrawford/videos
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CarfreeCities

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Etienne von Bertrab — 2013-02-21T13:37:27

Dear Justin,

Many thanks for bringing this up, and even more so, for your sustained, committed work! I can't offer help at this point and don't have the skills you're looking for, but I would support any route chosen. Some suggestions have been made already and I agree that keeping it less pretentious might be the way to go until the network gets reinvigorated again. 

With warm regards and best wishes,

Étienne

On 18 Feb 2013, at 20:57, Justin Hyatt wrote:

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Jarren Butterworth — 2013-02-20T19:22:46

I'm fairly shocked email lists and "bulletins" even still exist.  Just make
a simple modern forum for all this discussion and use one that's
smart-phone/tablet friendly too.

On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 1:58 AM, Andrea Herrmann <muna71-Mmb7MZpHnFY< at >public.gmane.org> wrote:

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Andrea Herrmann — 2013-02-20T09:58:22

Hi,

yes, I like this idea. Making the bulletin look nice and printing
causes probably most of the time need and cost. So, it is better
to have a lightweigt version of the bulletin than not having
any at all.

Keeping carfree activists worldwide connected and informed is important.
And in times of economic crisis, it is even more important to 
celebrate carfree life. Because cars are unnecessary luxury 
that destroy enonomics means that could be invested better elsewhere.
And many people can not afford cars and longer. They need our advice. :-)

Justin, I would be willing to spend a bit more time in the 
newsletter. How can I help you?

Andrea



-------- Original-Nachricht --------

Re: Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

J.H. Crawford — 2013-02-19T15:33:04

Hi Justin and others,

First of all, thanks, Justin, for keeping this in front of us.

In general, I do see some resurgence of interest in carfree cities. (Looking back, WCN died along with the rest of the global economy. Maybe the need for a shift to a green economy is driving some new interest in our ideas.) Traffic on my web site is back up, although not to pre-crash levels. For the first time in years I've been asked to make a major presentation (Stockholm), and Montreal is considering a large carfree development on the site of a former horse racing track.

However, I don't think we can plan on a large increase in available time and energy. I would, therefore, suggest that if Justin is willing to do it, he put out an e-mail bulletin (simple, unformatted, with in-line links) every two or three months. That gets us most of the benefit of something more formal (and prettier!) at the minimum expenditure of effort.

Yes, I know we like things to look nice and to be available in print, too, but that's not a r

World Carfree Carbusters to continue or not to continue?

Ron Richings — 2013-02-19T01:15:18

Hi  Justin

 

 

I hope that the bulletin continues, but unfortunately I can't offer any
assistance, at least for the next few months.

 

If the Bulletin hibernates for a while, or even if it is re-invigorated,
then perhaps we could look at making the googlegroups listserv more
effective and with much broader distribution.  I think that Carbusters
Magazine had an impact far beyond what  might have been expected, given the
relatively small number of people actively involved.

 

I didn't count the number of subscribers/participants on the Google group,
but it isn't huge.

In North America it seems like there is the potential for much more
participation.  Just looking at Vancouver, BC, San Francisco/Bay Area, and
Portland, Oregon (which hosted the Carfree conference not so many years ago)
there are many people involved Carfree activities/lifestyle.  If even a
small portion of those folks participated we would have a much larger and
more active group.  Perhaps part of the question is just what this
group/list

Bulletin (+CB) to continue or not to continue?

Justin Hyatt — 2013-02-18T20:57:06

Dear Carbusting WCNers, WCN-loving Carbusters, and bulletin readers!

As those of you following the bulletin - monthly carfree newsletter -
should have read earlier, there was a decision made late last year to
combine the Bulletin with Carbusters, and have both work in a combo way, on
website and electronic distribution (with the possibility for local
printing by interested orgs). Since then, an editors email group was
started, to oversee this project. Yet precious little else has happened.

I have come to realize that even on the editors group there are not a lot
of people with lots of time on their hands, and I now see that more people
will be needed who are enthusiastic, can at least commit to a certain (not
huge, but useful) amount of time, and then work towards the goal. However,
under the current conditions, I can not foresee myself mostly
single-handedly bringing this CB-Bulletin joining/transformation about.
Without additional help, i could at most agree to put out a simple
bulletin, as earlier, on a

Re: WCN open letter to EC on international rail cuts

Simon Field — 2013-02-07T12:16:19

Hi again.

WCN's letter to the EC pointed out some of the negative consequences
of fragmentation and that, "although it is tempting to focus on
technical inter-operability issues, the real problems are in fact:
1. ‘Market failure’ arising from the EU’s liberalisation policies
(such as turning infrastructure managers into profit centres);
2. The impact of the current financial crisis on national Government
budgets, with rail in general and international passenger trains in
particular regarded as a low priority for scarce funding, in direct
contravention of EU aims; and
3. Railway management failings and an inattention to detail."

Watching this might therefore make you - like us - rather angry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISrC4leg1MU

I would love to make a counter-video showing people spending trying to
obtain through tickets or using the tickets of one operator on the
trains of another, waiting for connections in Brussels or Belgrade, or
walking across borders where there are now no trains, e.g. in

Re: WCN open letter to EC on international rail cuts

Simon Field — 2013-02-01T17:44:57

RAIL CUTS CAMPAIGN UPDATE


Dear carfree choosers,

With regard to our campaign highlighting cuts and other problems affecting international rail travel in Europe, WCN has just received a reply from Jean-Eric Paquet, Director of 'European mobility network' at DG-MOVE, the European Commission's transport department. You can read it here:

http://worldcarfree.net/press/EC_WCN_rail_cuts_response_130131.pdf

As this does not adequately address our concerns, we will now consider how best to respond and step up the campaign. In the meantime we'd like you to share your own thoughts with us via this discussion group!

* How have you been affected by cuts, poor connections and/or ticketing problems?
* Are there any issues we haven't covered in the letter or its appendices?
* Do you have ideas for taking this campaign to the next level, based on the Commission's response so far?
As well as in the two European Voice articles mentioned by Pippa, the campaign has also been covered in the February issue of Railway Gaze