World Streets
Heavy traffic on the way to sustainable cities and sustainable lives . . .
Paris, Wednesday, 05 January, 2011
Dear British Friends and Colleagues,
Forgive me if I am being naïve, but based on what I am reading and hearing
it strikes me that there is a major crisis abuilding for sustainable
transport in Britain in the months immediately ahead -- as a result of the
coalition government withdrawing funding from a lot of mainly small and
local (since they really have to be small and usually local and focused if
they are to succeed) sustainable transport initiatives This strikes me as a
caring observer as unfair, unsafe and unwise.
Yes, these are hard times for Britain and yes, the available public moneys
need to be spent wisely and well. But in this context I am at a loss to
understand why great gobs of hard earned taxpayer earnings are being set
aside for massive investments in motorways and high speed rail projects,
none of which pass even the most elementary performance test of these hard
times.
Beyond this, the cost of abandoning something that is working pretty well
and making an important contribution, such as is the case with literally
hundreds of these modest high impact programs, is very high. You can shut
down the operation in a single day, send the people who are its soul home to
try to figure out what they can do next with all their preciously won
experience, and the nation is a loser. After decades of observation and work
experience at the leading edge in this sector, I and my colleagues have
learned at least one thing – and that is that consistency and continuity are
vital for sustainable transport and sustainable cities, and sustainable
lives.
So I ask you this: what if anything can I or, better yet, World Streets do
to gently bring these choices before the widest possible public in Britain
and abroad, so that your government can be brought to reason on this before
it is too late? My hope is that as an independent international
collaborative of high repute and with literally thousands of professional
contacts working in the field in countries all over the world, some
attention may be paid to our views on this important topic.
When my forbears sailed with empty pockets from England and Scotland in the
early 18th century to make their life in America, they would I am sure have
not approved of their distant grandson just sitting on his hands when he
could at least try to be of help at a hard time for what is after all our
historic native land. So please if you do have an idea contact me and let
me know how I or World Streets might be able to help in getting greater
attention in the media and the public before it is too late.
Kind regards,
Eric Britton
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