Southern California, home to endless six-lane, bumper-to-bumper freeways and delicious lung-clogging smog, does not typically conjure up images of livable environments with alternative transportation. The Los Angeles model, a city built at the height of America’s car and highway obsession, embodies everything that Carectomy seeks to change. Sprawling cities, poor public transportation, bike use predominantly restricted to fitness rides (with a car ride to get to paths or trails) or to those who can’t afford vehicles, and tons of cars everywhere all the time.
One group is attempting to change peoples’ attitudes in Pasadena, California. Pasadena Walks is an advocacy group “working for a walkable, livable, human scale Pasadena.” They advocate a partial carectomy, and encourage people to “leave the car at home from time to time.” The group’s mission includes government advocacy, education, and promotion of events that help with going car-free.
Pasadena Walks sponsors a Car Free Friday as well as an annual Walk-to-School Day. The blend they offer touches all of the bases: encourage government to legislate support for non-drivers and educate the people.
Most of us have been walking since we were very small, but even though we have known how to move from place to place on foot for a long time, we seem to have forgotten how to walk.
Growing up in Southern California in the last 50 years also meant impatiently waiting for the day one was old enough to stop walking and drive somewhere. Aided and abetted by drive-up and drive-through restaurants, banks, dry-cleaners, and even drive-through espresso, we no longer remember to walk to places that are nearby.
In order to use the free, healthful, non-polluting rapid transit attached to our legs, we need to re-learn how to walk – to break the habit of thinking in terms of “quick” car trips of less than a mile, and of shopping in a town 35 “easy” freeway miles distant.
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I love the bike share idea … would love to see cities in the US implement some sort of program. Cities also need to make the roads much more bike-friendly … something that New York is testing right now … http://www.saveandconserve.com/2007/10/testing_new_bike_lanes_in_nyc.html