Since the program began, tens of thousands of Mexico City residents have taken to the streets on Sundays, when Ebrard's government has closed the downtown thoroughfares to vehicular traffic.
Mexico City is not the first city in the nation to promote the idea. Guadalajara, the country's second-largest city with more than 5 million people, launched a similar program in September 2004 after citizens groups pushed for a place where families could gather for a leisurely Sunday morning of cycling.
The first time out, Guadalajara officials expected 5,000 people and got 10,000, said Gabriel Michel, director of Guadalajara's program.
The next Sunday, Michel's team planned for 10,000 and 20,000 showed up. Now, more than 100,000 people ride their bikes on Sundays.
More here. Could DC close down Penn Ave NW between the White House and the Capitol, and how many would show up if they did?
This weill NEVER happen in the USA, because of issues of social structure, and one gleaming effect of that structure: the cowardice produced.
Anmericans are petrified, per their Protesant roots, of anything radically different. At best, social change (which determines individual change) is glacial and meliorative.
Posted by: mike | July 12, 2007 at 08:30 PM
I have to agree- look at everyone suddenly "going green"- it's now a catchy commercial phrase/ jargon..what it means is that you should re-cycle and have better quality/more efficient appliances. insulation on your home, flourescent lights, etc. What it DOES NOT mean is that you should give up driving, sell your SUV, move CLOSE TO WHERE YOU WORK, and bike, walk or transit to places instead of driving. you see- no one wants to give up driving. They will do everything else- pay lip service to "the environment" but break their habits- NO WAY !
Posted by: w | July 13, 2007 at 10:01 AM
I don't know. I think American's are more pliable than you give us credit for. This country constantly reinvents itself (and even baseball isn't a constant despite what Terrence Mann says). Salsa is our #1 condiment for example. When Dallas started it's light rail system, numerous people said it would flop - that Texans won't ride trains, but it's been a huge success. Same in L.A. I think Americans will accept something radically different as long as it's better. Look at the iPhone for Christ's sake. Or Barack Obama.
Posted by: washcycle | July 13, 2007 at 12:24 PM
dear washcycle,
define "radically different" for me...
unless your examples suffice...but this would be trouble, because "radical" would be a trivial adjective.
I think that conservatives ought to be indulged when they claim "big government" is a disaster. So let's get rid of the one, singular, legal, monopolizing currency (ie, dollar bills), and go back to the option of local banking and scrip currencies per the 1880s...and move change the current political mmechanism to a parliamentary govt, like th ekind the USA instituted for Iraq...or have suburbanites pay for all that infrastructure (the electricity poles, water pipes, streets, buses to drive kids to school, LV3's to deliver the mail, etc, etc) INSTEAD of having these costs amortized across the whole of the body politic....becasue doing so -- collectively pooling resources -- is usually termed "socialism" in cultures not afraid of ideas. And I like socialism. But most Americans HATE SOCIALISM, so lets start making EVERYONE, esp those in the burbs, PAY THEIR OWN WAY...for EVERY SOCIAL GOOD they use or aspire to...
Lastly, lets privatize public education...and charge for attendance at, say, the National Gallery of art...
Your notion that the USA is in any way (in 2007) courageous enough to countenance -- much less undertake!-- anything radical is flabbergastingly uneducated!!! Your pithy examples prove this point -- they hardly contest it!!!
Posted by: mike | July 13, 2007 at 04:57 PM
I don't hate socialists, I just wish they'd stop trying to sell me their goddamn newspapers.
When I was in Mexico City last I met with Center for Sustainable Transportation.http://www.ctsmexico.org/ They had only been around a year and had gotten the city to switch to natural gas buses and constructed the cities first bike paths and lanes....and now they have this! I have yet to visit Bogota, who DF is modeling this after I take it, but from what I've heard/read its a good model to copy. Keep in mind though, this is only in effect in a small portion of the dowtown area in the largest city in the world, and its friggin huge.
'Mericans could learn a lot from the democracy praticed in Latin America, at least when not influenced by US capitalists interests.
Posted by: Jeff | July 13, 2007 at 07:28 PM
I guess radical is a relative term.
Posted by: washcycle | July 15, 2007 at 01:09 PM