Car Free in Philly

Today, September 22nd, is Car Free Day in Europe and Canada. Two weeks ago, on the morning of Sunday, September 9th, many of Philly's streets were blocked off in order to allow cyclists to ride safely in an event called Bike Philly 2007.

On a related note, just a couple of nights ago ABC World News Tonight ran a piece that highlighted the growing problem of longer and longer commutes in the U.S. Increasingly longer commutes translate into more wasted time and more wasted money on more wasted gas. Because this problem is only going to get worse, the obvious solution is to minimize the time/distance between work and home. But how, you ask? => the answer is The 21st Century Renaissance of the American City. Instead of living in the suburbs and commuting to the city for work everyday, imagine living in the city and working down the street.

What the Renaissance means here at home -- where we are expected to realize the prophecy of Philadelphia as "America's Next Great City" -- is that we absolutely must lead the way in addressing people's need to minimize their commute. This means, in part, the continued growth of Philly as a liveable, residential city (not to mention its reputation as being very walker-friendly). But really most pressing is the task to design and implement a plan to expand and modernize Philly's internal public transit system. That is, to give city residents the ability to travel easily and quickly from one part of the city to the other. This project is a multifaceted Gordian knot that will not be easy to unravel, due to its chicken-or-egg and NIMBY aspects and the ever-present question of where the money will come from, but it is one which must nonetheless be actively confronted by Philly's leaders: political, business, community, et al. More thoughts on this later.....

But for now, here's to being car-free today and to spreading the word to make next September 22nd a completely car-free day for Philadelphia.