ysabetwordsmith | Community Building Tip: Car-Free

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

44. Organize a local car-free day. Every September 22 cities around the world participate in a global Car-Free Day, showcasing the possibilities of a more progressive commute and the advantages of walkable streets and biking infrastructure. Want to be inspired? Check out 14 beautiful car-free cities.

Regrettably, neither of the sites seemed to say anything about accessibility. Now if you're blind, not worrying about getting run over by a car could be a great thing. But for anyone with mobility issues, more often than not "car-free" might as well be "on the Moon." And it's not like we don't have solutions for that, I just didn't see anyone advertising things like palanquins for places where wheelchairs can't easily go. So if you're lobbying for car-free areas, remember to make them accessible to everyone. Even normally able-bodied people can be screwed the moment they break a foot, get pregnant, or have a baby carriage to push.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I get so TIRED of reminding people who are gung-ho for civic engagement, charity work, et cetera, that their USUAL methods actively exclude a significant portion of the very group they're trying to help.

Oh, CANDY sales. That's a go-to, even after decades of negative information about the very food they're pushing for charity. Fine, it's an occasional treat..Unless you're on a diet that restricts sugar, fat, carbs, or have religious restrictions, or allergies.

Walk-a-thon for cancer... Yeah, after cancer, I measure my steps PER DAY hoping to get the total back above 500. Hasn't happened yet.

Car-free day? Yeah. I haven't any access to paratransit any longer, so I measure my trips "out" as in how many steps from the front door I've gotten. The grocery store might as well be on Pluto.

It's a very difficult position to be in, because first I feel excluded by the planned project, and THEN I usually get snapped at or worse for pointing out the very real flaws and limitations.

If I were planning a car-free alternative, I'd set up one day, each month, where a driver offers to help two or three other people who NORMALLY don't have cars to run an errand. The grocery. The library. There are enough people to count for the carpool lane, and the timing is convenient to the individuals. Believe you me, waiting for a bus while it's snowing is NOT good for arthritic bones.

>> I get so TIRED of reminding people who are gung-ho for civic engagement, charity work, et cetera, that their USUAL methods actively exclude a significant portion of the very group they're trying to help. <<

Yeah.

Well, if you're tired, I can take a turn. Want to prompt for that some time? Surely T-America has wider options.

>> Oh, CANDY sales. That's a go-to, even after decades of negative information about the very food they're pushing for charity. Fine, it's an occasional treat..Unless you're on a diet that restricts sugar, fat, carbs, or have religious restrictions, or allergies. <<

I'm quite certain T-America would have healthy snack sales. Nuts, fruit leather, spicy puffed rice ... I'd bet on companies like Calorie Max, Jumble Munch, Chicks, and Screamin' Squirrel networking through charities for this purpose.

Plus nonedibles, of course. I sold candles, once; lovely things.

Then there are the individual efforts, probably more common there than here. My grandmother made a quilt that we raffled off to help fund my trip to Mexico. By the time everyone in the extremely extended family had bought in, I think the football captain had about a 1:3 chance of winning that quilt (it had the team mascot appliqued on it) and indeed won. Adorable.

Though I think the most far-out charity drive I've seen was the orgasmathon for some women's cause.

>>Walk-a-thon for cancer... Yeah, after cancer, I measure my steps PER DAY hoping to get the total back above 500. Hasn't happened yet.<<

0_o People can't figure out how a decimal point works? Or a gauge? You just change the value per unit of distance based on the participant's current capacity. In your case, a totally reasonable pledge would be $0.01 per step. A good showing would net between 4-5 dollars per backer.

Seriously, if someone as bad at math as I am can beat every charity on this, they are doing a pathetic job. Pathetic.

Mob bookie: "If you creeps were in my Family, I'd send you to clean toilets with a toothbrush for keeping book so shamefully bad. Go away." *sets up competing event, wins more news coverage and more money*

>> Car-free day? Yeah. I haven't any access to paratransit any longer, so I measure my trips "out" as in how many steps from the front door I've gotten. The grocery store might as well be on Pluto. <<

>_< L-America sucks presidential dick.

>> It's a very difficult position to be in, because first I feel excluded by the planned project, and THEN I usually get snapped at or worse for pointing out the very real flaws and limitations. <<

If they snap at you instead of thanking you for pointing out a fixable flaw, then they aren't serious. They might claim to be doing it "for charity" but they're only in it for strokes. Serious inclusionists will go, "Oh gosh, I didn't even think of that! How embarrassing, I'm terribly sorry. Do you have any suggestions for fixing it, or should I find a diversity consultant?" You can really see who wants to have an inclusive event, and who just wants to show off. If you're annoyed, simply point out that discrepancy, because there are some highly inclusive groups and most of them got that way precisely by fixing problems as illuminated.

Engineers, now, they're like Fix-It Felix. They'll run off to grab a wrench and fix an accessibility problem right there.

>>If I were planning a car-free alternative, I'd set up one day, each month, where a driver offers to help two or three other people who NORMALLY don't have cars to run an errand. The grocery. The library. There are enough people to count for the carpool lane, and the timing is convenient to the individuals. Believe you me, waiting for a bus while it's snowing is NOT good for arthritic bones.<<

Good plan.

T-America has everything from government services to local charities to intentional neighboring to cover that. Me, I'm tribal. When I was in college, I had a car because I commuted. So I was The Car for between one and two dozen friends who didn't have any. If they needed to go to a store, an appointment, etc. outside of walking/bus area, I drove them. The core of the group had a house, and they provided crash space for whoever needed it. One semester I was stuck with a night class so I spent every Tuesday night on their couch. It worked.

It's so nice to have someone else saying the same THINGS. Different in the details, different suggested solutions, but the core idea is, "Hey, you're forgetting this whole group of people!"

THAT kind of inclusion is one of the reasons that I'd run to T-America if I had the chance.

>> It's so nice to have someone else saying the same THINGS. <<

Absolutely. I feel the same way about your fiction, or the rare times I see an expert talking about (and usually getting ignored) the things I've been saying.

>> Different in the details, different suggested solutions, but the core idea is, "Hey, you're forgetting this whole group of people!" <<

I'd be interested in hearing your solutions too, in case I'm ever in a position to deploy them. My first approach to inclusion is usually "How do you want to do this?" but having a list of "Would any of these accommodations help?" is also handy. Not everyone can think of solutions off the top of their head.

>> THAT kind of inclusion is one of the reasons that I'd run to T-America if I had the chance. <<

Yeah, me too. I covet their introvert parties, especially at big events like weddings.

My volunteer thing often has 'Can you drive Jane to her appointment/to pick up her son/home, because her son doesn't feel well?'

(Someone also wanted to borrow my car to take a driving test once. I said no because insurance, plus short notice.)

I've also gotten 'Hey, can you take me grocery shopping after class*?
*class for adults that I volunteer at

Of course, if I am driving and you know where you are going I insist on intelligible directions of some sort.

Community Building Tip: Car-Free

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