Just like Pokemons...CarFreeFriday is going to evolve. This will be into either a permanent thing (municipalities, schools, businesses signing up) or maybe not. Stay tuned. The struggle has been doing CarFreeFriday (from a posting point of view, not a practice point of view) as well as the 5 day work/school thing. We will see.
Love J
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Won't You Walk Me Down...
To Vegetable Town.
Based on comments (yay comments! - I love comments but don't get enough)...Vegetable Town now includes a bookstore and a library (I don't know why I forgot library...). If there is room, Vegetable Town could use a good vet as well.
This is a short post. Longer one to come later today. Subject? Places Everybody... (a month of getting everyone to school, to daycare, and to work on time).
Based on comments (yay comments! - I love comments but don't get enough)...Vegetable Town now includes a bookstore and a library (I don't know why I forgot library...). If there is room, Vegetable Town could use a good vet as well.
This is a short post. Longer one to come later today. Subject? Places Everybody... (a month of getting everyone to school, to daycare, and to work on time).
Monday, October 6, 2008
In Vegetable Town...da da da da da.
"Won't you walk me down, to Vegetable town?"
Now if you have kids, you might recognize that lyric (Barenaked Ladies - Snacktime). Vegetable town has all the good amenities of a Car Free Friday kinda place: a community hall, train station (well, subway actually), etc. So what should be in a Car Free Friday town? I think any place you need to get to in "any given week" should be appropriate criteria. So here is my list. What would you add? Send me a comment!
Now if you have kids, you might recognize that lyric (Barenaked Ladies - Snacktime). Vegetable town has all the good amenities of a Car Free Friday kinda place: a community hall, train station (well, subway actually), etc. So what should be in a Car Free Friday town? I think any place you need to get to in "any given week" should be appropriate criteria. So here is my list. What would you add? Send me a comment!
- Recreation centre with Pool and Ice Rink
- Elementary School/Middle School/High School (wouldn't it be easier if we didn't have so much age segregation? Who really liked Middle School anyway?)
- Grocery store
- Green grocer (the local veggie stand - distinct from the grocery store wherein you cannot ,but should be able to, always get local produce)
- Bike store/repair shop
- Convenience store open at odd hours
- Coffee shop(s)
- Train station for getting other places
- Drop-in medical clinic
- Pharmacy
- Hair dresser/barber
- Hardware store
- Butcher shop with local meat
- Pub
- Family restaurant
- Park
- A place for our canine friends to go off-leash
- Places to work
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Amending a Post...
I wrote a post about a month back, trying to give my viewpoint and opinion on how social issues can lead to choices that lead to driving cars more. I don't think I made my point very well (and came off sounding much harsher than I meant - I did amend the post slightly), so I would like to clearly state my opinion and thought processes here...
- It is easiest to be car free in an urban setting that contains the appropriate amenities
- Sometimes the social issues present in urban areas (drug use, crime, homelessness) influence people's decisions to live in suburbs (and therefore they drive more)
- It is easy to demonize people who have fallen by the wayside - but not necessarily correct
- Social issues will ultimately spread outside the urban area, and therefore we all need to deal with this issue now
- When doing so, we cannot forget that people who become drug addicted, homeless, or forget to take medications for mental illness, are all someone's sons and daughters. They need our sympathy more than our disdain.
- It can be hard to remember all of that...and to be charitable when we feel like being fed up.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
A Very Good Reason to Skip Car Free Friday...
Our dad (and husband) came home! After 159 days away in the Persian Gulf and other parts of the world, this Friday we picked dad up at the airport. We took the car. His transit time was already 32 hours and I didn't think we needed to make it any longer. Welcome home David. We love you!
Love Owey, Mom, Banjo and Scouty Brown.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Day Care Mommies...
I don't really know if this would be the correct term or not, but I noticed something while taking my son to and from school. The thing I noticed is, there seems to be quite a few "Day Care Mommies" who walk kids to school each day. Now, they just don't walk one child, they walk a few - their own, and the children they are caring for. And you know what? They do it with younger ones in tow, with buggies, with baby carriers, bicycles and even scooters. They do a great job and they are teaching the next generation that walking to places can be a really great thing. So, hats off to you day care mommies - you inspire me.
J
J
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Did You Know?
I know a secret. Now since I am not super duper at keeping secrets, I will tell you what it is. After Labour Day, school starts! Yes, it's true. Not only that, but IT IS THE SAME EVERY YEAR!
It seems the Saanich Police knew this secret as well, and were nabbing drivers left and right who decided that getting to work, etc. was FAR more important than some child's safety. Oh those poor drivers. They didn't even get a warning ticket, but an honest to goodness, costs lots of money ticket. How sad for them.
As you can see from my sarcasm above (yes, I know, the lowest form of wit), I don't have much sympathy for people speeding through school zones. "Oh sorry - I didn't know school started", is not much of an excuse. Tell that to the child's family when they end up in the hospital or worse. Young children are unpredictable. No matter what effort we make to ensure they know how to walk on the street, cross the road safely, look both ways...there will be times when they won't. Driving 30km an hour doesn't eliminate risk, but it certainly allows for more reaction time and potential accident avoidance.
So, as George would say, put your sorries in a sack mister, and slow down.
P.S. It's pretty hard to speed if your walking/running/or riding your bike...
It seems the Saanich Police knew this secret as well, and were nabbing drivers left and right who decided that getting to work, etc. was FAR more important than some child's safety. Oh those poor drivers. They didn't even get a warning ticket, but an honest to goodness, costs lots of money ticket. How sad for them.
As you can see from my sarcasm above (yes, I know, the lowest form of wit), I don't have much sympathy for people speeding through school zones. "Oh sorry - I didn't know school started", is not much of an excuse. Tell that to the child's family when they end up in the hospital or worse. Young children are unpredictable. No matter what effort we make to ensure they know how to walk on the street, cross the road safely, look both ways...there will be times when they won't. Driving 30km an hour doesn't eliminate risk, but it certainly allows for more reaction time and potential accident avoidance.
So, as George would say, put your sorries in a sack mister, and slow down.
P.S. It's pretty hard to speed if your walking/running/or riding your bike...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Not In My BackYard...
Okay...I know backyard doesn't need a capital "Y", but how do you get NIMBY without it?
Since we are talking about being car free here, and particularly on Fridays, I have come to discover in my 40 years of life, that if you want to easily live car free, you need to live somewhere near an urban core. That, or be extraordinarily self-sufficient on a farm-type situation. But one of the biggest reasons I hear that people don't want to live near downtown, is that they are "sick and tired" of all the social issues associated with it, namely homelessness and drugs. These seem to top everyone's list, with parking a distant third.
I am by no means a saint. I have a hard time with these issues, particularly since my children were born. I have days where it drives me absolutely crazy. I fantasize about living far enough away that I won't need to see drunks sleeping in the park or drug addicts stumbling down the street. Let me point out that this is not reality - this is only my perception of the problem when I am feeling particularly uncharitable - and that is not a good way to live your life. It is far too easy to demonize everyone hanging out on the street and sleeping in doorways, as simply lazy good-for-nothings. Maybe 5% of those people fall into that category. 5% is probably a high estimate. The remainder are likely a mosaic of people living with mental illnesses or disabilities (thank you Gordon for deciding that an IQ of 70 was sufficient to get by in this world without any assistance - sigh), drug addiction or from home situations that are intolerable. But we like to put the blame on individuals as opposed to any societal reasons, because then it means it can't happen to us.
I have drug addiction and alcoholism in my family. I have seen what it has done to people, and I have seen it completely tear families apart. But yes, it drives me crazy. I don't want it in my backyard. You probably don't want it in your backyard either.
What has this got to do with Car Free Friday? If social issues are driving folks away from urban centres and into the burbs, then we have a problem Houston. Driving your kids to and fro all the time, driving yourself to and fro all the time, is no solution either (and certainly no safer - car accidents are a significant cause of childhood injury and death). But people feel safe when they don't see people sleeping on a bench in their neighbourhood park. It might be inaccurate, but it's true.
What do we do? I like to approach this issue as a mother. What would I think if one of my children were to become severely addicted to drugs, and were living on the street? I can tell you one thing. I wouldn't want anyone to ever consider them to be "throw away people". But I certainly wouldn't want it easy to get drugs either. I would want strongly enforced rehab that is easily accessible, a safe place to sleep, and higher penalties for dealers.
What do you think? Let's not pretend this is a downtown issue anymore. We will see this in every neighbourhood and we need to think of what to do now. I don't think flying helicopters over parks and removing people's belongings is a solution. It just moves the issue out of one area and into another.
Since we are talking about being car free here, and particularly on Fridays, I have come to discover in my 40 years of life, that if you want to easily live car free, you need to live somewhere near an urban core. That, or be extraordinarily self-sufficient on a farm-type situation. But one of the biggest reasons I hear that people don't want to live near downtown, is that they are "sick and tired" of all the social issues associated with it, namely homelessness and drugs. These seem to top everyone's list, with parking a distant third.
I am by no means a saint. I have a hard time with these issues, particularly since my children were born. I have days where it drives me absolutely crazy. I fantasize about living far enough away that I won't need to see drunks sleeping in the park or drug addicts stumbling down the street. Let me point out that this is not reality - this is only my perception of the problem when I am feeling particularly uncharitable - and that is not a good way to live your life. It is far too easy to demonize everyone hanging out on the street and sleeping in doorways, as simply lazy good-for-nothings. Maybe 5% of those people fall into that category. 5% is probably a high estimate. The remainder are likely a mosaic of people living with mental illnesses or disabilities (thank you Gordon for deciding that an IQ of 70 was sufficient to get by in this world without any assistance - sigh), drug addiction or from home situations that are intolerable. But we like to put the blame on individuals as opposed to any societal reasons, because then it means it can't happen to us.
I have drug addiction and alcoholism in my family. I have seen what it has done to people, and I have seen it completely tear families apart. But yes, it drives me crazy. I don't want it in my backyard. You probably don't want it in your backyard either.
What has this got to do with Car Free Friday? If social issues are driving folks away from urban centres and into the burbs, then we have a problem Houston. Driving your kids to and fro all the time, driving yourself to and fro all the time, is no solution either (and certainly no safer - car accidents are a significant cause of childhood injury and death). But people feel safe when they don't see people sleeping on a bench in their neighbourhood park. It might be inaccurate, but it's true.
What do we do? I like to approach this issue as a mother. What would I think if one of my children were to become severely addicted to drugs, and were living on the street? I can tell you one thing. I wouldn't want anyone to ever consider them to be "throw away people". But I certainly wouldn't want it easy to get drugs either. I would want strongly enforced rehab that is easily accessible, a safe place to sleep, and higher penalties for dealers.
What do you think? Let's not pretend this is a downtown issue anymore. We will see this in every neighbourhood and we need to think of what to do now. I don't think flying helicopters over parks and removing people's belongings is a solution. It just moves the issue out of one area and into another.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A Habit Formed
A friend recently pointed out to me that this blog is in serious need of new content...I agree. I have neglected poor old car free friday for so long that you know what? The link has been broken for a few days now (thanks to "updating" by the hosting company) and I hadn't even noticed. Okay - new commitment made and here it is in writing. Each Friday, the night of Car Free Friday (or the following Saturday on nights where kidlets won't fall asleep) I will write a new post. This is the schedule. I will even post it somewhere to the right of the blog's main content so that comes up all the time as a reminder to readers and as a reminder to me...
Here is my spin doctor version of why I have been forgetting...you see, it is now a habit formed (with the exception of last week which I will get to in the next post). Every week when I figure out what I need to accomplish, get done, do for fun...I remember that whatever the family picks for Friday, has to involve no car. We can do bus, etc. but not the car. I tallied up all the Car Free Fridays since the beginning and there have been 26. I have missed (I think...) 5 of those. 26-5=21. Do you know what is significant about 21? It is the amount of times you have to do something in order to form a habit. So voila! Not only do I twist my hair, but I don't drive my car on Friday either.
Form a habit yourself. Here is some help.
Here is my spin doctor version of why I have been forgetting...you see, it is now a habit formed (with the exception of last week which I will get to in the next post). Every week when I figure out what I need to accomplish, get done, do for fun...I remember that whatever the family picks for Friday, has to involve no car. We can do bus, etc. but not the car. I tallied up all the Car Free Fridays since the beginning and there have been 26. I have missed (I think...) 5 of those. 26-5=21. Do you know what is significant about 21? It is the amount of times you have to do something in order to form a habit. So voila! Not only do I twist my hair, but I don't drive my car on Friday either.
Form a habit yourself. Here is some help.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Alison Gaul for Esquimalt Council
A friend of mine is running for Esquimalt Council. Her name is Alison Gaul (see link in my newly created links list to the right). To sum it up in one sentence, you should vote for her (and I am not just saying that because her launch party had the BEST cupcakes I have ever tasted).
I promised CarFreeFriday to be non-political, but since this is municipal politics of which I am speaking...and because there are no parties involved...I consider this just fine to mention.
Good Luck Ali!
I promised CarFreeFriday to be non-political, but since this is municipal politics of which I am speaking...and because there are no parties involved...I consider this just fine to mention.
Good Luck Ali!
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