Car-Free Seattle
We decided to link existing street closures
with a citywide bike ride. We
picked a date. We made tee shirts. We sent
press
releases. We hung posters.
We made signs. We sent
emails. We kept the
website fresh. Gina made a 24-p.
zine. Paul contacted
the mayor's
office.
KEXP,
KPLU, KUOW plugged it. The
Seattle
Times covered it. After the first leg of our slow ride--when a column
of
smiling cyclists peacefully commandeered a lane of a busy city
thoroughfare--
a woman named Moore with LESS taped to her back handed me a
sticker:
all comes to light if intent be free of ego
& expectation
We painted CAR-FREE ZONE on the back side
of a GRAND OPENING banner.
50-foot laundry line through each top eyelet, jute string for the bottom
corners.
Tie each rope to roll of duct tape, toss over limb or other protrusion, hoist
banner
aloft and
secure--instant car-free
zone. Next time: more.
The ride across town was rad, but what tickles my imagination most is the
breadth
of an empty street, the extra room for kids to play, the quiet air of
possibility
permeating a suddenly liberated public space. Car-free day doesn't have to
hap-
pen just once a year. In fact, every day is car-free day, for a few minutes
at least,
usually around 4 in the morning, when the city takes a breath and if you
listen
very closely there's nothing to hear. See it once and you'll want it to
last. |
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