[Bent] Car Free centers

[Clay Mikolasy]

Tapio's factual comments comparing car-free areas in different places may have been right on. However, comments he made such as the following are feelings that perhaps were best kept to himself:

"I have got the influence that Manhattanties would perhaps be more
tolerant, anti-rasist, "free-minded", perhaps not so fundamentally
religious, than people on most other places (e.g in Hershey).

(Of course all North-America are friendly. "May I buy you a drink,
what do you like about America". The interest / knoledge about
Europe/rest of world is generally not very strong.)"

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I, personally, would not go to someone else's country, or even an unfamiliar part of my own country, and make public comments such as those. Nor do I think would most people. I am sure that if any one of us went to various parts of Europe, we would have, along with the mostly positive impressions we had, perhaps also some negative ones that we might not necessarily want to point out on a website frequented mostly by people of that particular country.  IMO, Mr. Rothberg was correct in his reaction and in what he said.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JOHN TETZ 
  To: NY/NJ/CT/PA Metro Area Recumbent Society (MARS) 
  Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:42 PM
  Subject: Re: [Bent] Car Free centers


  Hello Tapio;

  I feel your comets were right on particularly about the lack of car free areas in US cities. 

  Back in 1996 I went to the week long Car Free Cities Conference held in Copenhagen. I gave a talk on my Up Hill assist for the simultaneously held Bike Culture week. 

  There were as I remember 35 or so cities from many European countries were present. No US cities were there. High on the list of helping solve the car free areas was the bicycle. 

  That was back in 1996. Since then more and more European cities have adopted car free city centers. So naturally you would be very sensitive to the lack of this here in the US. 

  John Tetz 



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