this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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Fuck Cars

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First time speaking at my municipality (lemmy.emphisia.nl)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hello friends,

I have big news. Tonight I will be speaking at my local municipality to advocate for trams and other things for the first time. It all started with a funny video about traffic calming from some orange guy, and a few years later I'm part of multiple groups advocating for a better city with less cars, I also became a "climate mayor" for my city (doesn't give me any advantages except people take you more serious).

I live in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, the fifth biggest city of the Netherlands. It is in my opinion one of the most car centric cities of our country and while many people want to see it changed, the municipality does not yet have the balls to actually take any real drastic measures. It became once again obvious when they released their "masterplan for mobility" which lines out how the city wants to change the city up to 2050. It contains a few good things, but is still quite car oriented and does not nearly go far enough for improving the city. It also completely refuses to mention the possibility of trams ever coming to our city, saying they are not "innovative" enough, and flat out says that the goals for reduction in green house gasses set by the municipality will not be reached due to lack of support with no further explanation.

Many groups in the city are not satisfied enough with this masterplan so tonight during the meeting, many people will speak to the city council to speak their displeasure. Including me.

I am really excited and am so proud of myself for finally taking this step. I also really want to thank this community. I feel it is less active then on reddit. But without all you guys I would have probably never taken this step <3

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Good luck. You'll need it.

And you will learn two things today:

  • Change costs money.
  • There is no money.
[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

As a born Eindhovenaar living in Veldhoven. Gogogogo!!! Rondweg and the various major exit roads are perfect for a tram system!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

Awesome! Thank you for stepping up.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Good luck! It seems to me like Eindhoven would be perfect for trams: a lot of major destinations, like the university, football station, ASML in Veldhoven and the airport. Add to this that the region will definitely grow a lot in the future and trams (or even a metro) should be a no brainer. The fact that the much smaller city of Enschede is actually going to look at trams potentially in the future, but Eindhoven doesn't, is absolutely crazy. Hopefully they'll change their minds.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Metro won't work, wrong soil 😕😭

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fair point. You probably could still build a metro, but because it would not be worth the cost it for a city of this size. But no soil should stop a tram from being built, only the VVD and co may do that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Costs would indeed be like 10 times that of a tram if not more in the Eindhovense soil. So if anything, a tram would be built.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

You are awesome! Knock 'em dead!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for speaking out! I really admire how most cities in the Netherlands have tried to be more pedestrian/bicycle friendly. I live in the US and I'm so tired of car-centric residential planning. The street I live on has neither a sidewalk nor bike lane, and people go twice the posted limit (30mph) all the time. There's a park up the street, but there's no way to get to it without walking in that same road. Lived here 2 years and I have never met any of my neighbors. I feel like the social fabric of our community has been ripped to shreds by our forced reliance on cars.

Are there any places in Eindhoven you'd recommend to visit or stay away from? Later this year I'm traveling to the Netherlands to look at possible places to live, Eindhoven is on the list!

I'm new to lemmy, be gentle :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

heyyy,

Great to hear you are coming to the Netherlands. I am sure you will love it. For recommendations in Eindhoven, I don't have that many. One I can really recommend is Woensel West. It is pretty car light and really pretty. I originally come from The Hague so do have some recomendations for there: tram 1 from scheveningen to delft. it is an old tram driving past the Vliet and is a beautiful ride. If you see an Extinction rebellion sticker on a lantern post next to the vliet, i put that there ;). I also really recommend cycling from the hague to Vlietlanden, a nice nature area with rivers. My favorite thing to do is just cycle. take random turns and see where you end up. Just driving around in the netherlands is also really fun, so i also recommend that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Awesome thank you so much! If you don't mind me asking, do you like Eindhoven or The Hague more? I read that The Hague is more of a political hotspot while Eindhoven is more associated with innovation and engineering, are those stereotypes valid? I really appreciate the recommendations! I will look for the sticker :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

personally I like the Hague a lot more. partly because of the public transit but also because it has way more of a "big city" with all the cities around it. where in Eindhoven you can feel it is just a lot of smaller cities connected by a few roads. i also just like the Randstad more personally. i do believe eindhoven has a lot of potential in turning into a beautiful city, its just not there yet