MaternityShare

No Cars In N. Portland This Sunday June 21, 2008

Portland planned a “no cars” event this Sunday, June 22nd, in North Portland to coincide with an annual conference “Towards Carfree Cities”. This conference is part of the World Carfree Network, “an organization promoting alternatives to automobile use and car-centric city planning”.

This event is modeled after a very successful large scaled one hosted in Bogota, Colombia that is actually held once a week. More than 70 miles of roads are closed and about 2 million people show up for dance lessons and community events.

Portland will be the first city in North America to host the event due in large part to its “commitment to mass transit and urban planning”. It has been completely funded by grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Kaiser Permanente, Metro and other sponsors.

There will be three parks along a route that will be designated for biking and walking where people will be able to take dance lessons, listen to live music, watch yoga demonstrations, take part in bike workshops and enjoy food booths.

This is a link to an interesting article about the event.

Here is a link to a page that has a pdf both of the map and events as well as additional information about the event.