Anti-Car Petition Car

April 8th, 2008
Anti-Car Petition
Posted by Patricia Simoes

Streets Are For People! are once again engaging the public and the government in an effort to disrupt our car-obsessed society.

To celebrate Earth Day, the group is preparing to present a "petition- car" to the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park. The petition-car —which has been stripped of its motor and painted white — is covered with over 4,000 signatures and bears the message: "We the undersigned do hereby demand that not one more dollar go to promote, support, or perpetuate car culture. We want bike lanes, public transit and a train system. We want our public space back. We want local food, clean air, sustainable industry, a liveable future for our children, and an end to oil wars. We want to dance in the street. We want a government that values life over money."

The group's formal petition asks the government of Ontario to redirect the tax-dollars spent on the auto industry towards expanding public transit, developing an integrated train system, and investing in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The petition also asks the government to begin the process of weaning our economy off the automobile industry by shifting Ontario's labour force into sustainable transportation sectors. Lastly, the petition also calls for a ban on car advertising, as according to Streets are for People! co-founder Shamez Amlani, cars "contribute to resource depletion, corporate hegemony, perpetual war, and urban decay."

Click here to read the petition in full or to sign it.

spacing.ca/wire/2008/04/08/anti-car-petition

Photo by Peyton Chung