ชมรมจักรยานเพื่อสุขภาพแห่งประเทศไทย ชมรมจักรยานเพื่อสุขภาพแห่งประเทศไทย
What a new Bangkok Governor should think and do about walking and biking in daily life
Early next year, probably in March, an election of a new Governor of Bangkok Metropolitan would be held. Some independent candidates have already advertised themselves. The two main political parties, however, are yet to announce their nominee; they might be waiting for a ‘right time’. Whoever are their candidates, we have to prepare to push an issue of walking and biking in daily life to be one of their agenda or town planning. If they have not recognized it yet, it would be our duty to sell ideas and try to make them integrate our plans and strategies into their election campaign as walkers and cycle users are also a collective group of voters that can support or go against them.
They have to listen to our voices, more or less.
What Thailand Cycling Club (TCC) is going to propose to candidates and then the newly elected Bangkok Governor are based on the following concepts:
1. Make walking and biking an inherent part of society in Bangkok and physical activities that any members of the general public, disabled persons, elderly people and children can do;
2. Make walking and biking a part of daily life that any people in Bangkok can really do;
3. Make a Start with walking and biking over a short distance in each neighbourhood;
4. Create projects and activities that can be really completed in four years or within a term time of the newly elected Governor;
5. Planned projects and activities must be really implemented and their results evaluated.
Projects to be initiated must be based on the principle, that they must be:
1. Safe;
2. Accessible, especially to disabled persons and elderly people (good footpaths available only on one side of the road that disabled persons or elderly people cannot go to use, for example, are not accessible to them);
3. Usable/workable(footpaths with slopes for disabled persons and elderly people, but the slopes are blocked by sign posts, for example, are not usable);
4. Fair(based on principle of equity for all).
TCC once campaigned with disabled persons’ organizations, asking a former Governor of Bangkok, Professor Krissada Arunwongse, to install slopes at footpaths in Bangkok, making them convenient for everybody to use.
TCC therefore would like to use this opportunity to invite all communities, clubs, groups, foundations and associations interested in promoting walking and biking in daily life to join together to advocate it to candidates for the forthcoming election of Bangkok Governor and then to the newly elected Governor.
You can propose ideas and suggestions and/or join a network for advocacy. When TCC receive substantial ideas and suggestions, a public hearing would be organized to sum up common stand points before proposing them to election candidates in January-February 2013.
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