Reclaim The Streets & Critical Mass present: “Repaint The Streets!”

dublin | anti-capitalism | press release Tuesday September 09, 2003 15:56 by Dorothy - Reclaim the streets repaint_dublin at yahoo dot com The Spike, O'Connell st. 5pm Monday 22nd. 086-1574944

Car free day, September 22nd, Dublin city centre to close for redecoration!

On Monday, September 22nd, starting from the Spike/Spire on O’Connell Street at 5pm, Reclaim The Streets and Critical Mass will be holding a “Repaint The Streets” event to mark European Car Free Day. This will involve carrying out much needed improvements, including providing more bike lanes, zebra crossings, warning signs and creative decorations to try to make our drab, dirty and traffic-crowded city streets into a safer, more human and brighter space for us all.

Due to this event, traffic in central Dublin will be disrupted for a few hours after 5 pm. Therefore, we urge commuters to take the European “in town without my car day” to heart and leave their cars at home for this one day. The organisers will make every effort to ensure that buses, bicycles and pedestrians will suffer as little disruption as possible, but private cars may encounter long delays in the city centre. It is not our intention to lay the blame for our dysfunctional transport system at the feet of commuters who use cars; we realise that for many people, there are few alternatives. However, on this one day, we strongly advise people to use alternative forms of transport to get to work, since we know how frustrating it is to be stuck in traffic and prevented from getting home from work.

The contempt of our government for the transport needs of our city could not be clearer in their response to this Car Free Day. While many European cities mark the occasion by shutting down entire areas and even entire cities, in Dublin the Council is marking the day through a Garda band performance - in Pearse st. Park so as not to disturb the traffic!

Meanwhile, Our transport system is a shambles. For decades, the government has been in thrall to the car industry and our public transport system has been criminally under-funded. This has resulted in a massive expansion in the number of cars on our roads with the attendant environmental and traffic congestion problems. We are not against cars; we are against ‘car-culture’. Many people have no choice but to drive to work and car drivers suffer some of the worst consequences of our disastrous transport system. Who enjoys sitting in a traffic jam? Our public transport receives the lowest government subsidy in the EU. As a result we have some of the highest fares in Europe for a service that is, quite frankly, pathetic in relation to most European cities. The government’s solution seems to be to make driving in our cities as difficult and unpleasant as possible by funnelling traffic onto a small number of congested roads while failing to supply any real transport alternatives. At the same time, they are trying to privatise Dublin Bus. Evidence from around Europe suggests that privatisation of public transport has led to greater inefficiency, worse working conditions, reduced access to the service, and actually ends up costing the taxpayer more. This move only makes sense for those that will make a profit out of the sale, revealing once again where their priorities lie.

This “Repaint the Streets” event will be a demonstration; a demonstration of our desire to have a say in how our city and our environment is run; a demonstration of an alternative vision of how public space should be used; a demonstration of ordinary peoples’ ability to organise themselves, based on co-operation and mutual aid instead of competition and greed. Our demonstrations are celebrations of the range of visions of our city that are present in our society. We do not shout towards the deaf ears of politicians, instead we aim to empower people and give them a sense of their own potential for creativity and organisation. We believe that for real change to take place, ordinary people must get involved and take action, rather than leaving it in the hands of the corrupt politicians.

In the last few years since the start of Reclaim the Streets events in Dublin, the idea has been catching on. In several areas of the city, residents have occupied their streets, blocked traffic and demanded that the government listen to their needs. We encourage everybody and anybody to reclaim their Street. These are events that anybody can organise and take part in. You need no permission to Reclaim your Street, just the cooperation of your neighbourhood, so why not have close your road one day, create your own local street party and take control of your streets back.

We invite everybody who has a desire for a saner, less polluting transport system and a city that is controlled by those who live here to repaint the streets with us. We issue a special invitation to groups campaigning on environmental and alternative transport issues. We extend our invitation to Dublin Cycling Campaign, Campaign for Sensible Transport, Earthwatch, Dublin Busworkers Action Group and all concerned environmentalists, Trade Unionists and transport campaigners.

Join us at the spike, O’Connell st. at 5pm on Car Free Day, Monday September 22nd. If you have a bike, bring it along, as this event will include a large Critical Mass contingent. Bring costumes, balloons, horns, whistles, drums and anything else to brighten up our city for the evening. Bring paint, brushes, spray cans, chalk, and anything else that you can think of to help us redecorate our city streets. Most importantly bring yourself, your family, friends and neighbours, if we want to reclaim our city, we all have to get involved.

We appeal to everybody taking part to try not to damage the property of ordinary Dubliners. This event will, as always, be peaceful and celebratory.

On Car Free Day 2003, Repaint The Streets!