Perks for civil servants

Interesting perk for Portuguese civil servants:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1987326,00.html

Going without the car from Living Now Magazine down under

Going without the car

By editor
... the expense of running a vehicle, congestion hassles, and parking challenges. ... spaces for people to stroll, congregate, relax, or sit at pavement cafés. ... An absence of access roads and parking facilities frequently lowers the ...

Living Now Magazine - http://www.techinsight.com.au/clients/livingnow

Beulah Road resident on annoying Traffic Issues

congratulations! its about time someone took a stand against people who park on pavements i share the same grievence as you do, but you have left your little notice on my car which is outside my house admittedly slightly on the pavement by the way i live in 16 Beulah road and my name is Simon Hart, parking in beulah road is a nightmare for residents and the people who drive through beulah road are the cause of people like myslf who park slighly off the road to avoid theyre car being damaged because of the bottle kneck caused by the real offenders - the people who park outside the shops on the opposite and illegal side of the road i.e people who use Derek Freye dry cleaners they just mount the pavement with no care jump out quite often leaving theyre car running and think "o i will only be two minutes while i pick up my dry cleaning" the pavement outside the shops bares the scares of this action as all the pavement slabs are split into millions of pieces, why hasent the council put up railings to dter this which i find so dangerous as i have nearly been knocked down myself whilst walking on that pavement only to be shouted at by the driver saying watch where i am going! aside from that i am lucky if i can even park anywhere near my house and when i do i have had to put up with years of people blocking my driveway whilst they go to the shops and theyre excuse "i was only two minutes" yea only two minutes that was the two minutes of an emergency that stopped me getting to the hospital for a broken arm!!!!! bicycles you metion in your leaflet are not allowed on the pavement unless the rider is under 14 i see the new trendy dads with theyre kiddies on a trailer bike riding the pavements i see old and young perfeclty mobile people taking to the electric scooter and beeping t me to get out of the way!!! i know theyre names and where they live they are probably not insured or have a licensce and i know damn well they can walk with no trouble!
i have lived in this street for 25years and seen many crazy things its good to see someone is trying to do something about it but all your facts are wrong dont blame residents do something about the real offenders peope who dangerously mount the kerb people who ride the scooters like crazed teenagers who ride petrol scooters and grown ups who think they have the right to ride on the pavement because they have theyre little on on the back, if you would like to discuss this any further i am glad to comment but i wont be moving my car in any hurry until measures are taken to sto the real offenders.

sincerely simon hart

Cardiff City Centre

More people trying to cross than cars on the road. This is a mess and time it was cleaned up. Note the gum and railings.

Too many railings and badly designed crossings make it difficult to cross and dangerous as some leap over the railings and some have been killed as a result.

Welsh councils ignoring climate change

Councils 'ignoring climate change'
Only a handful of local authorities which replied to a Guardian survey said they were taking any action to address the rising carbon emissions produced by their residents.
The paper compares the results of its survey with recent comments by climate change minister Ian Pearson, who said councils were at the forefront of the country's efforts to tackle climate change.

Leading by example. Ever wondered which are Britain's best performing councils on green issues? Ponder no more, we name the top 10
Terry Slavin Wednesday January 3, 2007The Guardian

What about Wales. Wales is definately not in the top ten so no surprise there then! We are campaigning/battling for a change in approach in Cardiff which is very congested and has shown NO inclination to change. It is pro car full stop. The car lobby has only to raise its head and the council will back down. It is difficult to cross the road here as the custom is to have crossing on only one or at the most 3 sides of a busy crossroad? In fact one despairs. Politiicans haven't the courage here to do anything or evan take a stand..
Sue Essex AM tells me ...
Sue said that it seemed to have worked very well in London, and that she supports it in principle. However, she would need more information on traffic flow etc. before she could judge whether it is really appropriate for Cardiff.