by Julie Lovins
Spontaneous friendships at a bike-sharing station, unsubsidized fast bus transit (in addition to convenient car/bike/pedestrian travel), creative ways to recycle and to provide affordable housing, a thriving commercial street jammed with pedestrians (cars on other streets), how-tos for bike/pedestrian safety–these are some of the images from around the world that intrigued us for four July Friday evenings. Discussion following the films, and the questions posed our special guests from SkyTran and VTA, implied that the images will stick with us as Mountain View plans for a sustainable future. Hint: Much of what we saw (generously hosted by Fenwick & West on Castro) is viewable at www.streetfilms.org, a real treasure trove. Another hint: a complete draft of our next General Plan will be available for public comment in November. The Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning (www.mvcsp.org) might organize another film series in another neighborhood before then.
