City council promotes a day without cars

The Palma city council and the environmental group GOB have drawn up a joint programme of acts to promote “sustainable mobility,” which will be held during the week and will end on Sunday the 22nd with the “European Day with No Cars.” Councillor José Manuel Sierra, GOB president in Majorca Juan Rita, and the group's spokeswoman in Palma Margalida Bauza announced details of the initiative yesterday. Sierra said that they had joined forces in an attempt not to duplicate efforts or rival one another in participation by the public. The idea, he said, was to make people aware of alternative transport to the car. One of the acts will be the official opening of the prolongation of the bike only lane between El Molinar and the Coll den Rebassa, which will take place tomorrow. Sierra said that the second stage of the mobility report, which he described as “very ambitious,” will be presented in public on Friday. The councillor said that he was “very satisfied” at the results of the application of the first part of the report. He claimed that there has been a change of mentality in Palma, and people have made a positive evaluation of measures adopted by the city council. These included more pedestrian areas and retractable posts to keep cars out of streets. He dismissed “a few conflicts” arising from the application of the plan and stressed the importance of dialogue to overcome disagreements with some sectors. Juan Rita, for his part, said that the events of the Week Without Cars, are a good opportunity to promote “sustainable mobility” and the importance of the bicycle as a means of transport within the city.