AltWheels planning meeting
Dear AltWheels team,
Deep appreciation for the fantastic turnout and great energy that came from our February meeting with more than 50 people and organizations participating. We have received AltWheels 2006 onfirmations of support and participation from Keyspan, the Museum of Science, Zipcar, Massport, MassBike, Liveable Streets Alliance, Mass Highway, Mass Clean Cities, the Mass Hydrogen Coalition, the City of Boston, Honda, Ford, and many many more. Come join us March 10th for the update and help us build out the vision.
Our next 2006 AltWheels planning meeting will be Friday March 10th from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M at 60 State Street at the offices of Wilmer Hale. Breakfast will be served and your thoughts are needed.
Please let me know by March 5th if you can join us for breakfast on the 10th. You need to RSVP for security reasons so your name will be on a list to get to the right floor and to ensure we have enough breakfast. Thank you for your help.
With deep appreciation,
Alison
617-868-1582
P.S. If you are not able to join us but are willing to help, please let me know if there are others in the region who may be interested in helping us plan the event, exhibiting or sponsoring the event. We are an all volunteer organization and more than 150 of us came together to organize last year's event. If you have time or know others who do please come join us.
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In 2005 AltWheels (www.altwheels.org) became the largest alternative transportation festival on the East coast with more than 4,000 attendees. AltWheels celebrates the full array of sustainable transportation forms that exist from fuel cell vehicles to compressed natural gas cars to hybrid vehicles to biodiesel, bikes, public transit, and even cars running on used vegetable oil.
This year AltWheels has been invited September 22-24, 2006 to Boston City Hall Plaza. We believe that Mayor Menino is the first mayor to have an alternative fuel vehicle as his official personal vehicle. Mayor Menino has been joined by many other political and citizen leaders in the region who have begun to see the need to create a longer term sustainable transportation vision. For 2006 we plan a multi-site event to showcase both what is happening in alternative transportation in the New England area and what needs to happen. AltWheels has over 60 co-host and sponsor organizations as you can see on our web site and we welcome others. As you know Boston City Hall holds 1000s of people and we are limited this year only by our own vision and creativity.
Finding a sustainable system for transportation in this region is important for so many reasons. To name a few:
o Nearly half of greenhouse gases in this country come from transportation
o The U.S. is the largest oil importer in the world. With 6% of the world's population we use
25% of the world's oil and the cost to secure that oil is becoming increasingly apparent
o Boston was listed as one of the fifteen most congested cities in the U.S.
o The average vehicle sold in the U.S. last year got less miles for a gallon of gas than the Model T did in 1917
o We have all the technology we need to address this challenge but do not yet have the political incentives or will.
We seek your help to create an amazing AltWheels 2006 this September that catalyzes a sustainable transportation vision for the region. AltWheels 2006 will include features that have become popular in our first three years: More than 50 speakers, interactive exhibits of leading technologies, activities and educational resources for children, fleet day for municipal and corporate fleets with more than 100 vehicles, Segway rides, an alternative transportation caravan, and much more.
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Thank you.