It’s easy to say Democracy is messy, but what do we mean? I can only speak for my understanding as to why. Citizens are like the pieces of a mosaic, all equal but not all the same. We each have one vote, but the ignorant has the same vote as the learned, the one with full information has the same vote as the one with little information, the one with understanding as the one with little or none, the one who sees more clearly with the one who does not. Do I want to change this equality? Not in the least, changing it would mean we would harm democracy. But I would like to change the conditions under which we practice this democracy. I would want to create conditions and opportunities for the knowledge discrepancies which underlie our messiness to be reduced. As an example, take the word democracy, what does it mean, what does it stand for, what does it entail? What are its limits? What are the conditions under which it only looks like democracy but is no longer? While knowledge is key, so are its corollaries of facts, truth and what’s real. But we now live in societies where the real and the unreal are not always distinguishable, and that is a huge obstacle which needs to be addressed and confronted. There’s certainly no magic bullet for all this, yet our educational system and our media do have roles to play. I’m not suggesting conditions which would even out our individual differences, we are each and all, for instance, entitled to whatever intelligence we possess. But I have two suggestions, one to recognize that this underlying cause of democracy’s messiness comes with the territory, and two that we agree to make it more manageable. Then I think how might more easily surface.
Danielle Levy
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Street Art on Asphalt
Imagine art work on the pavement’s asphalt! That’s what the Asphalt Art Initiative is doing, it is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies and is giving 19 European cities grants to create eye catching murals at crosswalks and near sidewalks. The idea is also to slow down traffic and accommodate pedestrians’ safety. Recent such initiatives have shown that when combined with other things called calming traffic devices, like bollards and modified curbs, that something like art on the pavement can enhance pedestrian safety. Speed at a crash prone crossroads in Kansas City was reduced by 45%. In Baltimore, the colored curbs initiated by the project, 41% of cars at a crossroads were encouraged to give pedestrians the right of way. Cities in Kosovo, Italy and Belgium which all have better pedestrian spaces will receive one of the grants and in Istanbul and Varna, Bulgaria, murals will be painted at crosswalks and crossroads.
Janette Sadik-Kahn a commissioner with the New York City Department of Transportation and the current principal for transportation at Bloomberg Associates says that “Projects like this not only connect people, but make streets safer, and we encourage cities everywhere to paint their own transportation masterpieces.” I’m for that. I hope you are too.