From our first day of work, we had been forewarned: Soon enough, we would have to present our Campaign Plan to the entire staff of Transportation Alternatives. By July 15th, my fellow Youth Advocates and I were working diligently on our presentation. The presentation was supposed to be about our ideas and goals for the campaign this summer. Although our manager told us we were brilliant, I still had my doubts and was very nervous about presenting myself to my superiors. After a grueling day of going through all of our ideas and organizing them into a cohesive plan, we discussed all the minor details about the following day and went home to wallow in our nervousness.

That Thursday, July 17th, we found ourselves in the conference room at Transportation Alternatives office space, on the tenth floor at 127 West 26th Street, rehearsing our parts and making sure everything was perfect. Just as we finished up practicing, the staff herded into the room and into their seats. We were complimented on our color coordination (in suits and skirts, we all wore green, including Jessie) and began our presentation.

We each introduced ourselves by saying our names, age, where we go to school, and why we were interested in the campaign. You can find that information about us here. Next we each explained our campaign goals, starting with Farah, who spoke about gaining the support of elected officials and how that will help our campaign. Next was Michael he talked about gaining support and awareness from park-goers. We intend to do this by talking to people about a car-free park, and asking them to sign postcards asking Mayor Bloomberg to make Prospect Park car-free. After Michael, I spoke about gaining awareness of the campaign through the internet and our blog. Blogging is very essential to our campaign, because it will help make people that we are not able to talk to in the park aware of our campaign and what they can do to help. It will also inform people of our upcoming events that we are planning that the might want to get involved in. Finally, it was Oswald's turn to speak. The goal he discussed was getting recognition of campaign through the press. This is always an effective way to get things done. Press coverage will inform a lot of people about our campaign and it is always very exciting to see yourself in the newspaper.

Next on our agenda was to discuss events we have planned for the summer, starting off with Farah again. She told the staff about the idea we have of a Dog, Pedestrian and Bicycle Rest Station. We would like to have a day where pedestrians can come and get foot massages and water (and of course, sign a postcard); dogs can get water, milk bones and perhaps a bath (while their leash-holders sign a postcard) and bikers can get a free tune-ups and water. Michael talked about Emissions Testing and Clocking Speeders in the park. We plan on having certain days where we set up at a certain area in the park and clock how fast the cars are going. We would also like to test the emissions that are in the park when cars are there and when there not. Next Oswald talked about the street theatre activities we have planned for the summer. One activity is to have a day where we are dressed up as trees and carry signs that read No Shade and No Clean Air While There are Cars in the Park; we will be Trees on Strike. Another theater activity is to wear a whole bunch of bubble wrap, knee pads and elbow pads and have a sign that reads Just Going for a Walk in a Car-filled Park. Finally, our most brilliant idea was a Crime Stoppers parody. But, instead of crime-stoppers, we will be Car-Stoppers. We plan approach drivers in the park at stop-lights and hand them tickets asking them to not drive in the park. After Oswald, I spoke about our final event. At the end of the summer, we hope to host an "Anti-CARnival", complete with marching bands and people parading with their park-user groups (Parents and children behind a banner which reads Children for a Car-Free Park. Dog owners with their leashed pets behind a banner which reads Dogs for a Car-Free Park. And so on.). We would like our final event to be a place where the city officials who support a car-free park can come and speak.

With this, and many thanks to the T.A. staff for taking a break from their busy days, our presentation was complete. We received total support from the staff (WOOOOHOOOO!) and many compliments. We got a lot of feedback and ideas, then got a chance to met the person who makes our paychecks (my favorite person of the day!!). I think we did an excellent job on our presentation and can't wait to get out there and start actually making a difference in our park.