Places to park and stride
Neighborhoods are being designed to get people out of their cars and on their feet.By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer; March 14, 2004

Summary of Article:

Fontana City Council member Acquanetta Warren has lost 50 pounds, and has joined other public officials and experts to fight obesity by adding more sidewalks, bike paths, and making routes to schools, stores, homes and other activity areas close enough, safe enough and enjoyable enough to walk.

The fact that “60% of Americans are too sedentary and 61% are overweight or obese” pushed Warren to get active, physically and in elected position. The group isn’t encouraging heavy-duty workout routines, but simply walking, biking and working activity into a person’s daily routine. Neighborhoods that are designed to get you home encourage obesity. Neighborhoods that encourage getting out fight obesity.

Examples are given in the article of communities and cities that are working to promote activity, including Riverside, which is doing walkability surveys to identify areas that encourage walking, and areas that need work.

Riverside County public health is commended for taking part in the county’s General Plan, which encourages communities and land use to be planned with fitness benefits in mind.

A survey of two cities in San Diego is discussed: Normal Heights and Claremont. Normal Heights, which has walkable neighborhoods, stores near housing, safe sidewalks close by, was found to have residents that get “70 more minutes of exercise per week” and only 35% of residents are overweight. Claremeont, which is newer and not designed in a walkable structure, has about the same percentage of overweight individuals as the national average at 60%.

Similar numbers were found across the nation in regard to areas of sprawl. Residents who exercised in these areas were still more overweight than those in “walkable communities”. Incidental exercise, that is, walking to accomplish daily chores like shopping or getting the kids to school, makes all the difference.

Another study shows that people who had to deal with bad sidewalks, heavy traffic and unpleasant conditions walked less and were more overweight. Additionally, every “additional hour per day spent in a car” increased the likelihood a person would be overweight by 6%. Every kilometer walked, conversely, decreased it almost the same amount.

In the 1960s, 80% of U.S. children walked to school every day. Today, just 10% do. Acquanetta Warren of Fontana says people in Fontana use their cars to do everything. She is pushing for zoning changes, local rapid transit, bike paths, and smart development. Developer Randall Lewis is planning two developments in Fontana. Lewis, who currently is building the Preserve in Chino, creates walkable communities with gardens, fitness opportunities, even sidewalks and trails that make schools close enough for all the students to walk.

The article discusses that without zoning laws, city ordinances and smart designs, residents will still not walk and bike to shopping and services that are at the outskirts of town because the routes to get there aren’t safe or pleasant.

This article supports the idea set forth by the Riverside County Department of Public Health – you need to “Build Health Into Everyday Life.”

You can access the entire Los Angeles Times article at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-build14mar14,1,3051584.story
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