Task force wants to get Riverside on its feet -- 10,000 steps a day
Riverside task force looks at ways to encourage people to take a walk
By Kimberly Trone, The Press-Enterprise; February 6, 2005

RIVERSIDE - Community and public health leaders are taking steps to get Riverside walking.

Ten thousand steps a day are the minimum an average person needs to be healthy, said Michael Osur, assistant public health director for Riverside County and a member of Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge's task force on walking.

"The average office worker takes less than 5,000 daily steps," Osur said.
Kaiser has awarded Riverside a $35,000 grant to help the task force create a pedestrian master plan to encourage would-be walkers to leave their seats. The panel is expected to forward its recommendations to the City Council in April. Those likely will include suggestions for zoning changes and pedestrian-friendly planning policies.

That's good news to Eastside resident Christina Duran, who doesn't own a car. Duran usually laces up her sneakers to get where she's going. Her children do the same.
"Trees have displaced the sidewalks," Duran said of the places she regularly
walks. "There are a lot of cracks and dirt in the sidewalks and poor street
lighting."

Duran said more green spaces between businesses and strategically placed
trash cans and drinking fountains would make hoofing it more enjoyable.
"It would be really nice if the city was more pedestrian friendly," she said.

Mayor Loveridge said that is the mission of his task force, which is made up
of about 30 community members. Task force members are walking segments of
Riverside to identify obstacles pedestrians and bicyclists might encounter.
"A good community is a healthy community and the best yardstick is the
walking opportunities a city offers," the mayor said.

The consequences of inactivity are severe and the social and physical
benefits of walking are immense, said Ryan Snyder, a transportation consultant who
has been enlisted to help the task force develop ways to promote walking.
"The most interesting places and cities are where there are people out
walking," said Snyder, adding that Riverside has some walkable areas, including
its downtown pedestrian mall. "It's really one of the gems of Riverside County,"
Snyder said.

But Snyder said there is room for improvement, particularly in five locations
identified as priorities by the city. Those areas include the University
area and the locations around the Galleria at Tyler mall. Riverside Transit
Agency's Executive Director Larry Rubio, a task force member, said his
agency is working with developers to create new communities
compatible with the needs of walkers and bicyclists.
"Every bus trip starts with a walk and every bus trip ends with a walk,"
Rubio said.

As obesity in children and adults climb along with complications such as
diabetes and heart disease, Riverside Unified School District's coordinator of
health services said families should try to walk together.
"When Mom and Dad get home everybody go for a walk," said the district's
Penny Stone, also of the task force. "It's exercise and it's quality time
together."
Riverside's Planning Director Ken Gutierrez said the city's revised General
Plan heading to the Planning Commission on Feb. 17 gives more consideration to
getting people's feet on the streets instead of in cars.
The plan will likely proceed to the City Council in April.
"We are in an older city with aging infrastructure and catching up with those
things is important," Gutierrez said.
The proposed plan includes policies in which mixed-use communities would be
encouraged, allowing housing, commercial and recreational to be near one
another.
Ideally, Gutierrez said a ring of open space would one day surround
Riverside, allowing walkers to get from the Santa Ana River to destinations beyond
the Box Spring Mountains.
"That is the idea of working, playing and living in one area," Gutierrez
said.
Reach Kimberly Trone at (951) 368-9456 or email.