Get Healthy De Soto Featured on KSDK

Trailnet works with Get Healthy De Soto to encourage healthier and more active lifestyles in De Soto through our Healthy & Active Communities Initiative. Together we have passed Missouri's first Complete Streets policy in De Soto and launched the De Soto Farmers' Market--the first in Jefferson County.

But Get Healthy De Soto's work doesn't stop there. From helping establish community gardens to creating a Better Body Challenge, Get Healthy De Soto has had a positive impact on De Soto.

KSDK Channel 5 recently did a story highlighting Get Healthy De Soto's good work. Watch the video above to learn more about the wonderful strides Get Healthy De Soto has made to make De Soto a healthier community.

The Office of Livability . . . imagine transportation choices for everyone

Photo Credit: Project for Public Spaces, www.pps.org

This week the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee released its draft of the transportation bill, called the Surface Transportation Authorization Act to unanimous approval. Although the overall bill is expected to ultimately include around $450-500 billion over six years, no funding levels are included for any program at this point. The bill is instead meant to outline the new structure for surface transportation programs and policy changes and includes establishing new leadership in a new division of the Federal Highway Administration to be called the Office of Livability.

Some Key Responsibilities include:

• Authority for Safe Routes to School.
• Increasing transportation options and quality of life.
• Administering bicycle and pedestrian programs, including Transportation Enhancements, the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, Recreational Trails, Scenic Byways, and the new US Bicycle Route system.
• Developing mode share targets and timelines for accomplishing them, compiling best practices and collecting data /doing research on the benefits of Livable Communities with access to walking, biking and public transit.

For more information click here.

Launch of De Soto Farmers' Market a Success!

De Soto is a town of firsts. Working with Get Healthy De Soto through our Healthy & Active Communities Initiative, De Soto passed the first Complete Streets Policy in Missouri. Now, with the launch of the De Soto Farmers' Market, De Soto has become the first city in Jefferson County to have a farmers' market!

The market launched on May 9, 2009 but getting to that day took a lot of work. Originally, the Jefferson County Health Department had concerns about operating the farmers' market without posing health hazards to residents. Trailnet and Get Healthy De Soto were able to work with the Health Department to develop rules and regulations for the market that would satisfy the Health Department's concerns and lead to a thriving farmers' market for De Soto.

The year's worth of planning also included finding sponsors for the market, advertising, securing Market Masters, and most importantly, finding vendors. Trailnet and Get Healthy De Soto worked with Missouri Extension to hold a workshop for potential vendors which proved a success--over 30 potential vendors were in attendance.

The fruits of this labor has resulted in a vibrant farmers' market for De Soto. Though only in its sixth week, the market has had an above average number of vendors and has had a great impact on the community. The market itself is a fun atmosphere where people enjoy meeting up with neighbors. People talk about how great the farmers' market has been for De Soto--even saying it's the best thing that's happened to De Soto.

Even more, the market has had a real impact on the local economy. Farmers, convinced of continued demand for their produce in the future, are already planting crops in anticipation of what they would want to sell at the market in the coming years. One gentleman, who lost his job, decided to become a vendor at the market. On his first day he made enough money to not only feed his family for the week, but for the following weeks along with some leftover for paying bills.

We are just beginning to see all of the positive impacts the De Soto Farmers' Market will have on De Soto and cannot wait to experience more. We'll keep you posted!

Trailnet's Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Convening

REGISTER NOW!

CLICK HERE

YOU ARE INVITED!
Announcing Trailnet’s Annual Healthy & Active Communities Convening Event
Wednesday, June 3, 2009!

Trailnet’s Healthy & Active Communities Initiative is reconnecting urban planning, public policy, and public health to create vibrant communities that provide the highest quality of life for residents, from cradle to cane. This Initiative has received national recognition as a promising and innovative model for addressing obesity at the community scale and improving overall resident health. Please join us to hear the stories and successes of our partner communities!

Who Should Come
Residents of the Partnering Communities: De Soto, Ferguson, Old North St. Louis
Local Champions for the Creation of HEALTHY, ACTIVE and VIBRANT Communities
Civic Leaders: elected officials, city staff, engaged citizens
Anyone interested in learning innovative approaches to address the obesity epidemic!
**All Event participants will receive a complimentary hardcopy of Trailnet’s highly anticipated Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit 2009

Keynote Speakers
John Hoal, PhD, AICP, H3 Studio & Washington University
Placemaking: The Art and Practice of Healthy & Active Communities
Alyse Sabina, MPH, Missouri Foundation for Health
Innovative Strategies for Increasing Community Engagement and Buy-In

Visit our event webpage and register today: http://trailnet.org/HAC_Convening.php

Time
Registration: 3:00pm - 3:30 pm
Convening Event: 3:30 - 8:00pm (Dinner provided by Local Harvest)

Cost
De Soto, Ferguson and Old North St. Louis Residents: FREE
Other Community Members: Dinner and Event ($20) Event Only ($10)

Registration
Register online at http://trailnet.org/HAC_Convening.php or call Katie Steinkamp at 314/436-1324 x 102.
Register no later than May 27th.

Location
Saint Louis University
Allied Health Professions Building Room 3040
3437 Caroline Street
St. Louis, MO 63104

Directions
Biking Directions: For suggested bike routes, please visit Bike St. Louis. Bike rack located at the building entrance near the corner of Theresa Avenue and Caroline Street.
Public Transit: Take MetroLink East Line to Grand Station. At Grand Blvd MetroLink Stop connect to MO Bus 70 Southbound to S. Grand Blvd and Exit at Vista Avenue. Walk East on Vista Avenue. Take a Left at S. Theresa Avenue and a Right onto Caroline Street.
Driving Directions From Highway 44: Take Grand Exit going North. Take a Right on Vista Avenue. Take a Left on Virginia Avenue. Take a Right on Caroline Street.
Driving Directions from Highway 40: Take Grand Exit going South. Take a Left on Hickory Street . Take a Right on Virginia Avenue. Take a Right on Caroline Street.

Parking
Parking is available on most side streets and at the Hickory East Parking Garage, just East of Grand Avenue on Hickory Street. Additional charges will apply for garage parking.

MO Adopts a Stronger PE Bill!

Caption: Students stretch during a PE class designed to teach life-long healthy habits, knowledge, and skills

From the American Heart Association:

Physical Education Bill Passes Legislature!

In the late hours of the 2009 Legislative Session, we received word that Senate Bill 291, a bill that modifies provisions relating to education, passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate! This bill ensures that students in elementary schools participate in moderate physical activity for the entire school year, including students in alternative education programs.

Take Action: Please Thank The Missouri State Senate for There Support of This Bill!
As you know, House Bill 509 (Physical Education Bill) was voted down in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. However, our State Advocacy team, and legislators who have championed this issue from the start of session, were able to get some of our physical education language into Senate Bill 291.

Although Senate Bill 291 doesn't include all our original asks, it is a great first step for improving physical education in Missouri. Here is a brief summary of SB 291:

Beginning with the school year 2010-2011:
School districts shall ensure that students in elementary schools participate in moderate physical activity for the entire school year, including students in alternative education programs.

Students in the elementary schools shall participate in moderate physical activity for an average of one hundred fifty minutes per five-day school week, or an average of thirty minutes per day. Students in middle schools may at the school's discretion participate in at least two hundred twenty-five minutes of physical activity per school week.

Each year the commissioner of education shall select for recognition students, schools and school districts that are considered to have achieved improvement in fitness.

To view the full text of Senate Bill 291, please visit: http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills091/billpdf/commit/SB0291c.pdf

Missouri Farm-to-School Bill

Caption: Students from the College School working and learning at New Roots Urban Farm. Photo by Matt Diller.

The Farm-to-School movement has been gaining momentum for years, and Missouri is getting into the game. The Forsyth School, a K-6 private school near Washington University, is the most recent to choose locally grown foods for students. The food will be provided through Bistro Kids in Kansas City and includes whole grains, grass-fed beef and hormone-free milk. Maplewood-Richmond Heights, also located in the St. Louis region, is implementing a Farm-to-School program this year and will be serving food produced by farmers in the St. Louis area.

Farm-to-School programs aren't just about food. They are about sustainability, health, education, and the local economy. Students learn about eating healthy foods produced locally, but also learn how to grow food in school gardens. They see the distinction between food from the ground and food from the supermarket, and can make informed choices for themselves.

Funding for these programs is currently paid for by parents (Forsyth) or grants (Maplewood-Richmond Heights). People are doing the legwork at the local level to make these programs work for individual schools. In Missouri, the current Farm-to-School programs are a patchwork of unconnected efforts.

Nineteen states throughout the nation have taken legislative steps to create and support Farm-to-School networks on a much broader scale in their states. These statewide efforts typically focus on simply connecting farmers to school buyers and removing any red tape that exists for schools to buy locally. Some of the more thorough statewide Farm-to-School efforts have included grant money for local snack programs, improvements to schools’ kitchens, and incentives for farmers and schools that participate in the program. Other states have required that a set percentage of school dollars be used to purchase local foods.

Although Missouri currently does not have Farm-to-School legislation, a coalition of Missouri farmers, educators, and community organizations, with leadership from Trailnet and the Healthy Youth Partnership, came together during the last few months to propose a bill that will create the Missouri Farm Fresh Schools Program. The group hopes to have a strong bill ready to be pre-filed when the MO legislative session begins again in January 2010. We want to thank Representatives Brian Munzlinger and Tom Loehner for their support of this important effort that will improve the health of Missouri children and support our state economy.

It's a win-win situation for Missouri students and farmers. If you'd like to learn more, email phil@trailnet.org

Here are a few links to Farm-to-School resources:
National Farm to School Online:
www.farmtoschool.org
The Community Food Security Coalition:
www.foodsecurity.org/farm_to_school.html
Oklahoma Farm-to-School:
www.okfarmtoschool.com
The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture:
www.kerrcenter.com/farm_to_school/index.htm

And CLICK HERE for a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article about Farm-to-School programs in the St. Louis region.

Car Free Cities?

Caption: UC Davis has made their campus nearly car-free

Check out this great article about a German suburb, Vauban, that has gone nearly car-free. Make sure to look at the photo slide show of the town. What do you think the obesity rate is in Vauban? We'll bet it's a mere fraction of the US rate or even the overall rate for Germany.

Some US cities have taken significant strides to create car-light environments--we're unaware of any car-free US cities. Davis, California, for one, has been recognized as a Platinum Level (the highest) Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Cyclists.

I used to live in Davis--it was the best quality of life I've experienced. There were entire months when my car sat unused, my costs were low, and my stress level was nearly zero. Davis is by now means car-free, but it has been designed with a lot of thought and accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists, which result in a high quality of life for all residents. And just to be clear, we are not anti-car. We encourage and promote urban planning that includes multi-model transportation systems (many options and high quality options). Do you know of any other car-free cities in the world?

Tax Credits for Work-site Wellness?

Photo Credit: Keuynish on Flickr.com

The US Congress is seriously considering a bill that will create tax credits or other incentives for employers who offer work-site wellness programs. The legislation allow employers to obtain tax credits for work-site wellness programs that offer periodic health screenings and counseling for obesity, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use, and depression.

For more information, check out the following article:
Congress Plans Incentives for Healthy Habits

This is very exciting news. For years now, many studies have been published showing that when businesses are willing to invest money to implement work-site wellness programs, they save money in the long-term. Healthy employees cost their employers less money—they miss less days of work, are more productive, and cost less in health-care fees.

Want to learn more about the economic benefits of employee wellness? Check out this recent blog post.

Or you can check out the research:
2006: Goetzel Ron Z; Ozminkowski Ronald J
What's holding you back: why should (or shouldn't) employers invest in health promotion programs for their workers?
North Carolina medical journal 2006;67(6):428-30.

THE TOOLKIT! Coming Soon...

The cover of Trailnet's Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit

Trailnet will soon be releasing our Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit. Two years in the making, the Toolkit is chock full of resources for community leaders and decision-makers interested in creating vibrant communities that provide the highest quality of life for all residents, from cradle to cane. The Toolkit contains case studies, mini-articles, best-practice recommendations, and much more.

The Toolkit will be available to download online and in limited print copies.
Check back soon!

Growing Power

Bike Rush Hour!

Photo Credit: BikePortland.org

Portland, Oregon is regarded as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the US, and it's not by chance. The City of Portland has committed itself to developing an environment that promotes cycling by:

• Engineering high-quality bicycle infrastructure, including bike lanes, bike boxes, a system of bicycle boulevards, greenways, special bicycle traffic signals and more.
• Education of cyclists and drivers alike regarding responsible use of shared streets.
• Encouragement of residents to go by bike.

A large part of Portland's success has been due to 1) commitment and support from City leadership, 2) a willingness to learn from other cities around the world, and 3) the City's willingness to experiment with a variety of ideas to see which work best. Recently, Portland was recognized for this great work with a Platinum-Level Bicycle Friendly Community rating by the League of American Bicyclists.

Here in St. Louis, we are making important strides to create a bicycle-friendly city. Through the work of a few key organizations, including Trailnet, St. Louis leadership has become more and more supportive of bicycle infrastructure. Most recently, in Mayor Slay's Inaugural Address on April 21, he spoke very clearly that the first business of his administration will be to re-focus the city government on, "maintaining parks; providing recreation opportunities; fixing streets, sidewalks and alleys; expanding greenways and bike paths, and marking bike lanes." We commend the Mayor for this commitment and look forward to working with him and other key City leaders to create healthy, active, and vibrant neighborhoods throughout our city. We encourage you to contact Mayor Slay to thank him for this commitment: 314-622-3201

Don't forget, here in St. Louis, May 15th is BIKE TO WORK DAY.

Back in Portland: the real evidence of success is visible every day as thousands of residents ride their bikes to and from work, to the grocery store, to their neighbors' house, and to brew pubs all around town.

The folks at Streetfilms.org put together the following video to showcase the shear volume of cyclists that commute to and from work. Enjoy:

Fixing Transit - A Little Help From Our Friends

Caption: Metro St. Louis has been forced to suspend much of their service due to lack of funding.

Transportation for America recently sent out a call-to-action urging support for emergency service preservation grants that will help keep public transportation systems running during the hard economic times. The call-to-action website features St. Louis's very own Metro, which has been forced to make major service cuts after Proposition M failed to get more than 50% of the vote this past November.

If you live in the St. Louis region, you probably don't have to go very far before you spot a sign, like the one above, announcing that the bus stop you are standing at is no longer a bus stop--now it's just a bench with a bad view, placed awkwardly close to the street. Bummer. BIG bummer if you depend on public transportation to get to work, to pick up your kids, and to go to the store. The timing couldn't be worse. The people most vulnerable to the economic downturn, the working class and the working poor, are now even more vulnerable in St. Louis and cities throughout the country where public transportation systems have shrunk.

You can help by visiting the Transportation for America website to send a letter to your elected officials in support of emergency service preservation grants. In hard economic times, we must fiercely preserve our public transit systems, for they are an important foundation of our economy.

What exactly is a livable street?

Caption: www.pedbikeimages.com/Dan Burden

Across the U.S., city departments, design professionals, and residents are looking to livable streets as one way to reinvigorate public life. The definition of a livable street no doubt varies from place to place, but central to its character is being so much more than just a place for moving cars.

Livable Street = Good for People
Livable streets are designed with a people paradigm, which is very different than the how-many-people-can-we-move-in-cars paradigm that has dominated U.S. street designs for decades. The people paradigm recognizes that streets are public spaces whose design should allow people to get from point A to B, but should also encourage the other things we love to do in public spaces like taking a stroll, people-watching, window shopping, eating a meal with friends, exercising, and playing.

The good news is that the people paradigm for street design is gaining ground. In fact, GOOD Magazine's current transportation issue proclaims that the street of the future is a livable street. (Be sure to look at their interactive graphic of a livable street.)

Momentum has been gained through efforts like the Complete Streets Campaign which seeks to get more policies in place to ensure that livable, or complete, streets are built. The first two Complete Streets policies to be approved in Missouri were in De Soto and Ferguson through partnership with Trailnet's Healthy and Active Communities Initiative.

Bring Livable Streets to your Neighborhood
Perhaps you are interested in bringing livable streets into your neighborhood. Down the line there will likely be policies that need to change at a city-level but the initiative of residents can begin to transform your streets into lively places with projects such as creating a Sunday Parkways event, opening a farmers' market, or getting musicians to play live music.

If you are specifically interested in improving pedestrian safety and the walkability of your community, the UNC Highway Safety Research Center is providing grants of $2,000 plus technical assistance to qualifying U.S. communities. The application deadline is May 29. Click here for more information.

Important Protection for Cyclists

Caption: An aggressive driver attempting to hit a cyclist

If you have ever relied on a bicycle for transportation, you have probably been harassed in some way by angry, impatient drivers. Harassment of cyclists can take the form of nasty words, thrown objects, or in the worst cases, drivers using their cars as weapons against unprotected cyclists.

A Councilwoman in Columbia, MO is pushing for a city ordinance that will protect cyclists from this type of harassment by drivers. Although Columbia police currently have some tools at their disposal to charge drivers for aggressive conduct against cyclists, the existing laws make it very unlikely that an aggressive driver would be charged, except in the worst cases. The new proposed law would create a new legal tool to hold drivers accountable for harassment that endangers cyclists.

This type of policy helps to create a local environment that affirms the rights of cyclists and protects them from the harassment that can be a major deterrent for potential riders. This is yet another important local policy that will move your city closer to becoming a Healthy, Active, & Vibrant Community. Has your city taken this step to support cyclists?

Read more about the proposed policy:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/mar/07/hoppe-pushes-for-more-cyclist-protection/

Although it should go without saying, we should be clear that both drivers and cyclists have a responsibility to follow the rules of the road to create an environment that is safe for all.

Ferguson Passes Energy Conservation Ordinance

Caption: Children playing at the Ferguson Farmers' Market

The City of Ferguson recently passed an Energy Conservation Ordinance that will help Ferguson take important steps to become a "green" city. The story featured on KSDK includes two very active participants in the Live Well Ferguson! initiative, Councilman Dwayne James and resident Martin Pion. Live Well Ferguson! is a partnership between Trailnet and the City of Ferguson that seeks to create a model healthy, active, and vibrant community.

The ordinance includes a focus on alternative modes of travel as a key element of reducing Ferguson's environmental impact. Congrats to Ferguson on this important step! We hope other regional municipalities will follow Ferguson's lead.

Check out the video here:
http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=93984