Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The NYC Streets Revolution

Caption: This image from World Class Streets illustrates just how efficient sidewalks can be for moving people in dense contexts: 26 feet of sidewalk moved nearly double the number of people compared to 65 feet of roadway on a NYC street.



"...the treatment of the spaces between buildings strongly determines a city's character."
-New York City Department of Transportation



The New York City DOT released World Class Streets last month, a report that documents some of New York City's recent successes creating high quality public spaces and facilitating innovative solutions to promote alternative transportation.

It is an inspiring document that paints a wonderful vision for urban design centered around healthy people, healthy communities, and a healthy environment. Check out the official press release from NYC DOT:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2008/pr08_049.shtml

And be sure to check out the actual document.

Cities of DeSoto & Ferguson, MO Adopt Complete Streets Policies

Caption: A rendering of a Complete Street that accommodates all users

Trailnet worked with the cities of DeSoto and Ferguson, Missouri to develop Complete Streets ordinances, and now these communities are the first in the state to adopt Complete Streets ordinances. Complete Streets is an innovative solution to the obesity epidemic, a problem these communities are taking a stand against at the policy level. The policy also supports increased independence of the aging population and safe routes for children walking or biking to school. The policy adopted states that each community will design, build, and maintain streets in a manner that accommodates safe and contiguous travel for all users – seniors, persons with disabilities, children, pedestrians, cyclists, transit-users, and cars.

“Complete Streets legislation has been popping up across the country at various levels of government and is often cited as the beginning of a more comprehensive commitment to building healthier communities,” said Phil Valko, Trailnet Active Living Program Manager. “Complete Streets means more walkers and bikers, therefore healthier individuals; more walkers and bikers means more neighbor-to-neighbor interaction, resulting in stronger communities; and less driving means less pollution, resulting in a healthier environment.”

“I heard Phil Valko talk about complete streets and its implications for the community, but until I went to the Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference in Seattle and attended several breakout sessions on the topic I did not REALLY hear him,” said Dwayne James, Ferguson City Councilman. “What I brought back from the conference is that Complete Streets puts policy in place to consider everyone in the planning and design of capital improvement projects.”

The City of DeSoto received one of the Active Living Awards presented by Trailnet and was recently recognized with an OLGA (Outstanding Achievement in Local Government Award) presented by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments for the Get Healthy DeSoto Program.

The City of Ferguson has a similar initiative called Live Well Ferguson! This community-based group is working to get Ferguson residents moving more and eating healthier. “The ordinance goes hand in hand, with what the City is doing with Live Well Ferguson! to make sure that all residents and all visitors can actually go from route to route safely and enjoy their travels through Ferguson,” added James.

Trailnet received funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health for its work on the Healthy & Active Communities (HAC) Initiative. The initiative focuses on creating model healthy and active communities that support resident’s health “from cradle to cane” through policy implementation. The Missouri Foundation for Health is a philanthropic organization whose vision is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves.

For more information on the Healthy & Active Communities initiative, go to www.trailnet.org/p_healthyactive.php#completestreets or contact Phil Valko at phil@trailnet.org or 314/436-1324 #119.

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Trailnet leads in fostering healthy and active communities through innovative programs, planning, and policy that promote walking and bicycling throughout the
St. Louis bi-state region.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Media is Catching On ...ish


On this blog, we sometimes lament the fact that the media focuses so much on obesity rates and individuals' personal battles to lose weight, that they miss the real story: the root causes of the obesity epidemic and the innovative solutions that are being developed throughout the country.

We'd like to give St. Louis's own KSDK a firm handshake and a congratulatory pat on the back for posting a story that highlights the link between active living and obesity rates in various countries. The highlights of the story are simple: In countries where a high percentage of people use active transportation (walking, biking, public transit) to get around, the obesity rate is low. Below is some quick data from the article:

Country ~~ % Active Transport ~~ Obesity Rate
Sweden ~~ 62% ~~ 9%
The Netherlands ~~ 52% ~~ 11%
Latvia ~~ 57% ~~ 14%
The United States ~~ 12% ~~ 25-33%

On average, only 12% of Americans use active transportation to go to work, school, or shop. In Missouri, that number is far lower--only 4.4% of Missourians get around using active transport.

This post wouldn't be complete if we failed to mention the critical importance of having city design and roadway/infrastructure design that supports walking, biking, and public transit. The sprawl and ever-expanding highway systems that have come to define the St. Louis region and much of the midwest keep people in their cars, inactive, and isolated from their neighbors, kill local economies, and facilitate the obesity epidemic. Many folks don't walk or bike because the roads don't accommodate it or they have no nearby destinations. We've said it before and we'll say it again:

The Choices We Make Are Driven By the Choices We Have.

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Bicycle-Powered Blender rolls through Missouri


Does your bike make smoothies?

Well ours does! And we've been rolling it across Missouri the last year having all sorts of important folks, such as state legislators, CEOs of hospitals, and young impressionable youth, pedal their way to better health. The bike blender has proven to be a great way to get folks thinking about alternative energy, active lifestyles, and healthy eating. Check out the photos below and see if you recognize your state legislator.


Caption: State Representative Billy Pat Wright riding in Jefferson City


Caption: Another State Representative riding in Jefferson City


Caption: Jefferson Memorial Hospital CEO, Lloyd Ford Jr., assisted by Andy Held


Caption: An mini attendee at the St. Louis Hooked on Health Fair


Caption: A teenager attendee at the St. Louis Hooked on Health Fair assisted by Trailnet star volunteer Maire Murphy

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Perfect Caption

The following photo stands as a digital monument to the mediocrity and laziness that too often manifests in our cities as sub-par sidewalk and roadway conditions. (By the way, this photo is not from the St. Louis region)

Since perfection is truly in the eye of the beholder, we need your help to come up with the perfect caption(s) for this picture. Post a comment and tell us what you think!

Caption: Your caption here...

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Transforming NYC Streets

"...designing for people, designing for pedestrians, designing for cyclists, designing for buses, designing for better mobility, designing for a more sustainable city -- it's all part of a package."
--Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, NYC Department of Transportation


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

October 20, 2008 Lecture Presentation Do not miss out!

We had the pleasure of seeing Dick Jackson present at the International Making Cities Livable Conference in June and were thoroughly impressed with how seamlessly he wove together the obesity epidemic, the ailing economy, and global climate change.  Don't miss this great opportunity! See details below.  

Who: Dr. Richard J. Jackson Professor and Chair-Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health
 Eugene J. Mackey, Jr. Memorial Lecture




What: Lecture
 As described on Washington University's Website: "America's 'Perfect Storm'-Soaring health and energy costs, crashing economy and ecosystems--demands 21st century response and soon: Approaches to the Environment that can give our children a world as healthy, diverse, and beautiful as the one we were given."

Where: Steinberg Auditorium Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts College of Architecture and Urban Development Washington University 1 Brookings r. St. Louis MO 63130

When: October 20, 2008 at 6:30pm, Short Reception at 6:00pm 





      

Thursday, October 9, 2008

California is Complete!

There is no more waiting- California has officially signed into law the Complete Streets Act of 2008. Thanks to Governor Schwarzenegger, who signed the law on September 30, 2008, California cities and counties must incorporate complete streets policies into general planning. As of January 2011, "any substantive revision of the circulation element in the general plan of a California local government will include complete streets provisions." First, what is a complete street? A complete street is one that is designed to accommodate all users including but not limited to walkers, bikers, those with disabilities, and drivers.  And in California by January 2001, all streets must fit this description 




California Assemblyman Leno says that, "Getting people out of their cars and riding bicycles or the bus improves public health, air quality, eases congestion and reduces greenhouse emissions."  In addition, the complete streets will shift the focus from moving automobiles to moving people.  People will become the energy source.  This shift will also change high traffic areas as well as make roads wider.

In California, the city's hope is that with the Complete Streets Law in motion, the local government can build and plan for roadways that are safe and accessible for all transportation venues. California is currently one of six states that has complete streets legislation, and more than 70 other jurisdictions have adopted a form of complete street measures or are considering taking the steps towards creating complete streets.

Where did this all begin and where is it going? Complete streets bills were first introduced to the U.S. Senate and House in March of this year advocating for safe and convenient travel for all modes of transportation: walkers, bikers, transit users, individuals of all ages and individuals with disabilities. Ellen Ginzler, AARP Senior Vice President for Livable Communities states that, "More Americans age 50+ are trying to leave their cars behind but face obstacles as soon as they walk out the door, climb on their bikes or head for the bus." Safety is a major issue.  As complete streets are signed into law, more people will be able to use alternative modes of transportation and still feel safe.  The National Complete Streets Coalition focuses in on the lack of physical infrastructure and barriers to active living that Ellen mentions, to advocate for policy level changes to support long-standing complete streets in communities. 

California Speeds Toward Decreasing Sprawl and Harmful Emissions


On Monday, August 25, California took one step closer towards adopting a law to reduce sprawl and heat-trapping gases in the San Francisco area. This law, which will undeniably be the nation's largest comprehensive effort to reduce urban sprawl, will provide tens of billions of dollars to encourage clustered growth of the city's housing, businesses and agriculture. The goal of this law, upon approval is, "to encourage housing near current development and to reduce commutes to work." Their mission mirrors Trailnet's vision for complete streets, where all travelers have safe, supportive infrastructure to move them from place to place. In California, the number of miles driven has increased a staggering 50% faster than the increase in population over the last two decades. Among the multiple miles driven on a daily basis, passenger vehicles produce 30% of the state's heat-trapping gases, making them the largest source of harmful emissions. 

The passage of this law is more than an effort to minimize the increase in emissions of heat-trapping gases, it is a strategic plan. A plan surrounding housing, climate-change and transportation needs all together. How will land use be split among housing, agriculture, industry, etc? Where will new roads and bridges be built to maximize use? How much affordable housing needs to be provided and where?  San Francisco's tri-fold effort incorporates similar planning tactics to that of Los Angeles' DO REAL PLANNING moto, with the basis that quality planning assures that communities take the correct steps toward strengthening the universality of its streets.

When should the San Francisco law be expected to pass? According to California State Senator Darrell Steinberg, the answer is soon. Each of the seventeen regional planning groups will devise goals, directed by the Air Resources Board, and will submit their transportation, housing and land-use plans. Environmentalists hope to use the idea of "urban growth boundaries", adopted from Portland planners, to control sprawl by, "encouraging higher density development within an area and largely prohibiting it outside." Development of stronger coalitions and environmental quality assurance is necessary to offset the reservations held by many Californian developers and some local environmental groups. 

For more information, check out:

Friday, July 18, 2008

New ORGANIC Trailnet T-Shirts!

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Trailnet has paired up with Sportsprint and graphic designer Jake Houvenagle to create a cool new organic cotton t-shirt.

The t-shirt design includes a hip front graphic with part of a bicycle, a gear, a runner/walker, and a set of wings surrounding a "E". The back of the shirt reads, in large font: "I AM ALTERNATIVE ENERGY" with a small Trailnet logo stamp just below the neck line.

The T-Shirt comes in 3 styles:
short-sleeved, slim-cut wasabi green ($25)
short-sleeved, standard-cut charcoal gray ($25)
long-sleeved, standard-cut black ($30)

All profits from T-shirt sales go to Trailnet.

You can order t-shirts online here:
http://www.trailnet.org/merchandise.php#tshirt





Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Recipe for Disaster

xCaption: Apparently this is a band's album cover. Too perfect. "99% Fat"


What do you get when you combine lots of obese Americans with skyrocketing health care costs? The perfect storm.

More and more obese Americans = more and more Type II Diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, osteoarthritis, depression...

At the same time, 59 million Americans, or one out of five people, skipped a trip to the doctor or went without health care in 2007 due to the cost. Read more here:
http://tinyurl.com/americansskippinghealthcare

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Why America is Obese

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The Choices We Make are Driven by the Choices We Have.

If you are surrounded by cheap unhealthy food options and few or no healthy options, you are likely to eat junk foods. If you have few sidewalks, unsafe streets, or nowhere to walk to, you are likely going to walk less. In order to effectively address the American obesity epidemic, we need to address the root causes by ensuring Americans have greater access to healthy foods and opportunities to live active lifestyles. We need to ensure Americans have more healthy choices than unhealthy choices, and we need to ensure that the healthy choices are accessible, affordable, and appealing.

It's no big surprise to anyone that there are a lot of overweight and obese Americans. The media seems to be constantly discussing America's battle with the bulge in newspapers, magazines, TV news, the radio, and the internet. In the newspaper industry, there is the old saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Today, obesity is as hot of a story as it gets and has been more successful at keeping the public's interest than even Britney Spears' tragic life.

Despite all the talk about obesity, there is little press that confronts the real complexity of the issue.
With over 66% of American adults and children either overweight or obese, the problem has reached epidemic proportions and cannot be simply explained by saying individuals are making bad decisions. On one hand, the media talks about how obesity has become a national epidemic (a population-wide issue), yet on the other hand, the media tends to focus on individual-level interventions such as weight loss competitions like the Biggest Loser. The media almost completely ignores the need for broader community-wide interventions, for example increasing access to healthy foods or promoting active lifestyles by designing walkable/bikeable cities.

In the majority of states, schools are not even required to provide a baseline of Physical Education for children. Here in Missouri, elementary school kids are only required to get 50 minutes of PE per week, which averages out to 10 minutes/day. And if you take a tour through the school cafeteria, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that you recognize as food, let alone healthy food. Talking about root causes, how can we ever expect children to grow into healthy adults if we are teaching them such poor dietary and physical activity habits when they are so young?

Recent research is showing that the most successful interventions to combat the obesity epidemic are multi-faceted, community-wide interventions.
The issue is much more complicated than individuals making bad choices, and therefore, the interventions need to address the true complexity of the issue.

Trailnet is currently working with the communities of Ferguson, De Soto, Old North St. Louis, and the West End to create model healthy and active communities. With a phenomenal group of community partners that include elected officials, city planners, parks and rec staff, school officials and more, we are focused on getting to the root causes of the obesity epidemic. Our work focuses on creating long-term change through the physical environment, supportive social networks, and policies (for example, increasing Physical Education time in the schools). At the core of our approach, we are interested in ensuring individuals have healthy choices.

Below are two links related to the need for this sort of broad, community-wide intervention.

A Reuters article about the American Heart Association:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSARM14811020080701

A list of interventions that have proven to be successful for increasing physical activity:
http://www.thecommunityguide.org/pa/default.htm

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Eat More, Move Less.

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"It's hot steamy food in your face right now."

Yes, ladies and gentleman, America is now an even faster food nation, thanks to the new wearable feedbags.



New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Livable Melbourne


"We've doubled the number of pedestrians in the street simply by widening the [sidewalk] and planting a few trees. Any city can do this."
-Robert Adams, Director, Melbourne Design and Urban Environment

"If you are willing to give people the space they need, to give bicycles the space they need, then you can have a complete change of behavior." Jan Gehl, founding partner, Gehl Architects

Melbourne has done a phenomenal job creating a healthy, livable city. In a remarkably short period of time (10-15 years), city leaders transformed Melbourne into a vibrant city bustling with walkers, bikers, and public transit. The city is full of cozy, human-scaled nooks that have been created by using trees and other landscaping to define spaces and by converting old alleyways into charming corridors. To improve safety, they have focused on non-traditional law enforcement, including promotion of sidewalk businesses, as well as slightly elevated sidewalk seating areas to increase the number of eyes on the street.




Additional background information here:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/melbourne/

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A GREAT blog about Urbanism in St. Louis

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Steve Patterson is a tireless ally of true urbanism. For years, he has been maintaining the blog Urban Review STL where he examines everything from large-scale urban design plans to the minute, yet critical, details of creating livable places for people. Steve recently suffered a stroke that has forced him to trade in his trusty scooter for a trusty wheelchair. Now, probably more than ever, Steve is in tune with the critical role infrastructure (sidewalks, crosswalks, curbcuts, etc) plays in either facilitating or hindering safe travel for all. Steve's stroke hasn't slowed him down one bit, and his analysis is as sharp as ever.

We've had the pleasure of following Steve's work for years. Check it out. Beware, your city will never look the same once you get hooked on Urban Review STL!

http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Gas Costs May Be the Tipping Point

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In 2000 Malcolm Gladwell wrote about The Tipping Point -- it's about the way things change and the point at which things that have been shifting slowly start to change quickly and dramatically.

$4 and above gasoline may just be the tipping point needed to shift the way communities are built, as well as shift the decisions Americans make. Two recent articles in the New York Times caught our attention.

Mayors Advocate for Better Transit Systems
At the recent meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, 88% of the mayors, representing a total of 132 cities, said that public transportation ridership was increasing. The rising cost of gas is hitting City Hall's budget the same way it is hitting citizens' budgets--city budgets were created with fuel costs forecasted at $2/gallon, not $4/gallon. As a result, 90% of the mayors were actively working to reduce the amount of gas guzzled by city vehicles, including encouraging city employees to do more walking and altering the operations of city departments to increase efficiency: less trips and better route planning. As much as we hope our elected officials will proactively be champions of walkability and bikeability, it seems that strained city budgets may, in fact, be the tipping point. Call your mayor and ask them what they are doing to address this issue locally. Read the full NYT story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/us/21mayors.html

Rethinking the Suburbs and Exurbs
Up until this point, cheap oil has made it possible for people to live 30, 40, even 60 miles from their workplace. Most long distance commuters complain about the time they spend in their cars, stuck in traffic, and away from family. They don't like it, yet they tolerate it. As a matter of fact, cheap oil combined with Americans' willingness to tolerate such long commutes has facilitated decades of terrible urban planning and urban sprawl. First came suburbs. Then more suburbs beyond those suburbs. Then even more suburbs. Finally, the suburbs were so far away that they couldn't be called suburbs anymore and were coined "exurbs". As a result, urban areas throughout the country rapidly lost population, leaving behind virtual ghost towns. Gas prices may be the straw that breaks the camels back, draws people back into higher density urban areas, and re-invigorates good urban planning. Read the full NYT story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/business/25exurbs.html

Friday, June 13, 2008

DO REAL PLANNING!

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Los Angeles has adopted a new mantra and we love it: DO REAL PLANNING

The LA Director of Planning, Gail Golderg, AICP, speaks about how this has become not only a saying within the planning department, but a community mantra. The city broadcasts this mantra far and wide, and community members hold the city accountable to this mantra at public planning meetings. Goldberg believes the whole community is better for it because the quality of planning is greatly elevated as a result. In most cities, few people understand what good planning should look like, unfortunately this includes folks in many planning departments. This mantra has really helped educate the public and create a foundation of planning values in Los Angeles. It has strengthened the community’s understanding and engagement in the creation of quality spaces. Every community should consider these elements when planning. Does your city do real planning?

Demand a walkable city
Offer basic design standards

Require density and transit
Eliminate department bottlenecks
Advance homes for every income
Locate jobs near housing

Produce green buildings
Landscape in abundance
Arrest visual blight
Neutralize mansionization
Nurture planning leadership
Identify smart parking requirements
Narrow road widenings
Get project input early

For more detail on these 14 points, download the full pdf of DO REAL PLANNING here or copy and paste the link below:
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/forms_Procedures/do-real-planning-final_1.pdf

The planning principles that were presented at this conference and are being implemented by folks throughout the country stand in stark contrast to much of the planning (or perhaps lack thereof) that takes place throughout the St. Louis region. With gas prices above $4/gallon and not going down any time soon and increasing economic pressures on families throughout our region, it is becoming increasingly important that we do real planning. It is the best way that any region can support long-term social and economic health.

Attention to Detail

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No matter how good your intentions, please don't forget to pay attention to the details. These folks forgot:



Caption: Oops! Looks like the streets department forgot to call the utilities department.

Urban Planning in LA... Flying Pigs!

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The new Director of Planning for the City of Los Angeles, Gail Goldberg, AICP, gave a presentation at the recent International Making Cities Livable Conference that struck us. Now if you've ever been to Los Angeles, you might be struck too: struck by the fact that Los Angeles HAS a city planner. Despite the fact that "Los Angeles" and "urban planning" are rarely used in the same sentence, we are confident that Goldberg's philosophy has the potential to completely transform LA and the rest of the country if it catches on.

Goldberg was formerly the Planning Director for San Diego where she and her team focused on creating a series of interconnected "urban villages." This strategy focuses on:
-Targeting compact growth in existing centers and corridors
-Creating a network of walkable, mixed-use village centers connected by transit
-Providing vibrant, engaging, playful public spaces
-Providing a diversity of housing options (income-levels and sizes)

Goldberg stressed the importance of adopting a policy plan to help guide planning and development. The policy plan is basically just a set of values/rules that helps ensure development activity creates the types of communities the planning department envisioned. For example, the policy plan could include form-based zoning or street design standards. Form-based zoning simply specifies the form of things (sizes and shapes) and not necessarily the use--think of old towns that have corner stores and living space above every storefront. And street design standards specify how streets are built (with or without sidewalks, bike lanes, etc). Form-based zoning also helps ensure that development is consistent and creates a sense of place. Form-based zoning helps ensure you get this:


and NOT this:


Goldberg also stressed that the policy plan is useless without an action plan to go with it. Don't just outline the policy, but create and execute a plan to make it reality.

To this end, Los Angeles has adopted:
-Citywide urban design principles
-Neighborhood design principles (different from one neighborhood to the next to help keep the historic and distinct sense of place that exists)
-A walkability checklist (here is a different walkability checklist)
-New street design standards
-Streetscape requirements (create pleasant, human-scale streets)
-A focus on reducing parking and promoting alternatives transportation


Thursday, June 5, 2008

Making Cities Livable!


Caption: a highly walkable, vibrant district. Notice how the wide crosswalk gives pedestrians clear priority.

A team of three Trailnet Staffers:
Executive Director, Ann Mack
Director of Community Programs, Cindy Mense
Active Living Program Manager, Phil Valko

attended the International Making Cities Livable Conference in Santa Fe, NM, June 2-5. The conference was focused on “Designing the Healthy City” with a special focus on children. It could not have been a better fit for Trailnet's work. The conference was a very multi-disciplinary conference, much like the groups that Trailnet works with throughout the region, with representatives from city councils, planning departments, public health officials, developers, green builders, not-for-profit folks, and more.

It was a fascinating 4 days, and we are bringing back many great ideas to incorporate into our work in the St. Louis region. As we met leaders from across the world, it was immediately clear that there is a growing international movement to create livable cities that:
- promote resident health
- foster a strong sense of community
- are economically vibrant and sustainable
- accommodate and maintain quality housing for people of all economic levels
- conserve precious resources (green design)
- encourage creativity and playfulness

All these things are becoming increasingly important as gas prices continue to rise and America keeps getting fatter and grumpier.

Throughout the course of the next few days / weeks we will be posting stories, ideas, and inspiration from the conference. We've invited the folks we met in Santa Fe to send us their ideas and inspiration to post here, as well. Check back soon!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Rules of the Road, From a Professional Cyclist


The League of Illinois Bicyclists recently created a video to outline the rules for cars and bicycles to safely share roadways. The video is narrated by professional racer, Robbie Ventura, one of Lance Armstrong's former teammates on the US Postal Service Team.

Check out the Video HERE or cut and paste this link:
http://www.bikelib.org/video/

Friday, May 30, 2008

Restaurant Grease Highly Coveted!


Caption: Spent fryer grease (R) is refined into biofuel (L)


With gas prices at record highs, peaking above $4.00 / gallon, people are eager for less expensive alternatives. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

In the last few months, necessity has helped transform spent deep fat fryer grease from a waste product that business owners had to pay to dispose of into a coveted commodity that is being used as biodiesel to fuel vehicles.

Read the full story HERE or here: http://tinyurl.com/5m92zc


Healthy & Active Communities!
Walkable / Bikeable communities allow residents to be far less dependent on their cars, save money, build sense of community, support a vibrant local economy, and improve the health of residents from cradle to cane. Necessity IS the mother of invention. Fortunately, we don't have to invent good community planning, we just need to practice principles of community design that were critical before cheap oil allowed us to build cities and regions that sprawl out unnecessarily.

In the upcoming posts, we'll focus on some steps that municipalities and regions can take to ensure walkable / bikeable community design. A couple of our past posts have also touched on this topic:


Improving Street Design Standards: Click HERE

Planning for Multi-Modal Transportation:
Click HERE


Thursday, May 29, 2008

Is Organic Produce Healthier to Eat?

Caption: A participant in Trailnet/KDHX/Urban Stuio's "Adventures in Media Programs" holds up carrots organically grown at New Roots Urban Farm in North St. Louis, Summer 2007


We know that organic agriculture is better for the environment: less chemicals in our soils and our streams, but is it better for our health?

A recent study by folks at the University of California, Davis has found that the answer to this question may very well be YES:


"So far, the researchers have found that the organic tomatoes have almost double the concentration of two types of flavonoids — quercetin and kaempferol — which are considered to be healthful plant compounds with potent antioxidant activity. The 10-year mean levels of quercetin were 79 percent higher than those in conventional tomatoes, and levels of kaempferol were 97 percent higher."


Click HERE for the full NPR story. If that doesn't work, try this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90914182


Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Why Does a Salad Cost More than a Big Mac?


We realize that the answer to this question isn't simple. Surely it involves costs of production, processing, packaging, and shipping. Supply and demand. Global markets. Numbers, numbers and more numbers.

Nonetheless, this graphic helps shed a little bit of light on the disparity between what our federal government recommends we eat and what they subsidize. Subsidies result in lower production costs on the front end, which translates to lower consumer costs in the supermarket aisles.

In short, the Federal Nutrition Recommendations suggest that 33% of our daily servings are vegetables and fruits. Yet, less than half of 1% of Federal Subsidies for Food Production support vegetables and fruit. On the flip side, the recommendations suggest consuming only 22% of our daily serving from meats, dairy, nuts, and legumes. Yet, these foods receive a full 75% of food subsidies.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Movie: KING CORN


Go rent this movie! It's funny, enlightening, and an excellent use of 2 hours of your life. Check out the Trailer below:


Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Brief History of Food (Prices)


In the last few years, there has been a growing national dialogue about the way we feed ourselves. What sorts of foods we eat, where they come from, how much we eat, and how much our food costs...and for good reason. Dietary habits are one half of the the looming American obesity epidemic (the other half of the equation is physical activity). Calories in, calories burned. It's a simple equation.

In the last series of months, there has been a lot of talk about rising costs of food. The recent rises have been attributed to many things, including:

-rising costs of gas needed to run farm machinery and for transporting food -- often from thousands of miles away
-increased interest in biofuels which have driven up the costs of certain crops such as corn and soy. The majority of common foods contain corn or soy in some form, including meats -- most farm animals are now fed corn.

Food prices are increasing significantly today, but they have been pretty stable in recent history, right?




Not exactly. The above graphic shows the change in food prices from 1985 to 2000. Notice that the price of fresh fruits and vegetables increased by almost 40% while the cost of soft drinks decreased by almost 25%! If you look closer at the graphic, nearly all the foods that fast food and junk food contains decreased in price while the essential foods for a healthy lifestyle, increased in price. Why?

The Farm Bill
The change in food prices has been driven, in large part, by The Farm Bill, a huge piece of federal legislation that contains over $25 billion of subsidies for corn, soy, wheat, rice, and cotton, and close to $0 to encourage nutritious fruit and vegetable production. Learn more about the Farm Bill HERE.


Below are some additional resources about food in America.

Movie:

King Corn: http://www.kingcorn.net/



Articles:
You Are What You Grow: www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html
Unhappy Meals: www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html

Books:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php
Fast Food Nation: www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455

Monday, January 28, 2008

This Guy Knows What He's Talking About

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Note: One of many pictures that pops up when you Google "John Roach"

John Roach has a lot of credits to his name. He's a lawyer, a former St. Louis Alderman, was St. Louis' first Director of Community Development, and served on the National Commission on Intermodal Transportation during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

John recently wrote a scathing editorial about our road-building habits in the St. Louis region, criticizing what appears to be the current working philosophy throughout the region: the solution to traffic/transportation issues is simply to build more and wider highways and roadways.

According to John, "roadways must become part of a system that includes a variety of modes of transportation — rail, bus, auto, walking — each of which performs its function while interconnecting easily and efficiently and in balance with communities."

Although many of the readers of this blog live outside of the St. Louis region, this is equally pertinent to you because it deals with the frighteningly common misconception in America that affects everyone's quality of life: the idea that transportation deals with moving cars and trucks, as opposed to moving people. We forget that only 60% of Americans can drive. The other 40% are too young, too old, too poor, or unable due to a disability. Transportation systems that are built to move cars and trucks, leave millions of Americans stranded with no way to get their groceries, visit their friends and family, or do just about anything.

A little background for non-St. Louis folks -- Interstate 64/40 that cuts through the heart of the St. Louis region was recently closed for major renovation to make it bigger, better, faster. In the months leading up to the closure, people were freaking out. In the days after the closure, things didn't seem all that different.

Take a couple minutes to read what John has to say:


It's bigger than Highway 40

By John Roach

The following was originally published as an Op Ed in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1/24/2008

Despite weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, most of the metropolitan area seems to have survived the closing of U.S. Highway 40/Interstate 64 with body and soul intact. The behavior of the Missouri Department of Transportation and that of its arrogant and imperious major domo, Pete Rahn, remain properly subject to criticism.

The underlying premise of the department's policies — that all problems are solved by additional highway capacity — is unacceptable as a basis for future policy. By its very name, the department advertises its mission of providing transportation; in that mission, the department has failed.

The endless sprawl that characterizes the St. Louis community is a product of the ceaseless effort to pave substantial portions of the landscape to serve the economic interests of the home-building, auto and oil industries. The result of increased capacity — as is the case wherever the expansion of roadway capacity has been the policy priority— has been recurring congestion, followed by the addition of capacity, followed by renewed congestion and more and more sprawl.

It would be one thing if the consequences of this policy merely were a welter of copycat subdivisions, McMansions, congested roadways, a parade of fast-food, big-box retailers and miscellaneous examples of "Roadside America." But along with the ugliness, these policies also have helped foster global warming, social isolation, accelerating gas prices and more time-consuming and resource-wasting commutes.

Highway proponents seem to have overlooked the alternative model of efficient rail transportation. The concentration of development occurring along the light-rail lines enhances walking neighborhoods, places where the purchase of each loaf of bread or tube of toothpaste does not require an auto trip requiring added roadway capacity, added parking lots and garages and added pollution.

There is no denying that the latest expansion of MetroLink was managed poorly and suffered from ruinous cost overruns. However, the first two phases of the system were not similarly cursed, and they continue to provide superior service to patrons at modest operating cost and manageable capital investment. Ultimately, the Shrewsbury extension will provide long and productive service while spurring desirable development in its wake. The answer for future expansions is to ensure careful, cost-conscious management and good planning.

Neither is it possible to deny the reality of the transportation system that we — the public and the road builders — have created. So what do we do now? Obviously, we cannot start over. Our roadways must be kept safe and, insofar as feasible, attractive, including landscaping, screening and other decorative and functional elements.

But there is a bigger picture, and roadways must become part of a system that includes a variety of modes of transportation — rail, bus, auto, walking — each of which performs its function while interconnecting easily and efficiently and in balance with communities.

There are cities that have pursued this noble goal with considerable success; Portland, Ore., Toronto, and many European cities are prime examples. The St. Louis region should learn from and emulate these examples, rather than merely complaining about MoDOT, even as we accept its underlying faulty premise.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

1 Billion Participate in Car Free Day

China, that is, participated in Car Free Day and the pictures are hard to believe.
Click here for more

Bicycle Boulevards

Cities all over the country are re-designing their transportation systems to include pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit accommodations. Here in St. Louis, the home of Trailnet, the Bike St. Louis network of routes just added another 20+ miles of marked routes through the city. One of the crown jewels of such city networks are the Bicycle Boulevards in Berkeley, California. The fine folks at StreetFilms.org put together the following video to showcase Berkeley's bike-friendly streets. The Bike Boulevards approach is an excellent way to calm traffic on residential streets, creating a safer environment for children to play and people to walk, in addition to accommodating people on bikes.

Friday, January 18, 2008

We let kids drink this stuff?!

Soda has become such a normal part of the American life that we forget (or maybe we never knew) each 12-ounce can contains roughly 11 teaspoons of sugar in the form of high-fructose corn syrup and 50-60 milligrams of caffeine.

Since it can sometimes be hard to put numbers into perspective, let's borrow some insight from everyone's favorite British nanny, Mary Poppins. Everyone remembers Mary's wisdom for sick children: "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." One simple spoonful of sugar used to seem so wise and just a little decadent, didn't it? Compare that to 11 spoonfuls of sugar in a 12-ounce can of soda! Can you imagine crunching your way through 11 teaspoons of sugar? You're mouth would go dry trying to get it all down... But Aha! With soda that problem is solved. Gulp it on down! It not only seems over the top, but also a little bit gross when you think of eating 11 teaspoons of sugar. Yet how many kids and adults do you know who drink soda daily? Sometimes many times a day.


Maybe it started with Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox...maybe it was the vastness of our country...any way you slice it, we Americans sure do like big things. The once adequate 12-ounce soda is now a mini-serving compared to the 32-ounce soda AKA, the Big Gulp or a large soda at most fast food joints, including McD's and Burger King. The next time you drink one of these big guys, you will be consuming ~29 teaspoons of sugar. To help you visualize how much this actually is, imagine filling a 12-ounce can half-full with sugar.

Back to Mary... When Mary needed a little pick-me-up after all those high energy adventures with the kids, she'd grab a cup of coffee. A 12-ounce caffeinated soda contains roughly 1/3 or 1/2 the caffeine in a soda. For seasoned adult coffee drinkers, a half cup of coffee may not be much, but for kids with smaller bodies and low tolerances, a half-cup of coffee will send them flying in a much less magical manner than the way Mary Poppins flies.

The folks at Healthbolt, with consultation from a physician, put together a really compelling description of what happens inside our bodies when we drink a soda. Check it out HERE.

There are soda machines in schools all over the country...elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Kids drink the stuff throughout the day, getting hopped-up on caffeine and sugar and then crash within a couple hours. Imagine what this does for classroom management and student achievement: Some of the kids are on sugar/caffeine highs, some of the kids are crashing and grumpy, and some of the kids are just trying to pay attention despite all of this. In addition, these types of beverages are thought to be a significant contributors to childhood and adult obesity. Within 20 minutes of drinking a Coke, Pepsi, or similar, our livers are already converting the sugar into fat. After all, soda is just filled with empty calories... 11 teaspoons = ~145 empty calories.


IMPROVING STUDENT HEALTH
In the last handful of years, districts throughout the country have developed beverage standards that eliminate the sale of sugary/caffeinated beverages on school grounds. Some school districts have argued that beverage sales generate very important revenue that helps fund sports programs among other things. A study was released in 2006 that reveals that many school districts are actually getting a Raw Deal with their beverage contracts.

Since many school districts have already made the switch to healthier beverages, there are some EXCELLENT tools and resources to help schools make the transition to fruit juices, milks, and water. One of the best resources out there is the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's School Beverage Toolkit.


Get involved with your local school district's Wellness Policy Committee or School Health Advisory Council to create beverage standards that will keep our children healthy. Consider developing a beverage policy and beverage contracts that limit beverage sales to:
• Water
• Minimum of 50% fruit juices, without additional sweeteners
• Dairy and non-dairy milks: 2% or lower milk, soy-milk, rice-milk, or similar
• Electrolyte replacement drinks with less than 42 grams of sweetener per 20-ounce serving

And finally, some quick tips for Negotiating Beverage Contracts
-Negotiate contracts that are consistent with the above beverage standards
-Retain full control over the length of the contract
-Negotiate higher commissions
-Negotiate for all schools in the district or form coalitions with other districts to strengthen purchasing power
-Require the beverage company to provide the district or school with readily understandable financial reports at regular intervals



Caffeine content Citation:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/nutrition/BJ884.html

Monday, January 14, 2008

A Growing City with a Great Vision

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Scottsdale, Arizona, population ~230,000, is a rapidly growing city. And with their new Transportation Master Plan, it looks Scottsdale will grow into a very easy city to navigate on foot, on bike, in wheelchair, on public transit, or in a car.

According to Reed Kempton, Senior Transportation Planner for the City of Scottsdale:
"After two years of work, the Scottsdale City Council last night unanimously adopted our first comprehensive Transportation Master Plan. This document combines all transportation planning elements into one single document and eliminates separate plans for streets, bicycles, pedestrians, transit, and so on. It includes complete streets, increased funding for non SOV (single occupancy vehicle) modes, and a host of policies that truly institutionalize bicycling in our community."

Check it out here: http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/traffic/transmasterplan/drafts.asp
and then click on the "Summaries of Transportation Master Plan Components."

This is excellent transportation policy, and we're thrilled to see a growing city planning so well for its future. Transportation systems that accommodate lots of different means of getting around, like the one outlined in Scottsdale's plan, move far more people with far less pollution, and typically result in highly livable cities. In an age of 3, 4, and 5-car households, it's easy to forget that many people don't own cars or cannot drive because they are too young, too old, or have a disability that makes driving unsafe. In certain neighborhoods in St. Louis City, as much as 40% of the population not only doesn't drive, but doesn't have access to a car. Well designed transportation systems look out for the vulnerable members of society to ensure they have the freedom to get around on their own, safely, and with dignity.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Study Finds that Kids like Real Food

There is a commonly held notion swirling around school cafeterias that goes something like this: Children will not eat healthy foods. If we improve school lunches, children simply won't eat the food or they'll throw most of it away, and school lunch sales will decline. As a result, school children across the country end up eating highly processed, high-fat foods that tend to look like this:


Contrary to this notion, a recent study by three economists finds that "the conventional wisdom that you can't serve healthier meals because kids won't eat them is false," said Benjamin Senauer, one of the authors of the study.

Key Findings of the Study:
-Schools serving the healthiest foods did not see a decrease in demand.
-Serving healthy foods does require higher labor costs; however, this is offset by lower costs for more nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables compared with processed foods.

"The study also pointed out that school districts are allowed to charge their lunch programs for indirect costs such as electricity or janitorial services for their cafeterias. The authors said that can be abused by cash-strapped districts charging their lunch programs high overhead; they recommended tighter limits on those charges." (Associated Press)

What this means: Through the National School Lunch Program, schools receive money from the Federal Government for every free or reduced price lunch they serve. In a cash-strapped district with a high number of students from low-income familes, the school might receive $2.50 for every meal they serve. Some districts will pull as much as $1.50 of this to pay for overhead costs, leaving only $1.00/meal to purchase student lunches. What kind of "meal" do you think you could buy for $1.00?

The article also identified a series of obstacles, as well as, policy solutions to help improve the foods American children are eating, including:

Obstacle #1: Minimum calorie requirements for schools allow schools to meet the minimum requirements for vitamins and minerals by simply serving more food, rather than nutrient-dense foods (colorful fruits and vegetables tend to be nutrient dense, compared to French fries which are mostly starch and fat from deep-frying). Recommended Solution: Establish a target calorie range with a maximum and minimum to ensure that schools meet their nutrition requirements by serving nutrient dense foods instead of over-serving minimally nutritious foods.
Obstacle #2: Many school kitchen facilities are insufficient for the sanitary preparation of fresh, healthy foods. Recommended Solution: Develop local, state, or federal one-time grants to upgrade school kitchen facilities and train staff to enable healthy food preparation.
Obstacle #3: Schools will often use a significant portion of their lunch budget to cover overhead costs, leaving only a small amount to purchase foods, often resulting in low-quality foods. Recommended Solution: Require that schools meet their nutritional guidelines before allowing them to draw indirect costs such as electricity and janitorial services from their food budget.
Obstacle #4: A surprising number of schools are not meeting/exceeding nutrition guidelines. Recommended Solution: Create a local, state, or federal incentive structure for schools to achieve existing nutrition guidelines.


In recent years, schools throughout the country have been introducing healthier options, including salad bars full of fresh, unprocessed food, like the one below. The new offerings are typically popular with students, and teachers often anecdotally report improvements in student behavior.


For additional information, check out the actual study:

Title: An empirical analysis of and policy recommendations to improve the nutritional quality of school meals.
Authors:
Wagner, Barbara; Senauer, Benjamin; Runge, C. Ford.
Citation: Review of Agricultural Economics, v.29, no.4, Winter 2007, pp.672-688, 2007.