Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Cities for Cycling: New Resource for Design Best Practices
Posted by Trailnet at 12:49 PM 0 comments
Friday, December 11, 2009
Recommended Holiday Reading
The Death and Life of Great American Cities written by Jane Jacobs in 1964 to this day stands as the quintessential book on town planning. It's a critique of many of the prevailing trends in development/planning and vision for how and why we should think differently about the connection between the design of cities and the well-being of people who live in them.
The Great Neighborhood Book written by Jay Walljasper and published through the Project for Public Spaces is essentially a Do-It-Yourself guide book for improving your neighborhood. It's an unapologetic love story about the virtues of living in a strong community.
City Comforts written by David Sucher is a visual guide to the details, large and small, which make for livable neighborhood environments. The lessons to be learned from this book can be applied to all contexts: large cities and smaller towns alike.
Happy Reading! If you have suggestions of your, post a comment with your recommendations.
Posted by Trailnet at 8:32 AM 0 comments
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Public Transportation in St. Louis NEEDS YOU!
Just over a year ago, St. Louis County voters narrowly defeated a ballot measure, Proposition M, that would have created a half-cent sales tax (nearly $80 million per year) to support public transit operations and maintenance. The ballot measure was necessary to keep MetroBus and MetroLink services running. As a result, when the measure was defeated, Metro was forced to significantly reduce service throughout its service area, including canceling bus routes and decreasing the frequency of buses and MetroLink. The St. Louis cutbacks were so significant that they made national headlines.
Thanks to bi-partisan support in Jefferson City, the MO legislature allocated $12 million of stimulus funds to temporarily restore some of the transit service that had been cut. However, that emergency allocation was just a short-term solution. In order to sustain Metro's operations in our region, St. Louis County voters need to approve a dedicated sales tax to ensure that MetroBus and MetroLink continue to be strong components of our regional multi-modal transportation system. St. Louis City voters approved a public transit tax in 1997, but it was contingent on the passage of a County tax. Since the County hasn't passed a tax, the City tax hasn't gone into effect.
For 22 years, Trailnet has been promoting biking and walking as important modes of transportation. In a large metro area, like St. Louis, you can't talk about walking and biking without talking about public transportation. Metro's bus and light rail services are the foundation that regional walkability and bikeability are built on.
Trailnet is proud to be a coalition member of The Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance. The Alliance is currently working to once again put Proposition M on the ballot for April, 2010, and we need your help! Come out Dec. 15 to the St. Louis County Council Meeting to support putting the initiative on the ballot on April 6. The meeting is held at 6pm at:
County Administration Building
41 S. Central Ave
Clayton, MO 63105
To learn more about the state and fate of St. Louis public transit, visit the Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance's website or the Post-Dispatch's editorial from last week.
Posted by Trailnet at 2:51 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Fun Theory
Volkswagen recently launched a new initiative and website called The Fun Theory that is "dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."
Through this new website, Volkswagen is essentially hosting what we hope becomes a growing exchange of ideas about how to change people's behavior. In addition to the video above, there are two additional videos on the Fun Theory main page. All three of the concepts are, well, fun, funny, and engaging. And as the videos show, they were effective at changing people's behaviors. The question that we have after watching the videos is: Will the behavior changes last? Are people motivated to change their behaviors due to the novelty of the ideas (which will no doubt wear off) or will the changes last as long as the "fun" options exist?
To create long-term behavior changes, we need to address all the things that drive people's decisions, including cost, ease of access, knowledge, social pressures and social trends, and enjoyment. When it comes to promoting active lifestyles and healthy eating, the preferred options need to not only be fun, but just as accessible, cheap, and easy as the unhealthy options. The same should apply to Volkswagen's Fun Theory projects.
Posted by Trailnet at 9:31 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving from Trailnet!
Happy Thanksgiving from Trailnet! Eat well, soak up some quality family time, and take advantage of the days off to be active. We'll catch you on the flip-side, well-rested and re-energized from the great food and long walks, runs, and/or bike rides.
Posted by Trailnet at 10:52 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Good News for Bike/Ped Funding
The Obama administration just took another step to support funding for pedestrian and bicycle accommodations that support public transportation. If you haven’t heard the news, this could make significantly more funding available for non-motorized infrastructure projects in the next few years. Since good news is meant to be shared, please pass this onwards. See below for info sent out by the National Complete Streets Coalition:
The Obama Administration isn't letting the delay in transportation reauthorization prevent them from doing more to encourage walking, biking, and taking public transportation. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) just issued a "Proposed Policy Statement on the Eligibility of Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements under Federal Transit Law." The statement makes the case for investing in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure around transit stops and stations in order to increase ridership and improve livability. Importantly, it clarifies the use of transit funds for these types of projects: the new policy would make all pedestrian improvements with 1/2 mile and all bicycle improvements within 3 miles of a stop or station eligible for funds from several transit programs. In explaining support for these types of projects, FTA quoted Secretary LaHood's summer testimony that mentioned complete streets.
Federal Highway Administration has also posted program guidance on their website to clarify that Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program funds can be used for bicycle and pedestrian projects and programs. The League of American Bicyclists discusses how CMAQ funds can be used for bicycle and pedestrian projects in your community in a timely new report.
Posted by Trailnet at 7:20 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
It's time to BAN texting-while-driving
You have probably heard many stories about the dangers of texting-while-driving. Perhaps you have even seen the gruesome videos that show mangled cars and worse. As an organization that promotes walking and biking, we at Trailnet are acutely aware of the dangers of this new American past-time because our constituents do not travel in reinforced steel boxes. Instead, our constituents travel au naturale, on foot, on bike, and in wheelchairs.
A recent AP article tells of a New Jersey cyclist that was struck by a driver who was too busy texting about a drug deal to notice the cyclist's bright reflective vest. Read it for yourself:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091118/ap_on_re_us/us_texting_crash_drug_charges
Also, Transportation for American recently released the report Dangerous By Design that chronicles the thousands of annual pedestrian deaths caused by poorly designed roadways. This is yet another reason why every city, metro area, and state needs to adopt a Complete Streets policy. Check out the report below:
http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/
Poorly designed streets + drivers not paying attention = a caustic environment for the ~30% of American adults who don't drive...not to mention the 100% of children who don't drive
If you agree that it's time to make texting-while-driving illegal, we encourage you to contact your local and state elected officials with your concerns.
Yours in solidarity for common sense,
-Trailnet
Posted by Trailnet at 3:36 PM 1 comments
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Livable Streets Network
The Livable Streets Initiative is an incredible resource for anyone and everyone interested in transforming their community. The initiative website includes a library of films that are profoundly educational and inspiring, a series of blogs from major American cities, and a community forum.
As you'll see, the Livable Streets Initiative is a living dialogue about how to create better communities for people, health, and the environment. It is a great place to learn, to explore, and to connect with people, projects, and ideas around the world.
Check it all out at:
http://www.livablestreets.com/
To wet your appetite, check out the following video below:
Posted by Trailnet at 5:09 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 2, 2009
URBANEXUS provides lively discussion on retaining and attracting creative individuals in St. Louis
Posted by Trailnet at 12:19 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 18, 2009
Report Suggests Soda Tax Could Curb Obesity and Generate Revenue for States
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that a small soda tax could help curb obesity and generate millions of dollars in revenue for cash-strapped states.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided a summary of the report online including a link to the full report:
http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/digest.jsp?id=22681
Soda Tax Calculator
Very much related, the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity created an online tool that calculates the amount of money states could generate from a soda tax. For example, if Missouri adopted a soda tax of 2 cents per 20-ounce soda, the state would raise over $36 million in 2010 alone. You can access the soda tax calculator here:
http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/sodatax.aspx
Isn't it Ironic?
One of the reasons soda is so darn cheap is because the US government subsidizes the production of corn and therefore, the production of high-fructose corn syrup, which is the second ingredient in soda. In fact, the cost of soda has decreased by over 20% while the price of fresh fruits and vegetables increased by nearly 40%. Now, the government is considering taxing these sugary sodas.
So in essence, the government is paying to make soda cheap and then taxing soda to raise money to solve the problems that soda contributes to, such as rampant obesity and type II diabetes. There's a lesson in unintended consequences somewhere in there...
Posted by Trailnet at 3:15 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 14, 2009
Big Food vs. Big Insurance
Author Michael Pollan recently wrote an editorial arguing that the proposed health care reform has the potential to trigger major agricultural reform.
It's simple, he suggests: If the big health insurance companies are no longer able to turn away people due to "pre-existing conditions", they will have significantly more motivation to prevent diseases to avoid spending tons of money treating diseases. Since many of the most prevalent diseases, such as heart disease and type II diabetes, result from eating unhealthy foods, the insurance companies will become allies for healthy eating. They will have a new found incentive (saving money), to encourage people to eat healthier foods and to encourage the agricultural sector to produce high-quality, low-cost fresh foods.
It's a compelling editorial written by one of this decade's foremost thinkers on food. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html
Posted by Trailnet at 3:00 PM 2 comments
Friday, September 11, 2009
CDC Community Strategies Guide
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a new resource that we want to share with you. The document outlines a series of obesity prevention strategies that are recommended for communities. Each strategy presented in the document is accompanied with ideas for implementation and measurement.
You can download the document as a pdf directly from the CDC website below:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5807.pdf
Or visit an online (less pretty) version here:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5807a1.htm
www.cdc.gov/mmwR/PDF/rr/rr5807.pdf
Posted by Trailnet at 11:42 AM 0 comments
A BOLD New Public Health Ad Campaign
BOLD, right? New York City Health Department just rolled out the "Don't Drink Yourself Fat" ad campaign to encourage people to cut back on soda and other high-calorie drinks.
Accompanying the new bold campaign was a strong statement from NYC's Health Commissioner, Thomas A. Farley: “Sugary drinks shouldn’t be a part of our everyday diet. Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer.”
To learn more about the campaign, visit:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2009/pr057-09.shtml
To read an editorial discussing the likely impact of this campaign or a soda tax to change behaviors, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/opinion/14mon3.html?th&emc=th
A year and a half ago we wrote a post titled We Let Kids Drink This Stuff?! about the impacts of soda on school children. The post links to a compelling description of what soda actually does to our bodies when we drink it. Check it out.
Finally, here is another graphic from NYC's new ad campaign:
Posted by Trailnet at 11:02 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Re-Envisioning the Corner Store
For decades corner stores served as the cornerstones of community life in American cities. They sold needed goods to local residents, served as important social hubs, and added an element of vibrancy to local streetscapes.
In the last several decades, the corner store has become something different altogether. In many urban neighborhoods, suburban towns, and rural main streets, corner stores now corner the market of junk foods, lottery tickets, booze, and cigarettes. Where corner stores used to provide local residents with access to important life necessities, they now only provide for our vices.
A New Vision
Two intrepid St. Louisans have taken to re-envisioning the corner store as a community asset, instead of a detriment to public health and safety. Shawn Mckie and Angie Beatty launched The Juice Box corner store, selling healthy foods and hosting community events. Shawn and Angie wanted to not only get back to the roots of the corner store as a community hub, but also address a pressing community need -- providing much needed access to healthy foods. The Juice Box is located in St. Louis City at 3003 Arsenal Street, in a community where junk food options significantly outnumber healthy options, which is the situation in most American communities. With adult and childhood obesity rates at an all time high, The Juice Box is an important and innovative step towards the creation of Healthy, Active & Vibrant Communities.
Shawn and Angie were recently selected as Echoing Green Fellows for their social entrepreneurial work with the Juice Box.
To learn more about the award-winning Juice Box and it's founders, Shawn and Angie, check out this great article:
http://tinyurl.com/juiceboxcornerstore
Posted by Trailnet at 11:09 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Who Defines "Healthy Food"?
The New York Times just printed an article about a new "Smart Choices" labeling program that is being adopted by many major food companies, including Kellogg's, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Unilever, and Tyson Foods. The "Smart Choices" label is prominently displayed on the front of food items to indicate healthier choices. This new labeling effort is being driven by the food industry and invokes the question:
Who gets to define "healthy food" or "smart choices"?
"The Smart Choices Program was motivated by the need for a single, trusted and reliable front-of-pack nutrition labeling program that U.S. food manufacturers and retailers could voluntarily adopt to help guide consumers in making smarter food and beverage choices." --Smart Choices Program Website
According to the Smart Choices Program, Froot Loops, is a "Smart Choice," yet the first ingredient is sugar and Froot Loops contains no fruit, contrary to what the name seems to imply.
Author and Professor Michael Pollan has written extensively about healthy foods in his books The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Pollan's motto for eating is simple:
Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not Too Much.
In his article Unhappy Meals, Pollan extrapolated on this motto with a set of recommendations for how we should approach food. We have abbreviated and condensed his recommendations below for your reading pleasure:
1. Eat food. Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. There are a great many foodlike items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn’t recognize as food (Go-Gurt? Breakfast-cereal bars? Nondairy creamer?); stay away from these.
2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims. They’re apt to be heavily processed, and the claims are often dubious at best. When Kellogg’s can boast about its Healthy Heart Strawberry Vanilla cereal bars, health claims have become hopelessly compromised. Don’t take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing valuable to say about health.
3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. You won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market; you also won’t find food harvested long ago and far away. What you will find are fresh whole foods picked at the peak of nutritional quality. Precisely the kind of food your great-great-grandmother would have recognized as food.
5. Pay more, eat less. The American food system has for a century devoted its energies and policies to increasing quantity and reducing price, not to improving quality. There’s no escaping the fact that better food costs more, because it has been grown or raised less intensively and with more care. Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is shameful, but most of us can: Americans spend, on average, less than 10 percent of their income on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, and less than the citizens of any other nation. And those of us who can afford to eat well should.
“Eat less” is the most unwelcome advice of all, but in fact the scientific case for eating a lot less than we currently do is compelling. To make the “eat less” message a bit more palatable, consider that quality may have a bearing on quantity: I don’t know about you, but the better the quality of the food I eat, the less of it I need to feel satisfied. All tomatoes are not created equal.
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. ...by eating a plant-based diet, you’ll be consuming far fewer calories, since plant foods (except seeds) are typically less “energy dense” than the other things you might eat. Vegetarians are healthier than carnivores, but near vegetarians (“flexitarians”) are as healthy as vegetarians.
7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are. Any traditional diet will do: if it weren’t a healthy diet, the people who follow it wouldn’t still be around. Let culture be your guide, not science.
8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden. To take part in the intricate and endlessly interesting processes of providing for our sustenance is the surest way to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it: that food should be cheap and easy; that food is fuel and not communion.
9. Eat like an omnivore. Try to add new species, not just new foods, to your diet. The greater the diversity of species you eat, the more likely you are to cover all your nutritional bases.
Posted by Trailnet at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
What's Your Community's Score for Walkability?
Q: How often do you walk to the store or to work?
A: The chances are good that your answer to this question is directly connected to how walkable your community is.
Q: So how walkable IS your community?
A: The website Walk Score has the answer: http://www.walkscore.com/
Q: What makes a neighborhood walkable?
A: The following are the criteria Walk Score uses to rate your neighborhood:
- A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
- Density: The neighborhood is compact enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to run frequently.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
- Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
- Nearby schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
A: There are many important factors that Walk Score does not take into account. Here are just a few that the Walk Score website is aware it has not included in its fancy algorithm:
- Public transit: Good public transit is important for walkable neighborhoods.
- Street width and block length: Narrow streets slow down traffic. Short blocks provide more routes to the same destination and make it easier to take a direct route.
- Street design: Sidewalks and safe crossings are essential to walkability. Appropriate automobile speeds, trees, and other features also help.
- Safety from crime and crashes: How much crime is in the neighborhood? How many traffic accidents are there? Are streets well-lit?
- Pedestrian-friendly community design: Are buildings close to the sidewalk with parking in back? Are destinations clustered together?
- Topography: Hills can make walking difficult, especially if you're carrying groceries.
- Freeways and bodies of water: Freeways can divide neighborhoods. Swimming is harder than walking.
- Weather: In some places it's just too hot or cold to walk regularly.
Posted by Trailnet at 10:31 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 4, 2009
Crank and Click 2 September 19!
Have fun doing a photo-scavenger hunt on your bike and support Trailnet’s Livable St. Louis at the same time! Be the team to get the most photos of your bikes in various settings around the city and win a prize! Teams for Crank and Click 2 are limited to two people; the cost is $10 per team. Kids and adults welcome. Bring your bike and your digital camera!
Crank and Click 2 is presented by Will Cycle for Charity, a not for profit group of St.Louis Area cyclists who donate their skills and time to raise money for local charity organizations through cycling events. Visit http://www.willcycleforcharity.com for more information.
Posted by Trailnet at 12:25 PM 0 comments
Livable St. Louis September 23!
Posted by Trailnet at 10:41 AM 1 comments
Monday, August 24, 2009
First Sunday Parkways Event Comes to St. Louis!
Posted by Trailnet at 10:51 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Transportation RX
-Representative Jim Oberstar
Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
PolicyLink and Prevention Institute recently published a report titled "The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Reform in America" that draws on the latest research on the connections among transportation, health, and equity to present a new vision for transportation development in the 21st century. The report was commissioned by the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership, a collaboration of major funders who have come together with the shared goal of changing policies and environments to better achieve the vision of healthy people living in healthy places.
This report shows how equitable transportation policies and investments can improve public health, expand economic opportunity, protect environmental quality and strengthen all communities.
With the authorization of the federal transportation bill on the horizon, it arrives at a critical time for bringing the transportation sector into discussions of public health and wellness. The report emphasizes the value of working across fields to identify effective and long-term solutions to multiple problems for community health, infrastructure, equity, and the economy.
The report was co-authored by the University of Missouri St. Louis's very own Todd Swanstrom. Well done, Todd!
Download the document here:
http://tinyurl.com/TransportationRx
And check out the HEAL Convergence Partnership here:
http://www.convergencepartnership.org/
Posted by Trailnet at 2:37 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 14, 2009
Donut Police Fired By Donut Barons
Dr. Jason Newsom returned home to Panama City, FL after serving as an Army doctor in Iraq to serve as the Director of the Bay County Health Department. Dr. Newsom undertook a public campaign to discourage Bay County residents from eating unhealthy foods by posting provocative slogans on an outdoor electronic sign.
His slogans included:
"French Fries = Thunder Thighs"
But when the good doctor started to rail against doughnuts, the local doughnut barons took issue and demanded his resignation. One of the County Commissioners owned a diner and a donut shop and gave the good doctor an ultimatum: resign or get canned.
You see, the good doctor was bold enough to call out specific businesses by name with such slogans as:
Unfortunately for Dr. Newsom, the local Dunkin' Donuts was owned by a couple of lawyers who had the ear of the doughnut shop owning County Commissioner.
"Let’s get this straight: I was fired. This talk about resignation, that was all politeness," Newsom said. "If your boss ever puts two pieces of paper in front of you, and one is a resignation letter, and one is a termination letter, and you’ve got two minutes to decide, you were fired."
"My method was a little provocative and controversial,'' he says, "but there wasn't a person in Bay County who wasn't talking about health and healthy eating."
Dr. Newsom has reapplied for his old job.
To read more, visit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32405418/
Posted by Trailnet at 2:11 PM 0 comments
Monday, August 10, 2009
Is MODOT Bicycle Friendly?
Yet, in recent years, MODOT has fought adamantly against a Complete Streets bill brought forward in the Missouri legislature. The bill is not complicated. In fact, it's very simple. It would require MODOT to "provide full consideration for the safety and contiguous routes for bicyclists, pedestrians, disabled persons, and transit users of all ages and abilities" in plans, projects, and programs. MODOT maintains that they already do this in all their projects. The bill's sponsor, Representative Mike Sutherland, introduced the bill for a second year in a row because he felt that MODOT had not convinced him or the rest of the legislature that they are in fact committed to creating Complete Streets in Missouri. For a second year in a row, MODOT fiercely opposed this bill. If MODOT is already factoring in cyclists and pedestrians in the design of their roadways, why are they so opposed to a Complete Streets bill?
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
How do you think MODOT is doing in your community? Post a comment and tell us what you think. Is MODOT creating streets that help or hinder pedestrian and bicycle travel?
Posted by Trailnet at 5:11 PM 5 comments
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
People with Bad Aim No Longer Exempt
News from Colorado
People with bad aim no longer exempt
Until recently, drivers could legally throw stuff at cyclists without being cited by authorities...unless they actually hit the cyclist. Thanks to a new Colorado law, people with bad aim are no longer exempt. The new law also requires drivers to give cyclists a 3-foot wide berth when passing.
The new law is being hailed by some as a major step forward. As far as we are concerned, the part about throwing stuff at cyclists is a major step forward from medieval law.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
I think this saying means that if someone gives you a horse as a gift, you're not supposed to inspect the horse's teeth to figure out if the horse is actually a gift worth receiving or an old bag of bones barely capable of standing. In that spirit, I am sure that cyclists all across Colorado are now thrilled to know that the next time a driver hurls a half-eaten Filet-O-Fish at them, misses, and is observed by the authorities, the driver can legally be cited if the authority figure wishes to enforce the law.
We are grateful for this step forward, too. However, it is a bit of a sobering reminder of how few legal protections cyclists currently have in cities and states throughout our country. It is also a sobering reminder of how horrendously some drivers behave towards cyclists. When we heard the news, we couldn't help but laugh that such a small step in the direction of common sense and decency was being hailed as a major accomplishment. Then we got to thinking: perhaps, these types of laws weren't already on the books, because it was previously unimaginable that someone would throw stuff at another person for no reason.
Check out the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-03-bikes_N.htm
Finally, in the vein of strange laws, we discovered an important law from Vermont while doing serious investigative research for this blog post. I'd like to share it with you now:
"Women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth."
Posted by Trailnet at 9:08 AM 1 comments
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tomorrow is Tomato Fest at De Soto Farmers' Market!
Find out about each week's vendors and other updates on the De Soto Farmers' Market blog.
Posted by Trailnet at 11:56 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Announcing the TOOLKIT!!!
Two years in the making, we are excited to announce the official release of Trailnet’s Healthy, Active, & Vibrant Community Toolkit.
This comprehensive and visually compelling document presents an exciting vision for the future of our communities—a future built around quality of life, health, vibrant local economies, and the environment.
The Toolkit is packed with case studies, mini-articles, and policy recommendations arranged in eight sections for:
-Schools
-Community Residents
-Design Practitioners
-Faith-Based Orgs
-Healthcare Providers and Institutions
-Local Governments and Community Orgs
-State and Federal Governments
-Workplaces
Margaret Donnelly, Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, praised the Toolkit for its emphasis on healthy living. Donnelly noted that physical activity not only reduces obesity, but also helps reduce chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.
"Three of the most important things you can do for your health are move more, eat smart, and be tobacco free," Donnelly said. "These choices are keys to a long and productive life. The Trailnet Toolkit has practical ideas for helping communities of any size achieve those goals. In the process, communities can become healthier, more connected and more enjoyable places to live."
At its core, the Toolkit is focused on creating long-term solutions to address the obesity epidemic. However, we built on this core focus to provide you with a series of recommendations that go well beyond combating obesity and focus on creating communities that foster the highest quality of life and independence for residents young, old, and in between. We believe that the recommendations in the Toolkit, if implemented in a way that is sensitive to the social and physical character and context of your community, will strengthen social bonds, increase sense of safety, help define your community’s identity, attract new local businesses, and of course, lead to healthier individuals.
Trailnet convened a multi-disciplinary team to develop the Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit which consisted of healthcare providers, urban planners, architects, green building professionals, public health researchers, dietitians, educators, community organizers, and bicycle and pedestrian advocates. The recommendations are intended to lead to long-term, institutionalized change by focusing on solutions that address policies, environments, and social networks.
We hope you find this resource useful. We also hope you will share this resource with colleagues, neighbors, and pertinent decision-makers. The Toolkit can be downloaded for free online at: www.trailnet.org/HAVC_Toolkit.php
If you would like more information, please call or email Phil Valko: 314-436-1324 x119 or phil@trailnet.org
Sincerely,
-The Trailnet Team
Posted by Trailnet at 12:53 PM 0 comments
Monday, July 27, 2009
A New Vision for Livability?
President Obama recently painted a new vision for urban policy -- a vision that is built around the Livable Community Partnership, which is bringing together DOT (transportation), HUD (housing), and EPA (environment).
With leadership from the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, the US Department of Transportation recently outlined six "livability principles" that will shape the future of communities across America. As LaHood sees it: “We have a window of opportunity to think differently about transportation and propose bold, new approaches to improve the livability of our nation’s communities.”
We agree. In addition to the three agencies that are currently at the table--transportation, housing, and environment--we strongly believe that the department of health needs to be at the table to ensure that the vision for livable cities helps once again connect urban planning and public health.
Below are the six principles outlined by LaHood.
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Expanding access to affordable housing, particularly housing located close to transit;
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Valuing the unique qualities of all communities--whether urban, suburban, or rural.
Posted by Trailnet at 2:23 PM 0 comments
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Worst Bike Lanes EVER!
Let me first start by saying I love the internets. It is a perfectly designed interface for the functional Attention Deficit Disordered, like me. I started out searching for yard signs, somehow found a miracle drug that will help halt my natural aging process, and finally settled on a website that chronicles the worst bicycle lanes/paths in Britain. It was an electronic game of "telephone" that spun me around like a top and left me dizzy with joy and just a hint of nausea.
No matter the starting point or the path I took to get there, my final destination needs to be shared with you and yours: The Warrington Cycle Campaign has been posting a picture per month, since 2001, of some of the greatest non-sense in traffic engineering Britain has to offer. The pictures serve as a testament to the contention that there is a big difference between GOOD bike/pedestrian planning and BAD bike/pedestrian planning. And the captions...as dry and sharp as week-old British bread.
The pictures and captions are good for a thousand laughs. They also serve as a sobering reminder that the safety of cyclists and pedestrians is at stake when facilities are poorly designed or built.
Check it out. Pass it to a friend. Laugh. Learn. And get yourself lost in the wonder that is the internets.
http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/facility-of-the-month
-Phil
Posted by Trailnet at 4:28 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
THE NEW CROP: 40 Farmers Under 40
Check out the article:
http://www.mnn.com/food/farms-gardens/stories/40-farmers-under-40
We are thrilled to see that one of the 40 Farmers Under 40 is a collaborator and friend, Molly Rockamann. If you visit the article, Molly is #11 on the list. Molly is a Ferguson, MO resident who has been a leader on the Live Well Ferguson! Taskforce, an effort that Trailnet has led in partnership with the City of Ferguson. Molly founded EarthDance, an organization with the goals of training a new generation of farmers and preserving Missouri's oldest organic farm, the Mueller Farm, located in Ferguson.
EarthDance's annual party, Pesto Festo is coming up again this fall. It's a great place to meet other local farmers and food enthusiasts, eat some great local food, and support a great cause. Check their website for details.
Congrats to Molly and EarthDance!!!
Posted by Trailnet at 1:31 PM 0 comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Healthier Food to Become the Rule in San Francisco
Posted by Trailnet at 1:25 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Treatment Tuesday: Road Diets
Photo Caption: The photos above depict a typical road diet. In the top photo you see a four lane road with two lanes in each direction. In the second photo one lane is removed, another is converted to a turn lane, and the remaining space is converted to bike lanes in each direction. In the third photo, important finishing touches are added to enhance safety: a high visibility crosswalk, a median island, a stop bar for cars approaching the crosswalk, and signage.
If a good friend asked you for advice on losing weight, you probably wouldn't tell them to buy a larger belt. A larger belt wouldn't address the root of the problem. Instead, you may tell your friend to take a closer look at his or her diet and make some changes.
More and more transportation planners and traffic engineers are beginning to apply this "diet" concept to how we manage car congestion on our roads. Because latent demand for road space eats away at the benefits of added roadway, they know we cannot build our way out of congestion. Instead of building more roadway they are implementing road diets that balance out the transportation options available and the efficiency of travel flow. A road diet often consists of adding a center turn lane and bicycle and pedestrian facilities as shown in the above picture.
There are streets in St. Louis that look like the street above--four lanes or more with little traffic. Streets with less than 20,000 auto trips per day are often great candidate streets for road diets. Streets downtown appear to have tons of possibility--streets like Delmar, Olive, and Market. Check out St. Louis Urban Workshop's St. Louis Streets are Morbidly Obese blog post for another perspective.
Road diets could be a great tool for St. Louis as we try to encourage active lifestyles. Because they can create more space for pedestrians and cyclists and slow car traffic, they create safe and pleasant environments for walking and biking. Additionally, because road diets maximize road efficiency, using them more often can lead to road construction savings and air quality benefits.
Read Road Diets: Fixing the Big Roads to learn more. (Click on Road Diets on this page.)
Posted by Trailnet at 9:00 AM 0 comments