St. Louis Open Streets Details

Coming May 1!

The City of St. Louis just launched the Open Streets website! On May 1, June 13, September 19, and October 9 the City will close Lindell/Locust to cars and open it up to walkers, runners, bikers, etc. from Skinker all the way to the Arch. It's going to be the biggest street festival St. Louis has ever seen! Open Streets will take place 8am - 1pm each of those days.

Visit the website for more information:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/open-streets/

Check out the route map below. Click on it to see a bigger version.

Active Design Guidelines

Topnotch new resource

The New York City Department of Design and Construction has just released their Active Design Guidelines document. The document presents sets of guidelines for urban planning and for individual building construction. It is full of photos, recommendations, and easy to use checklists. Whether you are an urban planner, an architect, a community resident, or a public health professional, you'll find a ton of useful information in this document.

You can download it here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/ddc/html/design/active_design.shtml

Here's what NYC Department of Design and Construction has to say about it:
The Active Design Guidelines provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets and urban spaces, based on the latest academic research and best practices in the field. The Guidelines includes:

• Urban design strategies for creating neighborhoods, streets and outdoor spaces that encourage walking, bicycling and active transportation and recreation.
• Building design strategies for promoting active living where we work, live and play—for example, through the placement and design of stairs, elevators and indoor and outdoor spaces.
• Discussion of synergies between active design and sustainable design initiatives such as LEED and PlaNYC.

Love Transit!

First Lady Focuses on Childhood Obesity

Caption: The First Lady harvests lettuce from the White House garden with a group of students

Michelle Obama has chosen childhood obesity as her BIG issue. In the next few months, we expect a number of significant announcements, including new policy and funding initiatives for comprehensive obesity prevention efforts. Read more about it HERE.

It's likely that the new initiatives will focus on changing the things that drive individuals' behaviors, including geographic access, cost, public awareness, and city design. One of the new funding initiatives that is set to be announced in February is a set of CDC grants called "Communities Putting Prevention to Work." These will be major grants--on the order of $5 - $10 million each--that will be awarded to roughly 30 communities in the country. St. Louis County Health Department submitted a strong application. Keep your fingers crossed. This will be a phenomenal opportunity for the region if the County is awarded the funds.

The First Lady's new focus is directly in line with Trailnet's approach throughout the St. Louis region. If you haven't yet seen our Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit, you should check it out today. The ideas, stories, recommendations, and resources in the Toolkit will likely be echoed nationally in the coming months. Here in the St. Louis region, Trailnet's partner communities of De Soto, Ferguson, and Old North are working diligently to implement many of the ideas in the Toolkit. Their work is paying off because our collective work has been nationally recognized as an "Emerging Intervention" by the University of North Carolina Center for Training and Research Translation.

If you are passionate about improving the livability, health, or vibrancy of your community, take a few minutes to check out the Toolkit. We're proud to be pioneering innovative/effective obesity prevention efforts in St. Louis. Our region has a long way to go, but like all social change, it starts in small pockets and then spreads.

St. Louis Open Streets

Photo courtesy of BikePortland.org

The City of St. Louis will be launching a series of "Open Streets" events in 2010. Get excited!!!

Let us paint a picture for you: Lindell from Skinker all the way to the arch closed to cars and filled with walkers, runners, bikers, rollerbladers, musicians, and all sorts of activities. It's going to be the biggest street festival St. Louis has ever seen! It's all about fun, activity, and community.

It will be epic! Wait for it... Wait for it...

Trailnet is proud to be working with the Mayor's Office, Great Rivers Greenway, the St. Louis Regional Bike Fed, and others to make it happen.

Ferguson Sunday Parkways 2009

Open Streets will be the second event of this type in the St. Louis Region -- Last year, the City of Ferguson and Live Well Ferguson! hosted three Sunday Parkways events which featured a 1-mile loop of "open streets" and more great activities than we can list, including free aerobics, zumba, tai chi classes, basketball in the street, hula hoops, clowns, and volleyball. The City of Ferguson continues to be a regional leader working at many levels to improve the overall health and vibrancy of their community.

Ferguson will host 3 Sunday Parkways events in 2010--the first one will take place April 25th in the afternoon. Mark your calendars! We'll share more details as they come available.

Make phone calls for Prop A!

"Vote Yes for Public Transit in St. Louis" Join here.

On April 6, 2010, St. Louis County will get the opportunity to advance the region by passing a one-half of one percent sales tax to restore, operate, and expand MetroLink, MetroBus, disabled and senior public transportation. Passage of Prop A is a great chance to promote active living in our region.

You can help today by signing up for a phone banking shift at the SEIU Dialer Center. Contact Ashli Bolden at 314.531.2288 or ashli@missouriprovote.org to sign up for one of the below shifts. Bring a friend!

Thursday, Feb. 4 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 12 volunteers needed
Saturday, Feb. 6 10:30 to 1:30 p.m. 12 volunteers needed
Sunday, Feb. 7 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 12 volunteers needed
Tuesday, Feb. 9 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 12 volunteers needed
Thursday, Feb. 11 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 6 volunteers needed
Sunday, Feb. 14 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 12 volunteers needed

The SEIU Dialer Center
5585 Pershing AVE Suite 130
St. Louis, MO 63112
(Just a block from the Forest Park Metrolink Station)

Passing Prop A will not only help move people, but it will help grow our economy and improve our environment. Learn more about the campaign on the Advance St. Louis Prop A website.

Seriously?!

We would like to honor the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, with a new fake award we are calling the "Seriously?! Award"

This fake award is the perfect thing to honor a new product, Cherry 7 Up Antioxidant, whose label seems to imply that a beverage loaded with high fructose corn syrup (fake sugar) might actually be good for you. Curious how they can claim the product is an antioxidant? They added vitamin E.

Well done Dr. P. Thank you for so fervently believing in the stupidity of Americans that you would grace us with this gift of paradoxical marketing.

As my grandpa always used to say: Ain't nothing but lipstick on a pig!

Run or Walk for Haiti Tomorrow

An active lifestyle provides lots of benefits for us and our communities. Tomorrow, your run or walk can go even further and help support relief efforts in Haiti. Join the St. Louis Walk/Run for Haiti tomorrow in Forest Park. Registration is from 8:00 am to 8:55 am; the walk/run starts at 9:00am.

Participants can walk or run any distance of your choice. However, there will be a 3.5 and 7-mile loop. The 7-mile loop is symbolic to the magnitude of the earthquake. There will be volunteers holding up signs at every mile, so that walkers and runners get an approximation of their distance.

There's no set donation amount to participate in the walk/run. All proceeds go to the American Red Cross.

Visit the official website for more information.

Advance St. Louis on April 6!

Caption: High-speed rail announcement press conference

on January 28, 2010 at the Greyhound bus terminal.

On April 6, 2010, St. Louis County will get the opportunity to advance the region by passing a one-half of one percent sales tax to restore, operate, and expand MetroLink, MetroBus, disabled and senior public transportation.

This opportunity to support our public transportation has come at an important moment. The region will be receiving a high speed rail connection to Chicago and upgrades will be made to the Kansas City connections. We need Metro service to be restored and enhanced to allow for a seamless and efficient connection to the new high speed rail. We won't have high speed rail tomorrow but today is the day to start building the foundation to put St. Louis in the position to reclaim it's Gateway crown.

At the press conference this afternoon, Ed Montgomery, the White House Executive Director for Auto Communities and Workers, stressed that a high speed rail system will help get cars off the road, reduce oil dependence and emissions, create jobs, and revolutionize our transportation system.

So why does Trailnet care about light rail and high speed rail? Plain and simple, they support walking and biking as viable modes of transportation. Without viable regional and cross-state public transportation systems, it is nearly impossible to break the car habit. In addition to public transit, we also need good street-scale urban design (sidewalks, mixed-use districts, crosswalks, etc.) and community-scale urban design (neighborhoods that connect to one-another and to mixed-use centers) to create a walkable / bikeable region.

Our transportation system is inextricably linked to our competitiveness in the region and our quality of life. A strong Metro system will provide vital transportation options that give residents more choices to get around while providing opportunities for physical activity, improving air quality, and more community connections. A strong Metro system can also save us money--read Nini Harris' Post-Dispatch commentary on public transit and cost savings.

What can you do to get Prop A--Advance St. Louis passed on April 6? There will be lots of volunteer opportunities in the next couple of weeks but for starters you can donate to the campaign and help make phone calls at the SEIU Dialer Center. Information below. The contact is Kim Cella at Citizens for Modern Transit. kcella@cmt-stl.org

The SEIU Dialer Center

5585 Pershing Ave Suite 130

St. Louis, MO 63112

(Just a block from the Forest Park Metrolink Station)

Tuesdays 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Thursdays 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Saturdays 10:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Sundays 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

St. Louis - Chicago Receives Highspeed Rail Funding

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Hot off the presses: The St. Louis to Chicago connection was awarded $1.1 billion dollars to develop a highspeed rail corridor. The St. Louis to Kansas City connection will receive an additional $31 million to upgrade rail lines to improve the route.

Ed Montgomery, White House Executive Director for Auto Communities and Workers is hosting a press conference right now at the new St. Louis multi-modal station. He seems like an ironic choice considering the project is a rail project...

More in the Post-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/y9tq3l8

Screening of FRESH - January 28th

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The Healthy Youth Partnership and Fair Shares CSA are hosting a screening of the movie FRESH this Thursday night, January 28th, 6:30pm @ the Schlafly Bottleworks.

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

FRESH is 72 minutes long and the screening starts at 6:30pm. There is a $5 suggested donation to attend the event. The Schlafly Bottleworks is located in Maplewood at 7260 Southwest Avenue. Click HERE for a map.

STL Bike Plan: Get Involved with the Citizen Advisory Committee!

Caption: The St. Louis Bike Master Plan is in the works -
what do you have to say?

St. Louis region's Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) is underway and aims to develop on-road and multi-use trails for bicycle use, making the region more connected and conducive to active lifestyles. The BMP is a collaborative effort led by our friends at the Great Rivers Greenway District (GRG) and includes St. Louis City and County, St. Charles County, municipalities, Missouri Department of Transportation, Metro, the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, and, yours truly, Trailnet.

What can you do? Apply to be a part of the Citizens' Advisory Committee (CAC) to help GRG and the partnership create an implementable plan that will promote biking as a safe and enjoyable mode of transportation in the St. Louis region. The BMP is still in its first phase of collecting data and outlining objectives, and public input will be absolutely critical for the success of this phase.

Apply to be a part of the CAC here; the deadline for submission is Friday, February 19, 2010.

Learn more about the St. Louis Bike Plan online at: http://stlbikeplan.com/

Regional Food Summit

Caption: A bird's eye view of a supermarket. Is it food or just expensive marketing wrapped around food-like substances?

Have you read Fast Food Nation or The Omnivore's Dilemma? Have you seen King Corn, Food Inc., or Fresh? Do you wish it was easier to find fresh, healthy, and affordable foods in St. Louis? Do you want to work to combat the obesity epidemic? Do you want to meet like-minded people?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you need to attend the St. Louis Regional Food Summit on March 4th. The Regional Food Summit will feature breakout sessions on food access issues, production and distribution, healthy retail, and farm to school programs. Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap and long-time director of the Hartford Food System, will be the keynote speaker. The event is being hosted by The Healthy Youth Partnership (HYP), a St. Louis regional partnership of organizations that works to eliminate youth obesity through collaborations that promote healthy eating and active living. Trailnet is a proud HYP partner.

This should be a great event! Early Bird registration is only $25 for the full day. There is also an evening reception, March 3 hosted at the Piper Palm House in Tower Grove Park.

St. Louis Regional Food Summit
March 4
8am - 4pm
Location: TBA

For more information and to register online, CLICK HERE.

Missouri: Now a Member of the SRTS Network

Missouri is one of nineteen states that was just awarded a grant to create a state-wide Safe Routes to School (SRTS) network. The Missouri SRTS network will work to increase the number of kids walking and bicycling to school by promoting the behavior of walking and biking AND working to improve walking and biking infrastructure and the policies that support such infrastructure. Trailnet is a proud member of the SRTS network, which is being coordinated by the Missouri Foundation for Bicycling and Walking.

To learn more about this great effort and how you can get involved, visit:
http://mobikefed.org/node/3742

Women: The Indicator Species of a Great Cycling Environment

Caption: Beauty and the Bike is a documentary and project that 

introduces teenage English girls to cycling.  Learn more here.

How do you know that your city has a great environment for biking?  An article in the Scientific American argues that the presence of women cyclists is one of the most important indicators.

How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road reports that in some of the most bike-friendly cities in Europe women make up more than 50% of riders.  The U.S. Census does not collect data for non-commuting riders but if you look at the number of women bike commuters (24%) you begin to wonder if there really is a correlation between the number of women biking and the degree to which a city is bike-friendly. 

The correlation makes sense because we know that lack of real and perceived safety is one of the biggest barriers to cycling and, as the article points out, women are generally more risk averse than men.  Therefore the presence of women cyclists should indicate a more bicycle-friendly environment. 

But more than just an indicator, having more women cyclists has a lot of positive impacts. Women run the most errands, and mothers take the most trips, so getting them out of cars could have a positive impact on air quality and reducing congestion (STPP, 1999).  We also know that about 48 percent of all trips are three miles or less--trips that could easily be done by bike (Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 2008).  If we build more bike-friendly cities it will be good for women, freeing up highly coveted time to spend on other aspects of their daily lives and it will also be good for everyone else.

Sources: 

1. United States Census Bureau. Sex of Workers by Means of Transportation to Work (American Community Survey 2006-2008).

2. Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. (1999).  High Mileage Moms

3. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. (2008). Active Transportation for America:

A Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking