Los Angeles County Fitbit Challenges: Friendly Competition in the Family

Dr. Henry getting his Fitbit!

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is coordinating Fitbit Challenges for Los Angeles County community members, students, teachers, writers, parents, public agency staffers, business owners, leaders, policymakers and more. What is a Fitbit? It is a sophisticated pedometer that tracks your levels of activity and a great tool for raising one’s awareness daily behavior. We think insights into the built environment can be gleaned from actively engaging pedestrians in Los Angeles County. Also, it is really fun!

Dr. Randal Henry applied to join this program in February 2013, which requires all participants to share their experiences with the National Partnership team. Randal told us what it was like to use the Fitbit, incorporate the device into his current activities and track with precision his daily activity. Read Randal’s bio here.

This experience helped Randal become more aware of pedestrian issues. His vision for the future is to see Los Angeles County become more pedestrian friendly by shifting funding away from roads.

ACCESS Magazine – Transportation Research for Policymakers and Practioners

Guest Post by Donald Shoup, Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, ACCESS Magazine Editor

Academic research in transportation requires years of work before the author actually publishes the results in a professional journal. Developing a theory, collecting data, and conducting rigorous statistical tests are usually necessary before an article is accepted for publication. Then what happens? If the author is lucky, fellow academics and students will read the article and then maybe discuss it. Most of the time, the transportation planners and elected officials who could use the results to improve our transportation system, may never see the article or even hear about the research.

Paring down a journal article for publication in ACCESS can catapult academic research into the public policy debate and convert knowledge into action.

ACCESS strives to translate research into action and disseminate information to the right people. The goal of ACCESS is to make transportation research conducted at the University of California useful for policymakers and practitioners. After the research has been published in an academic journal, the author can prepare a shorter and more readable version for ACCESS. The articles for ACCESS have the luxury of stressing readability because they have already been through the rigor of the journal process. Through ACCESS, policymakers are able to more easily understand the benefits of bike lanes, feasibility of sidewalks and transit oriented developments (TODs), and safety benefits of providing more lighting in a community. Anyone who wants greater depth or more detail can refer to the original article. ACCESS presents scientific research in plain, intelligent, and even lively prose. Paring down a journal article for publication in ACCESS can catapult academic research into the public policy debate and convert knowledge into action.

What Happened at the San Bernardino County Active Transportation Network Kick Off?

SBCATN Kick Off Meeting Bicycle Chain

Last week, forty people came together in San Bernardino County to discuss pedestrians and bicyclists policies and priorities in the region. The group called itself the “San Benardino County Active Transportation Network” (SBCATN), intending to create a space for cities, agencies, organizations and community to collaborate, educate and impact local and regional policies. It was a diverse group of participants, representing cities, transportation agencies, foundation, county department of public health, community stakeholders, nonprofits and advocacy groups. The Kick Off Meeting started with a lively bicycle chain networking activities amount participants – people lined up in two rows and introduced themselves to someone across the way in 45 seconds. There is usually not enough time to engage in a conversation but people quickly learn who is in the meeting and open up to sharing their ideas, challenges and best practices. Then the keynote speaker John Longville – who has been the Mayor of the City of Rialto (1987-1998), California State Assemblyman (1998 -2004), and founder of Metrolink – encouraged participants to be persistent in their advocacy for a better San Bernardino County. Participates noted in their evaluations that they heard the key takeaways of the meeting being: “Persistence, ‘Working with theme’ and Collaboration.” Links to presentations, policy opportunities and important documents below.

“Persistence, ‘Working with theme’ and Collaboration”  – Caltrans

Great collaboration and idea sharing  – City of Moreno Valley

It was a great convening and interested in hearing more about opportunities for convergence and collaboration  - California Endowment

Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan for the City of Los Angeles: Get involved!

The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT)  invites you to save the date for Thursday, March 21, 2:00 – 4:00 in the Caltrans Building (100 Main Street, LA 90012 in Conf Room 1.040B) to review milestones and progress to date on the city’s forthcoming Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan.

The City of Los Angeles is prioritizing need for infrastructure improvements among their 495 schools that fall within the City’s boundaries.  This has been something the SRTSNP and many other partners have been working alongside LA DOT and partners both internally and externally.  Among the many things about this effort that inspire me – is the relationship between the school district and transportation planning agency underway with this effort – not to mention current efforts to loop in community based organizations.  And I love how data is informing this project prioritization effort – it’s inspiring to see the City of Los Angeles endeavor toward this.

Los Angeles County Active Transportation Coalition Meeting 3/27

Save the Date for the Los Angeles County Active Transportation Coalition Meeting on Wednesday March 27th at 2pm at Exposition Park in Los Angeles

Join the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Prevention Institute, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, Los Angeles Walks and partners and friends from all over Los Angeles County to discuss Transportation Policy and Investments to improve the built environment for our communities.

This event is open and free for all to attend, but RSVP’s are required and space is limited so sign up today!

Planning for Healthy Communities

Creating Healthy Communities
Image courtesy of Columbus, Ohio Department of Public Health

Planning for healthy communities is becoming increasingly important to transportation planning. Those wanting to get ahead of this curve should consult the US Department of Transportation’s Metropolitan Area Transportation Planning for Healthy Communities report. The document identifies flexible ways in which MPO’s and their partners can utilize community health information in the transportation planning process. Using information gathered from a detailed analysis of four case studies, the report examines and identifies common best practices within the current planning system and proposes a framework for communities to use to integrate health into metropolitan area transportation planning.

There is great need for this type of research and incredible opportunities to use the knowledge gained to plan all communities in a more comprehensive, sensible, and healthy fashion. MPO’s and their partners should look to incorporate these best practices into their plans, monitor and analyze if and how they have been successful in these settings, and share their successes and failures with other MPO’s to gain a greater framework on planning healthy communities.

Download Action Briefs for Practitioners and Regional Governments on MPOs

New regional resources for practitioners and regional governments are now available!

The briefs identify opportunities to engage Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) and local governments to leverage and improve conditions for walking and biking with a focus on new federal transportation legislation, Map-21. They are good primers for those needing to understand the roles and background of MPOs in transportation planning and administration. For local Safe Routes to School supporters, it’s critical to learn more about the local MPO’s approach to planning and funding. The briefs provide action steps for advocates, ways to align talking points to MPOs, case studies and strategies for incorporating walking and bicycling as a transportation mode.

Downloadable links below.

Learning from Food Policy Advocates – Los Angeles Food Policy Council

Bi-monthly meeting of Los Angeles Food Policy Council – photo credit: LAFPC’s facebook

I attended my first LA Food Policy Council meeting in the Spring of 2012 and was blown away by the amount of people attending (over 75!), the diversity of perspective, ages and approaches all coming together in a welcoming setting to address Food Policy – and was quickly struck by the thought, “how amazing would this be to have a gathering table like this for active living ideas.”

Many partners working on active transportation policy, safe routes to school, public safety, shared use, green space, and other ways to increase safe places to play, travel and transform our LA built environment are interested in coming together at a larger collective table as the Los Angeles Food Policy Council has effectively demonstrated.  So, this week, several partners working on Active Living Policy, sat down with LAFPC staff for a conversation on their history, creation and lessons learned.

15,000 Children Walk to School in Glendale, CA!!

What do smiling faces, rosy cheeks and healthy heart beats have in common? 

These are all signs of children having fun and enjoying a healthy and safe walk to school!

On the morning of Wednesday, October 3^rd smiles were seen throughout the neighborhoods of Glendale and La Crescenta as the City of Glendale celebrated WALKTOBER – International Walk-to-School Day!    An estimated 15,000 (if not more) students, parents, and volunteers walked to school, with all 29 Glendale Unified Schools and 4 private schools participating.    With a grand total of 33 schools this was the largest organized Walk-to-School Day event in the State of California!

This annual event is funded through the City of Glendale’s Safe Routes to School Program, and was collaboratively sponsored and organized by the City of Glendale, Glendale Unified School District, The Glendale Council PTA, Glendale Police and Fire Departments, and WALK BIKE Glendale.    WALK BIKE GLENDALE provided 21 adult volunteers to assist the large groups of students and families walking to school throughout the city.

 

Healthy in Pomona: City Council Designates Pomona as HEAL City

The Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) Cites Campaign is a resource organized by the California League of Cities (CLC) to support  healthy policies for local cities. HEAL provides training and technical assistance to city officials who adopt policies that improve their communities’ physical activity and retail food environments. When cities enact policies that support healthy lifestyles,  it benefits the larger community. In California, the obesity epidemic costs the state more than $41 billion annually in healthcare and lost productivity. The HEAL Cities Campaign provides tools and mechanisms to shift the trends in public health.

On October 15, 2012, the City of Pomona city council passed a resolution to become a California League of Cities, HEAL City. This was an important step taken by the City to address safety and public health issues that will affect the entire region. Pomona located in Los Angeles County, between San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. It is ranked 18th in overweight and obesity children in California.  According to the 2010 California Department of Education school fitness results, only 15.8% of 5th graders, 22.1% of 7th graders and 27.9% of 9th graders in Pomona meet all fitness standards. View a copy of the resolution: here.