Childhood obesity rates high in Georgia

The AJC covers the distressingly high percent of Georgia's youth who are severely overweight and obese:

Georgia’s children rank as some of the heaviest in the country, with about 37 percent of children ages 10 to 17 overweight or obese, according to a 2009 Robert Wood Johnson study.

The extra pounds put youngsters at risk for obesity-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which used to be seen mainly in adults.

The article focuses on eating habits, alluding to the epidemic of physical inactivity but not connecting the dots between the built environment and inactivity. When our neighborhoods and cities are built to accommodate automobiles, and not people, people (big surprise!) do not engage in much activity: sit in the car, sit in the classroom, sit in the den, etc.

In communities that make biking and walking safe, convenient transportation options, obesity levels are much lower and children are healthier.

In light of these facts, Georgians shouldn't be too surprised by the obesity issue in the state but ought to be embarrassed by this.

Walking to school

A video from streetfilms on the recent International Walk to School Day:

Timothy Rd Elementary observes Int'l Walk to School Day

From the ABH:

Each year schools across the country organize a Walk to School Day to promote physical activity, identify areas in the community that need safety improvements and reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

As a youngster, Okech walked five miles each way to get to his school in Kenya. Before Wednesday, Okech's daughters didn't walk to school often, though they live less than a mile from Timothy Road Elementary.

"Walking's good, but I find we're becoming more Americanized now because we're like, 'Oh, it's a short distance. well, let's jump in the car and drive,' " Okech said. "It's not good."

This year, the Timothy PTA - led by Heesacker - created a Safe Routes to School committee to organize monthly walks to school to ease more students and parents into the practice, while advocating for more crosswalks and crosswalk lights to make the trip safer. The first came Wednesday, but others are scheduled every month through April.

And tonight, the Clarke County Board of Education plans to approve a seven-school Safe Routes to School plan that asks the Athens-Clarke government for more crosswalks and signs, caution lights and sidewalks.

The county received $110,000 from the state Department of Education to fund part of one project envisioned in the school district plan - improving the Five Points intersection to benefit Barrow Elementary School students.

The intersection work - including raised crosswalks, countdown pedestrian lights and flashing signs that display cars' speeds - won't get started for another 15 months, according to David Clark, county transportation and public works director.

International Walk to School Day @ Timothy Elem

From our friends at Timothy Road Elementary School:

Roadrunners from Timothy Road Elementary School in Athens will join students from schools around the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 7, 2009.

Students will gather in their neighborhoods and at three central locations and walk, bike or scoot, accompanied by parents and teachers.

Walkers and bikers will gather at Academy Sports on Atlanta Highway, Chestnut Grove Baptist Church on Epps Bridge Parkway and in the Kingswood Neighborhood, and arrive at school by 7:30 a.m. when a Safe Routes rally will be held. While students are encouraged to walk together frequently during the school year, future organized walks to school will be held monthly in coordination with Parent/Principal coffee hours.

“Since we have become a neighborhood school, now is the perfect time to kick off a Safe Routes initiative at Timothy,” said Timothy Principal Angela Nowell. “In the interest of student safety, it’s important to do all we can to reduce the number of cars on Timothy Road and provide a safe environment for our families. Even better, everyone will have so much fun participating!”

In the U.S., International Walk to School Day is expected to include 5,000 schools from all 50 states. Walkers from the U.S. will join children and adults in 40 countries around the world. Two other schools in the Clarke County School District, Barrow Elementary School and Chase Street Elementary School, have active Safe Routes programs.

“Walk to school events like this not only make getting to school safer,” said Amy Heesacker, Timothy Safe Routes Coordinator. “They provide another opportunity for children to be active, practice pedestrian safety, engender concern for the environment and build connections between families, schools and the broader community. “

The event is being organized by the Safe Routes to School Committee of the Timothy Road Elementary School PTA.

Media are invited to cover the event beginning at 7:00 a.m. on October 7 at Academy Sports on Atlanta Highway and accompany families and local officials to the rally at Timothy Elementary School, 1900 Timothy Road, Athens, GA. For additional local information, please contact Jim Hilliard at (860) 798-0657 or jim@hilliards.org.

Safe Routes Athens

Flagpole covers the history of & current developments in our Safe Routes Athens initiative.

Firefly rail-trail: Athens -> Greene Co.

From the Banner-Herald:

Plans are in the works to convert an abandoned railroad from Athens to Greene County into a 38-mile trail.

Firefly Trail, still in the early stages, would run from the Multimodal Transportation Center in downtown Athens through Winterville, Arnoldsville and Maxeys before ending in Union Point.

An informal town hall meeting to unveil preliminary plans is scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. today at the Depot in downtown Winterville, but alternative transportation advocate John Devine cautioned that the trail is a long way from coming to fruition.

Kudos to John Devine and the staff at NEGRDC for pursuing this exciting project!

ACC wins Safe Routes grant

Thanks to the efforts of Athens-Clarke government officials, the ACC School District and the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center, Five Points will benefit from a $110,694 Safe Routes to School grant for pedestrian improvements.

Kudos to the grant writing team!

School Board vote

In last night's school board meeting, the vote was cast to do away with "school choice," meaning that next fall students will attend their neighborhood school, rather than their preferred school.
The district started seriously considering this option back when gas prices were $4+.

After months of deliberation, the Clarke County Board of Education agreed Thursday to do away with school choice and accept a plan that could send up to half of all students to new schools next fall.

Faced with a projected budget shortfall of nearly $6 million over the next two years, board members approved the plan, which could save up to $1.2 million a year in transportation costs, by a unanimous 8-0 vote. Board President Charles Worthy was absent.

The change - which will assign each elementary student to a single school rather than allowing parents to choose from a short list of schools - will ease overcrowding at some schools and encourage more parent involvement, administrators said.

Many parents are understandably upset that their children will change schools, but, from a transportation perspective, this makes far more sense. It will save money and resources and will ultimately create more cohesive neighborhoods.

Clarke applies for sidewalk improvement grants

"Athens-Clarke County is going after a half-million-dollar state grant to make Athens students' walk to school safer," reports the Banner-Herald.

The improvements would include crosswalk countdown timers that show pedestrians how many seconds are left until the light changes, school zone beacons that display cars' speeds to discourage drivers from speeding, upgraded crosswalks and better signs.
...

Committees of Clarke County School District administrators, teachers and parents recommended the seven schools because they're located in areas where children are most likely to walk or ride bicycles to school, district spokesman Mike Wooten said.

The DOT started its Safe Routes to School program in 2005 to offer funding and advice to local governments and school districts on improving safety for children who walk or bike to school.

Athens residents independently formed a volunteer group by the same name [aka Safe Routes Athens] around the same time. Members of the local Safe Routes to School association traipsed all over Clarke County mapping gaps in sidewalks and other areas where traffic might pose a danger to students on foot.

...

Some commissioners said last Thursday that they were irked at the officials who wrote a document for the commission to approve because it did not give enough credit to the citizen Safe Routes for School group.

"We ask that citizens partner with us and that should be reflected in the report," Commissioner Andy Herod said.

The oversight wasn't intentional and will be fixed in the version of the document the commission will approve Tuesday, said David Clark, director of the Athens-Clarke Transportation and Public Works Department.

Also not mentioned is the fact that Safe Routes Athens is a sponsored program of BikeAthens.

Hopefully, the approved version of the document will make note of this fact, but overall we're glad the applications will be submitted and hopeful the grants will be awarded so that Athens can implement these important upgrades to pedestrian infrastructure!