Salem Council makes choices: Increase obesity and diabetes

Salem is becoming ever more hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists. In just the past couple years alone, the city has

1. Abandoned its responsibilities for sidewalks, leaving miles of them in terrible condition with huge gaps and gigantic discontinuities that make them all-but-impassable for wheelchairs and dangerous to walkers and people with children in strollers;
   
   
2. Put all its efforts into maintaining and expanding roads for cars and coveting yet more asphalt for autos such as a third bridge over the Willamette;
   
   
3. Regularly putting the convenience and pleasure of car drivers ahead of the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists, such as the recent privatization-in-all-but-name of the railroad crossing that connected State Street with Riverfront Park. The Council has decided to give that crossing to a developer and force pedestrians to walk well out of their way south and then north again to reach the Carousel . . . but hey, it adds more parking for the Carousel, so it's a good deal, right?!

As anyone should be able to deduce, there's a cost to this. In addition to bankrupting us and making our city less pleasant, it also goes directly into our health statistics.

UPDATE: It's not like we don't know any better. We could learn from examples like this:

Minn. city's get-healthy effort called a success

Fitness project adds years to lives of Albert Lea residents, organizers say

. . . The 69-year-old's radical lifestyle change came as part of the "Vitality Project," an endeavor spearheaded by AARP and United Health Foundation that organizers say has added several years to the lives of Albert Lea residents through improved diet, exercise and living habits.

With organizers' help, the city crammed five years of sidewalk and bike trail construction into a year to make exercise easier for its 18,000 residents. Restaurants added healthier menu options and grocery stores showcased wholesome foods. People snacked on fruits and veggies and ate less fast food.

Schools stopped celebrating birthdays with sugary treats and started setting up "walking buses" that allowed kids to walk to and from school together with adult supervision. Employers gave workers time to exercise.

Organizers say the first-of-its kind experiment added an average 3.1 years to the longevity of about 2,300 residents who calculated their lifespans by answering 36 lifestyle questions dubbed the "vitality compass."

. . . Mayor Mike Murtaugh said the city had little expense other than some staff time. . . . "A lot of health professionals are buying into the idea that this is a problem we're going to have to tackle in a lot of different ways," Nelson said. "This idea of a community approach is something a lot of people are really getting excited about."

Outside Lakeview Elementary on Tuesday afternoon, adults shepherded a large group of children headed home in a "walking bus."

Judy Dilling, 60, was escorting her two grandchildren the mile to their house, which didn't happen before the project. Dilling also has joined a group dubbed the "Walkie Talkies" and now walks the mile-and-a-half home from her part-time job instead of driving.

"It's invigorating," she said. . . .