The City That Never Sleeps Exercises

Although you would think that with all the walking that’s done to get through a typical day in New York–five flights to apartment; block after block to find a usable restroom; countless subway steps; long-jump leaps over creepy neon-green puddles at street corners–all New Yorkers would be fit as fiddles. Unfortunately that’s not the case according to a new report by the Public Health Association of New York City. In their opinion, New York City residents are afflicted with a bad case of “sedentitis” in which 1 in 4 New Yorkers does not exercise, 1 in 5 New Yorkers is obese, 1 in 13 New Yorkers has diabetes, and 2 in 5 NYC public elementary school children are overweight.

Instead of reminding us to skip that greasy 3:00 A.M. egg and cheese sandwich from the local deli, they lay out some pretty far reaching urban and education planning goals to make our streets, parks, schools, workplaces, and homes more conducive to active lifestyles.

With some recommendations that could have been lifted from the pages of Streetsblog, they urge:

Closing certain streets to motorized traffic at certain times. Extend the hours that Central and Prospect Parks are car-free and bring back car-free Sundays on the Grand Concourse … speed bumps and tables, curb extensions and bulbs, lower speed limits, signal timing to favor pedestrians, diagonal parking, narrower streets, and raised medians … Make funding for parks dependable. Lock in a parks budget (perhaps at 1% of the total city budget — currently it is less than half this) … Encourage forms of transportation other than the private car. Improving public transit, including commuter buses and trains, will reduce car traffic and encourage people to walk to and from transit stops.

Read the full PHANYC report and recommendations here.

Photo: Send a Salami by fiat luxe on Flickr.