Raise the Hammer

70 year old hit at Main and Emerson today. Even if there is somewhere to walk to, our streets aren't exactly pleasant places to be out and about. Yet. We're going to fix that :)

Obesity goes hand in hand with low-income in today's society. Go to Oakville or Burlington neighbourhoods where people drive everywhere and let me know how many fat people you see. Walkable neighbourhoods have nothing to do with it.

Maybe read the study first before guessing:

"There were few clear socio-demographic differences across quintiles apart from a higher proportion of children and seniors living in the least walkable areas, and a higher average household income, yet lower education, in the least walkable areas."

I just recently watched a great TEDTalk on this very subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/mick_cornett_ho...

It should be required watching for our entire city council. What Oklahoma City is doing is amazing - it gives me hope that we may one day soon get the ball rolling here...

This is an amazing talk. This is their Mayor saying these things:

I came to the conclusion that we had built an incredible quality of life ... if you happened to be a car. But if you happened to be a person, you were combating the car seemingly at every turn.

You could literally get a speeding ticket during rush hour in Oklahoma City.

We revisited some inner city situations where we had built neighborhoods, we had built schools, but we had not connected the two.

We had wide streets. You pushed the button to cross, then had to run to get across in time. Now we've narrowed the streets, highly landscaped them

Along with the traditional economic development tasks, we added some health related infrastructure to the process. We added a new Central Park 70 acres in size to be right downtown. We're building a downtown streetcar, to try and help the walkability formula for people who choose to live in the inner city, and to help the density there.

Incredible. I want Mr. Cornett for Hamilton Mayor 2014. I want to better understand how to vote in order to get the person closest to these values.

I noticed something as Mr. Cornett progressed through his description of the process. His "we're losing a million pounds" campaign was brilliantly executed, but it reveals the root of the success - the community and employers got engaged in the effort! His intelligent leadership then provided the tools and got it done. And he sold this transformation by calling what it is ... "health infrastructure". Awesome.

One concern I have is that Hamilton's idea of "health infrastructure" is to keep business booming at our hospitals and cancer centers. Keeping our streets dangerous and coated in diesel exhaust. Good for Hamilton's main industry. Hopefully that's just crazy talk and no such situation exists :)

Comment edited by mikeonthemountain on 2014-01-16 07:58:39

This statement is 100% applicable to us and is so simple in its implications I wish I'd thought of it:

You can literally get a speeding ticket during rush hour in downtown Hamilton

And their mayor seemed to understand as a matter-of-fact, that this meant things were out of balance.

Meanwhile, our mayor brags about how we're a 20 minute city. It would be funny if it weren't literally killing people.

Mikeonthemountain, I don't want to tell you how to vote (well I do, but I don't want be a pest), but I think it's pretty clear how NOT to vote.

I tried posting something earlier, but it was consider as spam, why I am not sure. There are many factors to consider, stress being one that has affected myself. I do wlak quite a bit since I no longer have a vehicle, which is healthier.

However given this town, those in the suburbs, seem to think they should ahve a bigger say about our streets downtown. I am glad for those who qre quite vocal about making changes.

To make change, then the car needs to become less important, for amny, many reasons. That is going to take a lot of convincing, the masses, who have been brainwashed.

Cause and effect.

Could there possibly be a different cause then the walkability of the neighbourhood? These neighbourhoods are the most expensive ones around so these people have the money to live anywhere they want and yet they choose to live there, must be something attracting them there. These people also have the capacity to eat whatever they want. I suspect their weight has more to do with duck confit and creme brulee then the walkability of their neighbourhood.

If you take a look at our poorest neighbourhoods there is also a huge amount of obesity but that is because they are forced to live on a diet high in the cheapest foods available. Things like rice and pasta. How else can you feed a family of four for $2 than buying a package of pasta for $1 and a can of sauce for the same amount. Nothing to do with walkability of neighbourhood all about the money. Yet you favour spending a billion dollars for LRT.

It's all about cause and affect, you are just jumping at the headlines to make them fit into your narrow vision of our society and your own personal opinions.

Try expanding your vision and getting a grip.

Ahh - the obesity problem boils down to all of the duck confit the suburban dwellers are eating. That makes way more sense!