Lee Parks: Streets Alive in downtown Fort Myers

Thanks to Lee County Parks and Rec for featuring Streets Alive in their News-Press column today.  Come join the parade to kick off the event at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2nd. 

 

 News-Press, Oct. 30, 2014

 

Mayor Henderson leads last year's parade (News-Press photo)

• What's happening: Move…bike, walk and dance through the streets of downtown Fort Myers River District. Join in on the activities and move, for a healthy community. It's a great day for a family outing and all activities are free.

• Where: Downtown Fort Myers, free parking in lots and garages. Portions of Hendry St., Main St., First St., Bay St. and Edwards Drive will be closed to motor vehicles.
• When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
• Cost: Free

• What to expect: Streets Alive is an open streets event — offering fun, free physical activity in a safe open streets environment created by closing streets to motor vehicles. Dozens of activities will be led by professionals in addition to the length of the closed streets being open to walkers, bicyclists, skaters, runners, skate boarders, etc. Some of the activities include Zumba, jump rope, yoga, dance, and disc golf. Delicious and nutritious food and drinks will be sold by local vendors on the streets as well as inside downtown's many fine restaurants. This is a family event, so all ages are encouraged to join in on the fun!

• History: Streets Alive was created to incorporate fun, fitness and food to promote healthier lifestyles by temporarily closing streets to motor vehicles and opening them for people to have fun and get active. This is the second annual Streets Alive event for Lee County.
• Info: streetsalivelee.org

Tips / Notes
• Bring your own water bottle to stay hydrated.
• Wear weather-appropriate stretch or loose fitting clothing that will allow you to move and comfortable shoes.
• Bring your bike, roller blades, skateboard, scooter or anything you enjoy using in outdoor play.
• Kids (and adults) encouraged to wear Halloween costumes.
• There will be activities offered for people with limited mobility, physical disabilities and those confined to a wheelchair.
• First aid assistance will be located at event headquarters — Lee County Administration East Building at Second and Hendry Streets.

• Driving directions: From U.S. 41, turn right onto Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Turn left onto Monroe St. and find parking at any lot or parking garage.


• About us: Lee County Parks & Recreation has over 230 positions, a $28 million budget and more than 31,500 acres of parks, preserves, facilities and other sites. The department oversees four recreation centers, 10 community centers, community parks, Conservation 20/20 lands, greenways, the Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail, four year-round pools, seven boat ramps, sports complexes including the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins spring training facilities, dog-friendly facilities and pristine Gulf-of-Mexico beach parks.
• Contact us at 533-7275 or leeparks@leegov.com.

Moser Column: What part of ‘Do Not Litter’ do we not understand?

Moser's column this week bemoans the litter on our Lee County streets and roadways.  Littering is one indicator of self-centered and anti-social behavior.  As Dan says, "When one only thinks of themselves and not others or the community as a whole, we end up with the kind of roadway mentality we have here." 

Dan Moser

While finishing up a run on Sanibel recently I had the pleasure of spotting a large palliated woodpecker and bald eagle cross flight paths as the sun set behind a mangrove background. What a sight! Other similarly beautiful scenes while on a bike ride along Ding Darling’s Wildlife Drive and the trails of Bowman’s Beach are among the many benefits that come with walking, running and cycling outdoors. Unfortunately, so is the reality of seeing all of the litter along our roads, paths, private property and waterways.

While places such as Sanibel are exceptions to the proliferation of litter in Southwest Florida, overall it appears that quite a few people are lazy, inconsiderate slobs with no respect for their own environment. It’s truly appalling — and sometimes disgusting, depending on what the discarded waste consists of — that we create this situation as well as tolerate it as a community. Even with organizations such as Keep Lee County Beautiful (klcb.org) doing as much as it can to assist our public works departments, community-service workers, and citizen and business volunteers in keeping up with the sheer volume of trash that’s out there, we’re clearly losing the battle. All one needs to do is take a walk along our roads and waterways to confirm that fact.

Are you a sociopath? If you tossed this litter on the roadside by the Burroughs Home or left this green bag of construction waste on the sidewalk, columnist Dan Moser thinks you might be. DAN MOSER / FLORIDA WEEKLYAs I wrote in a prior column, I believe those who can toss trash out their window, from fast-food waste to cigarette butts, and everything between, are sociopaths, a disorder which appears to be all too common in American society. Littering, in my opinion, is but one indicator of self-centered, anti-social behavior that allows those afflicted to consciously — or perhaps subconsciously — perform such an act. And based on the sheer volume out there, to do so on a routine basis. Obviously, those with personality disorders of this kind aren’t exactly model citizens, with littering likely being the least of their anti-social tendencies.

The problem of littering can also be looked at as one of poor management of streets and neighborhoods. Similar to illegal parking or placement of other large items that obstruct sidewalks in a way that adversely affects others, the presence of litter routinely left in place is an indicator of a government’s inability and unwillingness to maintain control of its public space. Although the prevention of littering isn’t as easily dealt with as illegal parking, which is clearly visible and simple to fix, allowing trash to pile up has a “broken window syndrome” effect on a community. That is, if police don’t enforce sidewalk parking laws and public works departments don’t remove litter, the problem escalates to the point where it becomes acceptable. This, in my opinion, can lead to much more serious problems.

Another thing about littering that may relate to other negative behavior is how those who do so treat fellow road users, particularly the relationship between motorists and vulnerable road users, although it can also apply to cyclists’ and pedestrians’ behavior. When one only thinks of themselves and not others or the community as a whole, we end up with the kind of roadway mentality we have here. When a driver won’t stop for a pedestrian at a crosswalk or becomes enraged when having to follow a slower moving cyclist to the point where they lay on the horn and pass recklessly while screaming out the window, this, to me, has the same anti-social indicators as using the great outdoors as one’s personal garbage can. The same can hold true for cyclists and pedestrians who ignore traffic laws and even common sense because they only think of their own need to get from point A to point B, ignoring rules and responsibilities that go along with being part of traffic, which has implied and legislated rules that make it work.

Streets Alive! update

One final pitch to get everyone out to Streets Alive! (streetsalivelee.org) running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. The event kicks off with the People’s Parade. It starts on the block of Hendry Street between Main and Second streets. All attendees are welcome in the parade, whether on foot, bike, skates or wheelchair. There’ll also be a tricked-out bike display area as part of the offerings that day. Other examples of activities offered include a mini-running clinic put on by the Fort Myers Track Club, tennis with the Lee County Community Tennis Association and sailing with Edison Sailing Center. So bring friends and family to Sunday’s Streets Alive!, a fun and free event.

Until next time, I’ll look for you on the roads and pathways.

— Dan Moser is a long- time bicycle/ pedestrian advocate and traffic safety professional who cycles, runs and walks regularly for transportation, recreation and fitness. Contact him at bikepedmoser@gmail.com or 334- 6417.

'Blue Zone' initiative launched in Collier County

BikeWalkLee is excited about the cutting-edge "Blue Zones" project coming to Collier County and South Lee.  This is a major long-term initiative that uses scientific research to help communities boost their well-being.  Blue Zone projects have been successfully implemented in 13 communities across the country and in every instance, it's proven to improve the well-being of participating communities. A key focus of these projects is permanent change in the environment, i.e., the built environment--roads, sidewalks, biking facilities, parks, buildings, etc. It's also a model community-wide collaboration with a broad spectrum of  partners and community groups.

 BikeWalkLee's Margaret Banyan, Ann Pierce, and Darla Letourneau, along with representatives from the Naples Pathways Coalition, attended the Oct. 24th kick-off event, and will also participate in this week's community assessment process.  Click here to learn more about the Collier County project. Below is the Oct. 25th Naples Daily News article about the kick-off event, along with our photos from the event.

BWL'ers Darla, Ann, Margaret with Dan Burden

Naples Daily News, Oct. 25, 2014

NCH announces 'Blue Zone' initiative for Collier and south Lee

By Liz Freeman

  

NAPLES, Fla. - A 10-member team from the Blue Zones Project will spend the next two weeks in Southwest Florida assessing the community’s lifestyle environment to help local residents live healthier and have more fulfilling lives.

The NCH Healthcare System announced Friday the launch of a Blue Zone initiative for Collier and south Lee County, spearheaded by NCH president and chief executive officer, Dr. Allen Weiss. The Blue Zones Project is a Minneapolis-based organization that helps communities transform residents’ lives to be healthier, happier and more connected to one another.

“We can change our culture, we are poised to do it,” Weiss said Friday to 125 local leaders at a breakfast on the campus of the NCH Downtown Naples Hospital to announce the initiative.

The Blue Zones project was launched after National Geographic’s explorer Dan Buettner looked at communities worldwide where people live longer and wanted to know why. He found nine “power principles” that included communities where people are moving naturally in walkable neighborhoods, eat wisely, limit alcohol intake, have time to down shift for meditating or napping, put family first and belong in some way to a faith-based community.

Photo gallery: The Blue Zones Project to assess Naples

Weiss has been advocating the merits of the Blue Zone lifestyle over the past year and has been nudging elected, civic and business leaders to get on board with it. NCH sees the project as a 10-year initiative.

Tony Buettner, vice president of product and business development for the project, presented Friday an overview of how the project came into being after his brother examined longevity in Sardinia, Italy and Okiniwa, Japan, where the focus is on friends, family and downshifting.

“People with higher well-being cost less and are more productive,” he said. “How do we raise well-being? It’s all about evidence-based choices.”

The Blue Zones group partnered with Healthways, a Nashville, Tennessee-based company that provides support to companies and government entities to make behavioral changes.

Albert Lea, Minnesota, was the first pilot Blue Zone project in the United States. The city added walkways and bike paths, and put healthier foods in schools and grocery stores, among numerous other changes.

The result, in terms of one measurement, has been a 49-percent decrease in city workers’ medical claims, Buettner said. More school children walk to school there and it is now safer for them to do so, he said.

The governor of Iowa in 2011 launched a statewide initiative for Iowa to be a Blue Zone. The city of Spencer was an early participant and now 58 percent of residents exercise regularly and 13 local companies have become Blue Zone worksites.

For a project to work, there must be a commitment to change among community policy-makers, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, work sites, the media, and philanthropic groups, he said.

During the assessment in Collier, Buettner said his team will be looking at each sector locally, in part to determine the challenges.

“Is there buy in? Do they want to do the work?” he said, adding that being a Blue Zone community takes hard work and engagement.

Community leaders left the kick-off event enthused. Some pointed out that the city of Naples, with its emphasis on walkable neighborhoods near downtown and bicycle paths, has a jump start.

 “If we start in the city and prove what we have done in the city, it may affect (others) in the county,” said Alan Ryker, who co-founded the Naples Pathways Coalition Inc. several years ago to promote bike paths and sidewalks. “I’m excited about the fact that we are thinking about it.”

Collier County manager Leo Ochs said the county can make policy decisions that help and some decisions, such as putting in bike paths and sidewalks, and promoting bicycling safety, dovetail into Blue Zone principles. The county has $250,000 a year budgeted for sidewalks and bike paths, according to county staff.

“Those are all compliment tie-ins to some of the concepts we heard,” he said.

Stephanie Vick, administrator of the Florida Department of Health in Collier said many groups have been working on various projects to promote better health for years. The Blue Zones project will provide a strong focus and collaboration, Vick said.

“The synergy of all of us working together is exciting,” she said.