I’ve been reading about how to set up your environment for success, such as making your lunch the night before to eliminate the morning scramble, keeping gym clothes in the car so as to enable you to exercise after work, or not keeping candy in a jar on your desk.

I feel we need to do the same thing with our city—specifically, we need to make Greenfield more walkable.  There are many areas where it’s difficult to get from one place to another on foot and you are forced to drive, even if it means moving your car across the street or from one parking lot to another.

As a result, everyone drives everywhere.  I imagine the criticism for my idea will come from those who point out that if people aren’t walking, then why do we need sidewalks and crosswalks?  But I am definitely of the “If you build it, they will come” school of thought.

I realize encouraging people to walk more is asking people to change their  lifestyles.  It is difficult enough to shift the mindset from relying on motor transportation, so we need to remove as many barriers as possible for those who choose to hoof it.  One reason people don’t walk here is because it’s not part of our culture; the other is that it’s not part of our environment.

When I talk about walking more, I don’t mean going for a stroll on the trail after work.  That’s great, and I am very thankful for the Pennsy Trails.  But I would like to see us be able to walk to work, restaurants, and stores—making it part of our daily lives and not something we have to carve out special time to do.

The north part of State Street is particularly problematic.  You can’t cross from one side to the other on foot without taking your life into your hands.  The only pedestrian crosswalk is at McKenzie and State, so if you were further north you would have to  walk all the way south to McKenzie to cross then walk all the way back up, then reverse coming back.

And then there is the issue that there aren’t sidewalks on both sides of the streets so at some point you would be stumbling along on the shoulder of the road.  It’s bad enough to have a proliferation of fast food places but to add insult to injury, you can’t even walk to them to get rid of some of those extra calories.

Interesting aside:  When I was in grade school, there was no sidewalk on Apple Street, which meant that I wasn’t allowed to walk or bike down to the park/pool/fairgrounds with my friends.  As part of a school class project we wrote a letter to the mayor, which resulted in a completed sidewalk.

So I guess my activism days started early.  But then here it is 40 years later and I’m still grousing about sidewalks.  Maybe I could start a citizens’ action coalition (perhaps appropriately) named PEST:  People Eager for Sidewalk Transportation.

Think of the benefits—we save fuel expenses, cut down on pollution, and don’t have to hassle with parking.  We become more connected as we encounter friends and get to know our neighbors.  We can walk our kids to school and meet their classmates.

By encouraging a culture of physical activity, and creating an environment that fosters it, we will help put a dent in our obesity epidemic.  Being sedentary has become a habit but by changing our surroundings we can make our activity goals more accessible and our city healthier.