April 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 48

PUBLIC HEALTH continued from page 46

Today, park professionals cannot afford to view
themselves as just programmers or recreation managers.
They must recognize the vital role they can play in ensuring
that their community is healthy and livable.
improve street safety is O'Fallon, Missouri. LiveWell O'Fallon, a coalition led by
the parks department, worked with planners last year to create a list of incomplete
streets, sidewalks, and trails. They are using this list as a resource as they begin to
focus on connecting existing subdivisions
to sidewalks and bike trails. LiveWell
O'Fallon is also in the process of creating
policies that will require all new subdivisions and business districts to have " complete streets. " The streets department was
recently awarded a sizeable grant, which
will assist in making O'Fallon a more pedestrian-friendly community.

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46 Parks & Recreation

Apr i l 2 0 1 1

Newport, Rhode Island, is an example of a community that has begun a
successful partnership between the recreation department and transportation
planners. With the help of the public services director who oversees transportation engineering and the local AARP
chapter, the recreation department evaluated the condition of their streets and
found that many of the streets were designed only for cars and with little regard
for pedestrians or bicyclists. In light of
this discovery, Newport utilized community volunteers from the local AARP
chapter to push the political agenda at
the city council level for better non-motorized mobility. The city recently passed
a resolution stating that complete streets
concepts will be used in the " planning
and redevelopment of transportation-related infrastructure improvements within the City " (www.completestreets.org).
This makes Newport the first municipality in Rhode Island to formally recognize
the importance of designing streets for
bicycles, pedestrians, public transportation, and automobiles.
Greenville, South Carolina, has been
working with planners to address access to healthy foods. Last year, LiveWell
Greenville, a coalition consisting of representatives from the parks and planning
departments, as well as other community
organizations, reviewed the city's zoning
ordinance language regarding community gardens and farmers markets on
public property. They found the ordinance lacked policies on gardens and
markets, so they decided to pursue the
development of policies allowing these
uses. Once the land-use policies are finalized, they will present their revisions
to both the city and county governments. By partnering with the planners,
the parks and recreation department has

www.NRPA .ORG

taken a leadership role in increasing access to healthy foods, especially in lowerincome areas.
Today, park professionals cannot afford to view themselves as just programmers or recreation managers. They must
recognize the vital role they can play in
ensuring that their community is healthy
and livable. By getting involved in nontraditional projects, the parks department
can save citizens' money through collaboration, as well as offer them the opportunity to have increased physical activity
and improved access to healthy foods. In
this way, they can become not simply a
tool, but a driving force to improve the
health of all citizens.
NRPA supports communities that are
implementing successful practices to
promote health and wellness. For more
information, please visit www.nrpa.org/
ACHIEVE or www.nrpa.org/CPPW. 
Maggie Cooper is NRPA Health &
Wellness/CDC Program Manager.

For more information:
Smart Growth
www.smartgrowth.org
American Planning Association
www.planning.org
Complete Streets
www.completestreets.org
Planetizen
www.planetizen.org
Urban Land Institute
www.uli.org
Active Living by Design
www.activelivingbydesign.org

April 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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