First Lady Michelle Obama has kicked off a national campaign to fight childhood obesity which helps tie sprawl to unhealthy living.

In my home, we weren’t rich. The foods we ate weren’t fancy. But there was always a vegetable on the plate. And we managed to lead a pretty healthy life.

Many kids today aren’t so fortunate. Urban sprawl and fears about safety often mean the only walking they do is out their front door to a bus or a car. Cuts in recess and gym mean a lot less running around during the school day, and lunchtime may mean a school lunch heavy on calories and fat. For many kids, those afternoons spent riding bikes and playing ball until dusk have been replaced by afternoons inside with TV, the Internet, and video games.

Similarly, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report stating:

The car-dependent design of our communities has made it much harder for our children to walk to school and much harder for us to shop and do other errands entirely on foot or by bicycle.

Recommendations include:

• Build or enhance infrastructures to support more walking and bicycling.
• Support locating schools within easy walking distance of residential areas.

Now contrast that with Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson’s archaic position on sprawl:

Well, let me state it unequivocally: I love sprawl. I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can’t get enough of it. Are you getting the picture?

Then in his 2010 state of the county address, Patterson said he’d allocate $50K per year from the Brooksie Way run to healthy living mini-grants:

I want Oakland County to be the healthiest county in the United States and I want my residents to enjoy a healthy quality of life.

So, mayors, supervisors, community leaders, there is $50,000 available to you for programs which have as their sole purpose the improvement of the health of your residents.

Patterson clearly doesn’t understand the connection between sprawl, obesity and unhealthy living.

In the first such national study, health researchers found that people who live in counties marked by sprawl-style development tend to weigh more, are more likely to be obese and are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure

As for his $50,000 program, keep in mind that Oakland County gives $1 million a year to the Road Commission for Oakland County to build and expand roads.

Improving Oakland County’s quality of life is clearly in the backseat, if not the trunk.

And we are getting the picture.

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grants millions of dollars each year for park land acquisition and trail development. One requirement is the grant recipients must have a recreation plan on file with the DNRE.

Until last week, the city of Detroit did meet that requirement.

They had a recreation plan that calls for adjusting the city’s parks, repositioning some, and investing in others to best serve the needs of the current population. Developed in 2006, the plan had been held up in city council committee.

Right-sizing the park system was called “controversial” by the Detroit News and others. More recently a Detroit News editorial said “it is essential to begin rallying the public to the benefits of right-sizing.” Clearly the wall between the news and editorial staff works.

With a new council came new committee chairs. Council member Kwame Kenyatta now chairs the Neighboorhood and Community Services committee. After a presentation on the rec plan and some positive public comment from MTGA, this committee voted out the proposal. Two weeks later it was approved by the city council.

The Recreation Department expects to submit Trust Fund grant requests due this April.

But some Detroit greenways may be seeking grants as well. The Trust Fund has specifically prioritized funding for greenways and trails that connect urban centers. Projects like the Conner Creek Greenway and Dequindre Cut could make excellent requests for development funding.

We reported earlier on the Senate passing the Recreation Passport legislation which should provide a stable, sustainable funding source for our state parks (including linear trails), state forest recreation, and more.

While the House speaker initially held up the House vote, it eventually went forward and passed. However, the House passed a different version of the legislation, which now much be reconciled with the Senate version.

According to a report in the Free Press, “Republican State Rep. Arlan Meekhof from West Olive tells The Muskegon Chronicle the bill has bipartisan support and should be passed in January by both legislative chambers.” That article incorrectly says that if passed by both houses and signed by the Governor, it would take effect in April.

If signed into law, the starting date would be October 1st, 2010.

The DNR provided this clarification:

We had several media outlets erroneously report on Monday, Dec. 28, that the Governor signed legislation to create the State Park Passport, the $10 fee added to Michigan license plate renewals that would take the place of the Michigan State Park Motor Vehicle Permit window sticker. This is not true.

Senate Bill 388 originally was a bill to create the State Park Passport; however, the Legislature substituted language in the bill to simply extend the expiration date on the Motor Vehicle Permits to the end of March 2010. This gives them more time to work on the agreement to create the State Park Passport – which has NOT been approved by the Legislature yet.

I would respectfully ask for a correction from any media outlets that reported this, as many DNR offices are getting calls from angry state park users who already purchased a 2010 Motor Vehicle Permit and want a refund. The State Park Passport ($10 license plate fee) has not been approved yet. And if it is approved, it would not take effect until Oct. 1, 2010. In order to enjoy a state park or state recreation area in 2010, people will need to purchase a 2010 Motor Vehicle Permit window sticker, as they have in the past. They are available at any state park, or online at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

You can also keep on top of this critical funding issue at www.OurMichiganParks.org.

Senate Bills 388 and 389, also known as the recreation passport bills have passed the Michigan Senate and reported out of House committee. They need to be voted on by the entire House. We believe we have the votes, but the Speaker Andy Dillon is not letting it go to a vote.

We need Michigan residents to call him, especially those within his district, annd ask that he call for a vote on Senate Bills 388 and 389. His phone number is 517.373.0857.

It might take a minute but it means preserving our state parks for generations to come.

BikePortland.org is reporting on new legislation being introduced in Congress next week.

U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) plans to introduce a new bill to Congress next week that would create a $2 billion grant program that would hasten investment in biking, walking, and other “active transportation” options.

Blumenauer’s office sent out a one pager and a PDF of the bill today, saying that the proposed legislation has already been vetted with national organizations and leaders. The bill would look to increase mode share for biking and walking through “concentrated funding for active transportation networks”. “It is time for the federal government to support communities’infrastructure investment,” the statement says.

This sounds much like the Active Transportation funding program Rails-to-Trails tried getting in to federal transportation bill. They were unsuccessful apparently because “it looked too much like earmarks.” The city of Detroit had submitted a $50 million request under this proposed program. That funding would have built 400-miles of bike lanes and countless miles of greenways.

This new legislation from Blumenauer’s office would be different in that it’s a competitive grant program (with a two-year application cycle). The grants would range from $5 to $15 million for five years.

Conveniently enough, $15 million was the estimated cost (in 2006) of adding 400 miles of bikes lanes across Detroit.

Next Tuesday is a Brookings/ National Association of City Transportation Officials bicycling event in Washington DC. Congressman Blumenauer is a guest speaker and may likely discuss this new funding opportunity. (Yes, David Bryne will be there as well. I’ll invite him to ride in Detroit again.)

Fortunately I was able to attend this event both as the Detroit Greenways Coordinator for the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and a media representative from this web site.

Learning about the event after registration had closed, I successfully made the following pitch:

Whether I can attend or not, I would suggest that bringing a Detroit perspective to the discussion would be invaluable. Detroit is not Portland or Chicago or New York. The city of Detroit has gained its high level of bike friendliness as residents (and their vehicles) have left. We are at our pre-WWI population levels with a post-WWII street infrastructure. Our 40 square miles of vacant/abandoned land provides unique challenges and tremendous opportunities for non-motorized transportation growth and designs.

Perhaps this New York Times op-ed provides a window into what we have in Detroit and in other Rust Belt communities.

But while the infrastructure is accommodating, the Motor City culture in many ways is not. Though it’s beginning to change, many still see bicycles as a last choice mode of transportation. We are exploring ways to turn that around.

Certainly, getting the funding to build 400 miles of bike lanes would be great, but how where would the money come from to maintain (e.g. repaint) them? It seems it will be all the more critical that we advocate for changes to SEMCOG’s Congrestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding formulas so make sustainable funding dollars available for any bicycle facilities we build.

Look for a follow up report after Tuesday.