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Feb

28

WLST Smorgasbord – something for everyone


It’s all good, I just can’t find the time to write about each one individually. I know some WLST readers hate when I do this, but if I didn’t, some of these pieces would get lost in the Save as Draft black hole that’s already increasing in density daily. I’m trying to figure out Google Reader or Bloglines’ blog clipping thing so I can do it there instead.

It’s a good sign that there’s that much to write about and that I’m getting to other responsibilities to the extent that I can’t blog about all this stuff. I wish I could do this all day, everyday and write, write, write. But what I love in life would probably leave me if I did that, and then what would I have to write about?

1. SCOTUS to hear challenge to Bush’s faith-based office.

2. Orthomom lawsuit update, links to profile of lawyer who has defended many bloggers.

3. Boomers are lifelong learners; I’m including this because my thought wasn’t, Oh! How nice! My thought was, well yeah – because they have time and money and there’s a lot of them who are living longer. Sounds like a capitalist’s dream audience.

4. Vouchers versus public schools – case in point

5. Bio mom of Marcus Feisel signs away settlement over his death. What’s going on with that? Several possibilities if you know this area of the law. Sounds right – but is it?

6. Associate Editor of Writer’s Digest starts a blog.

7. Exponential growth in use of email to the U.S. Congress (should cross-post at Progress Ohio)

8. From the ebag by subscription only (Brewed Fresh Daily-type post):

Busy Intersections Invite People to Walk More
By Richard C. Gross, Contributing Writer
Health Behavior News Service

People are more likely to go for a walk in areas with four-way intersections and a large number of shops and businesses as possible destinations, a large new study finds.

The study examined pedestrian trips in 10 major U.S. cities to determine to what extent urban design guidelines increase walking.

Only two of four smart growth criteria investigated held up as reasons for walking — the presence of four-way intersections and a diverse business environment.

The other two — housing density and the length of a city block — did not appear to have any impact on the probability of walking, the study found.

“I see our study as a step on the way to evidence-based guidelines for design of the built environment in order to make it more conducive to walking,” said Rob Boer, Ph.D., who led the RAND Corp. research team.

The study appears in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The researchers used data from a 1995 transportation survey that included interviews of 42,033 households nationwide. Study cities were Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington.

The guidelines are part of a movement embraced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop sustainable communities. The criteria were spelled out in the New Urbanism Smart Scorecard, a tool for city planners and developers to determine whether a project fulfills smart-growth goals.

“The built environment is a powerful influence on walking,” said Chaya Gordon, senior research manager at the American Society on Aging. “RAND’s study of the association between Smart Scorecard factors and increased walking is a valuable contribution to understand the effect of particular neighborhood design features.” Gordon was not involved with the study.

Boer acknowledged that he didn’t know why four-way intersections had such a positive impact on walking but suggested “there may be more connectivity” within a neighborhood.

“But the number of businesses makes more sense,” he said. “Does it help to have destinations to make people walk more? The answer is yes.”

9. Phyllis Schlafly is INSANE. But don’t take my word for it. She doesn’t like McCain, Guiliani or Romney. Hmm – wait – maybe she’s not so crazy…

10. Politcio offers up a five point plan for Dems re: Iraq war. They posted one for the GOP yesterday too I believe.

11. Examples of school reform efforts and ideas on display already in Ohio: here and here.

Okay – that helped me clear some stuff out!

Enjoy – I wish I had time for each of those and might get back to them but please feel free to use as fodder for your blogs or comments here.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:53 am February 28th, 2007 in Politics 

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