It’s A Walk In The Park

IT'S A WALK IN THE PARK: A PART OF CLIMATE ACTION NOW

Help us with ideas to expand the program for 2009

We are seeking input from the public on additional locations and better ways to get people to use the opportunities to enjoy parks without cars.  If you have an idea for:

• A park where a road closure could enhance park enjoyment without overly restricting access to the park overall.
• A location for a one-time event.
• A location for monthly program activities, especially one that is good for weekdays.
• Types of activities to feature at one-time or monthly events, again especially for weekdays, to promote the program and its goals.

An Expanded Opportunity for Your Health and Recreation

As part of our focus on supporting health in our communities and fighting global warming by reducing car usage, we are expanding opportunities for walking, bicycling and other forms of human-driven motion. Streets near these parks are also going car free, linking recreational activities to neighborhood business centers.

During road closures, people can enjoy the space in our larger parks without cars. This will hopefully encourage people to use alternate transport to get to these parks and will increase physical activity, creating the opportunity for potentially significant health benefits to many Seattleites. This program supports Parks and Recreations' Healthy Parks, Healthy You  initiative.

Benefits for citizens and communities from "Give your car the summer off - it's a walk in the park"

• Rising obesity rates in both children and adults, coupled with increasing awareness of our direct impact on the climate and the environment, mean that residents are seeking out safe, accessible, and affordable options to address these concerns. A car-free activity in the Park provides exactly this kind of opportunity.

• Because sections of these parks are uninterrupted by intersections, closing streets to cars allow for vigorous and sustained exercise that people need to keep heart rates up and muscles moving for a long enough time to be truly beneficial.

• Providing this opportunity on a simple, easy to understand schedule will encourage people to engage in this kind of exercise regularly.

• Provides a healthy outdoor activity for families to do together, and promotes neighbors meeting and socializing, as formerly occurred with promenades.

• The program encourages people to use alternative forms of transportation, expands their awareness of the impact of their actions, and reduces the carbon footprint of all participants.

A Growing Movement...

Regular "car-free days" are becoming increasingly common throughout the nation and the world. According to the World Carfree Network, an international organization, more than 1,500 cities worldwide now have regular car-free days. Here are some examples:

• For years, Paris and other European cities have been shutting down streets to cars on Sundays and public holidays throughout the year.
• In Florence and Siena, Italy, cars have not been allowed downtown for many years.
• Since 2000, when citizens in Bogota, Columbia voted to approve an annual Dia Sin Carro, Car Free Day, private cars have been banned entirely from the city every February 1.  There is now a weekly Sunday Cyclovia program that dedicates 75 miles of roadway to pedestrians and bicyclists.
• On November 14, 2007, legislation passed in San Francisco to make permanent “Healthy Saturdays in Golden Gate Park,” closing the roadways to cars from April through September. A 2007 report commissioned by Mayor Gavin Newsom found that on car-free Sundays on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, in place since the 1960s, twice as many people visit the park with little impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.  Saturdays have been added. Now, San Francisco is opening six miles of streets to the public for four hours on August 31 and September 14.
• In Chicago, since 2002, the annual "Bike the Drive" clears 30 miles of Lake Shore Drive for a 1-day bicycles-only event.
• Seattle and other U.S. cities such as Boulder, Madison, WI, and Portland, OR also operate successful temporary road closing programs that attract thousands.
• In Phoenix, "Silent Sundays" at South Mountain Park and Preserve ban autos from the road to the mountaintop once a month, and the e-mail is running 80 percent in support of the program.
• Recently Portland held its Sunday Parkways on June 22nd, 2008 from 8 am to 2 pm, so that 60 miles of roadway supported human powered activity.
  
• On three Saturdays in August this summer from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., New York City will be closing almost 7 miles of streets in Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge to midway up the length of Central Park. New York City also regularly closes to traffic park roads in Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Silver Lake in Staten Island and three parks in Queens.
• Seattle and these other U.S. cities also operate successful temporary road closing programs that attract thousands: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Madison, WI, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C.
  

Environmental Sustainability, Too

By encouraging and supporting people to recreate without cars, "Its a Walk in the Park" will help you save money on gas and reduce greenhouse gas output. 

Learn more about car-free events and other programs that provide discounts or incentives for driving less by visiting www.seattlecan.org. 

Pedestrians and Bicyclists Sharing the Roadway
Even without cars, it is important that all who are using a road observe common courtesy, know safety tips and be aware of their obligations in using public space.  To become more informed, you can go to these websites:

Bicyclists

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/biketrail.htm

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikecode.htm

Pedestrians

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ped_masterplan.htm

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/PedestrianLaw.htm

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