For Immediate Release: September 28, 2004
Contact: Ray Larsen 407-649-6891, Executive Director, Healthy Community Initiative of Greater Orlando
Dean Grandin 407-246-2120
Director, City of Orlando Planning Division

Active Living by Design Downtown Survey

WHO: Orlando Active Living by Design partners and volunteers
WHAT: Survey of streets in downtown Orlando
WHEN: Saturday, October 23, 2004 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
WHERE: City of Orlando City Hall, located at 400 S. Orange Ave.
WHY: To determine the walkability and bikeability of City streets and how to make them more conducive to physical activity


ORLANDO, FL (October 22, 2004) -- On Saturday, October 23, 2004, approximately 100 volunteers will kick off the Orlando Active Living by Design Initiative. Volunteers will survey downtown Orlando streets using concrete measures and perception questions to determine their walkability and bikeability.

Results will be used to make recommendations for a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly downtown and to help increase the physical activity level of our residents. We know it’s good to walk … but we need safe and comfortable places to walk!

Active Living by Design is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is a part of the UNC School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This program establishes and evaluates innovative approaches to increase physical activity through community design, public policies and communications strategies.

Partnerships representing 25 communities have been funded to develop, implement and sustain collaboration among a variety of organizations in public health and other disciplines, such as city planning, transportation, architecture, recreation, crime prevention, traffic safety and education, as well as key advocacy groups concentrating on land use, public transit, non-motorized travel, public spaces, parks, trails and architectural practices that advance physical activity. The City of Orlando is one of the 25 communities selected for this initiative.

 

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