by William Matthias
Mark Fenton and his mother, Joan, just before his talk in Brockport. Mark Fenton is not your run-of-the-mill public health advocate, and as one of the foremost experts on designing walk- and bike-friendly communities, he has a host of ideas on improving his hometown, or building a better Brockport.
“I see Brockport as a potential national model for a triple health community,” said Fenton, a public health, planning and transportation consultant. “I know what you (the Brockport community) are capable of, so I’m going to challenge you.”
Fenton’s triple health model is a blueprint for the ideal community. This community is eco-friendly and economically vibrant. Its residents are physically active, frequently using alternative modes of transportation during the daily grind, especially for short trips.
The “challenge” is getting community stakeholders together to take action – to make this kind of community a reality.
Fenton, former host of the PBS television program America’s Walking, delivered a presentation, “Community Health by Design,” to a room full of Brockporters and residents from neighboring communities at The College at Brockport on Friday, October 5. The Walk! Bike! Brockport! Action Group organized the event with three co-sponsors, including the Brockport Merchants Association.
Ray Duncan, co-chair of Walk! Bike! Brockport!, said the purpose of the presentation was to gather and educate Brockport leaders in hopes of getting them to work together as a task force that can help “push policy.”
Village Trustee Margaret Blackman, a member of the Walk! Bike! Brockport! group, said the presentation was entertaining and informative.
“He gave a good talk with energy and enthusiasm,” Blackman said. “He practices what he preaches and I like that he is using his hometown as a model, but at the same time challenging us to move forward.”
Village Trustee Bill Andrews said, “Our policymakers need to be alert to opportunities to increase further the walkability of the area. He (Fenton) has set me to work on getting sidewalks and bike lanes in the outskirts of the Village into our Comprehensive Plan.”
Mark Fenton engaged, entertained and instructed a large crowd in the New York Room in the Cooper Building of The College at Brockport with a presentation that used a New Urbanism planning approach, emphasizing healthy physical activity and including enhanced business areas and neighborhoods. He stressed the need for routine, daily physical activity for everyone.Fenton outlined in detail the elements of a healthy community design. The elements included an extensive “network” (with trails, sidewalks, bike lanes, etc.) for residents in transit and site designs that are inviting and functional for non-motorists.
Fenton pointed to the Brockport Walmart Supercenter on Route 31/Brockport Spencerport Road and the CVS Pharmacy at the intersection of Route 31 and Route 19/Lake Road as businesses with second-rate site designs.
“If we build businesses like this, with huge parking lots in front and buildings set way back, it’s not very inviting to pedestrians,” Fenton said. “Plus, the parking lots generate a huge amount of storm water runoff and absorb a lot of solar energy.”
Fenton said that most municipalities have extensive guidelines on how a developer builds, but these guidelines are automobile-oriented. He also said town/village code often mandates parking requirements for developers that are “totally out of whack.”
“Developers are required to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on parking,” Fenton said. “But, if you reduce the amount of parking required, the developer can spend a portion of that money to make it (the development) more appealing for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users, which in turn reduces parking demand.”
Fenton provided several ideas for policymakers to consider for implementation. He said “forward-thinking” communities are passing complete streets policies, for example. These policies, championed by the National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC), an arm of the Smart Growth America advocacy organization, ensure that all road users, not just motorists, are accommodated during the planning, construction and maintenance of roadways.
According to the NCSC, 26 states and 379 regional and local jurisdictions have adopted a “complete streets” policy or have made a commitment to do so.
Fenton also highlighted research related to poor health that makes the case for change on the local level. For instance, the percentage of children who walked to school dropped more than 50 percent from 1961 to 2001, according to the “Journal of Physical Activity and Health.”
“This (percentage drop) coincided with a tripling of childhood obesity rates and a massive reduction in physical activity,” Fenton said. “Meanwhile, crimes against kids have actually gone down over the past 40 years.”
Fenton said the dramatic decline in overall public health over the years can be attributed, in part, to the move away from raising “free range” youth, caused by over-protective parenting. He also said only 20 percent of American adults are meeting national guidelines for daily physical activity.
According to the New York State Department of Health, an estimated 365,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year due to diseases associated with physical inactivity and unhealthy eating. Fenton said he wants to get these numbers moving in the opposite direction by transforming automobile-oriented communities into walk- and bike-friendly places.
Brockport has taken steps toward becoming the latter, partly due to the efforts of Walk! Bike! Brockport! Fenton said the organization has been instrumental to several changes that have improved the Brockport area, including the installation of curb extensions and bicycle racks on Main Street, and the construction of the roundabout at the north end of the village.
“These things don’t happen overnight,” Fenton said. “I am so proud of you (the Brockport community). Your great grandchildren will be better off because of what you’ve accomplished.”
