Of course exercise of any kind would help, but this is more of a trans fat (which i was one the NY Board of Health’s spoke persons) and food intact education by the health departments, then have programs thru the Board of Ed's and after school programs to encourage running biking and exercise

This is another great benefit of encouraging New Yorkers to use modes of transportation other than driving. Biking and walking are excellent ways for New Yorkers (and especially children) to stay healthy. A bike share program is one way to improve access to bikes and to encourage commuters to use them and I am supportive of efforts such as the Downtown Alliance's summer free Bike Sharing program. Designating protected bike lanes and ensuring adequate indoor bike storage and outdoor bike racks are other ways to encourage biking. To encourage walking, I think we can do more to widen sidewalks and discourage illegal vending that makes many of our downtown sidewalks difficult to navigate. We should also focus on creating more open space and parks, particularly in Lower Manhattan and on the East River waterfront. As Hudson River Park has successfully shown, attractive public park space encourages walking and biking.

Yes, active transportation is a great way to improve public health - it is easy, efficient and all ages can participate. I believe part of the reason New York City's obesity rates are lower than the rest of the state is because so much of city life involves active transportation - and making it easier and safer would only help lower our obesity rate. This includes the development of quality facilities in public schools, especially in any new school construction.
I also believe it is important to stress physical education in our children’s schools. As a mother, former teacher, and wife of a public school teacher, I know that physical education can and does have a positive impact on our children’s physical and mental health.
To increase walking and biking we need to 1) Increase infrastructure - keeping sidewalks in good condition and adding safe and convenient bike lanes 2) Working with transit to make it easy to walk and bike to subway stations. 3) Increasing exposure - through events like Summer Streets 4) Education – letting members of the community know and understand the benefits of exercise and transportation alternatives.

Yes I agree, I support the creation of special bikes lanes and walking paths. I am the chief sponsor of a new law requiring parking lots and parking garages to park bicycles.

Yes, I have also proved in college that inner children are more prone to obesity that children in the suburbs, because inner city children can walk to the many fast food business. I will create more and safer paths for both biking and walking. I will also encourage the surrounding communities, schools and business to invest in this process.

While I believe increasing walking and biking in NYC would improve public health I don’t think it will solve obesity. However I am committed to providing more bike paths/lanes especially in my district. I want to team up with the Yankees and create more bike friendly spaces at the stadium. I think that it would be awesome if the Yankee organization prioritized bicycle parking. People would have an incentive to ride bikes to the game, (free and close parking) and traffic congestion and pollution would be alleviated. I would even like to create “bike-night” where if people ride bicycles to the stadium they get free food and drink vouchers, or even free tickets. Additionally I am interested in creating more bike lanes. I would like to connect all parks in the Bronx via bike paths. We could start with the major ones and expand. It would be great if a family could start their day in Van Cortlandt Park and end it at Joyce Kilmer Park all while on Bicycle. I know it’s possible it is just about prioritizing.

I do believe walking and biking would provide positive results to reducing the current obesity epidemic in our city. I am a strong supporter of expanding our Greenway System throughout our local neighborhoods connecting housing, schools, recreational facilities and transportation hubs. I would support proposals which encourage elmentary and middle school students to attend schools within there neighborhoods, not only would this promote better health through excersice by walking and biking, it would also reduce the number of school buses on our streets thereby improving traffic congestion and air quality. The economic saving of reducing the number of buses might also prove to be a positive benifit.

It is vitally important that we work to ensure that as many New Yorkers (especially our children) as possible are able to maintain a healthy lifestyle, not only for their immediate benefit but for the purpose of reducing the costs of healthcare in the long run. I believe that we should work to increase the number of bike and walk paths throughout the City to promote exercise for our residents.

The 19th District is fortunate to have a number beautiful bike and walk paths throughout our neighborhoods and I will work to ensure that are maintained. I will also advocate increasing the number of bike lanes in the streets to offer a safe route for biking. Finally, I will work to see that our green spaces are protected so that our children have safe parks to play and exercise in.

Recent studies have all confirmed that far too many Americans are dying as a result of our underinvestment in safe walking and biking conditions. That is a critical part of my plan for our district, increasing funding and focus into our crumbling infrastructure of our beautiful local parks. Fort Totten, Little Bay Park, Booth Memorial Park and McNeil Park in College POint, all have failing walking paths and little areas for cyclists to freely navigate. I am also a proponent of "If you build it they will come," investing in walking and biking brings more people to walk and bike safely and in the right environments. Further complicating the issue is that our chilodren are not given proper diet choices in our schools.

It is well-known that walking and biking are excellent ways of losing weight and improving
health. In order to increase walking and biking, several measures can and should be taken to
complement each and improve the public welfare. Firstly, biking lanes with ample width should
be inserted throughout the district to give those who already want to bike a safe and enjoyable
path. Secondly, traffic law enforcement must be prioritized to ensure that streets are safe for
pedestrians and drivers alike. Thirdly, the leaders of the district and city must speak out and
communicate the importance of exercise and how it can improve health, save you money, and
help the environment. Finally, creative plans like congestion pricing, automated traffic
enforcement cameras and strictly obeyed city vehicle speed limits must be discussed seriously
as ways of meeting the health, traffic, and environmental crises that have converged on the city.