FINALLY, something to tell my friends who are considering a move to the suburbs. DON’T DO IT! IT’S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH!
It seems there’s finally "scientific" proof why Park Slope is a better place to live than say, Montclair, Hastings, or Maplewood. A study published in "Public Health" journal found that urban sprawl living is unhealthy.
It makes total sense to me. People get more exercise in places like Park Slope because they’re not in their cars all day. We walk all the time from one end of Seventh Avenue to the other and think nothing of walking to Prospect Park, the Botanic Gardens or The Brooklyn Museum.
Suburban sprawl may even age people by four years. The researchers also emphasize the importance of what they call "utilitarian walking": the exercise we Brooklynites get walking to and from school, up and down the subway
stairs, or to Met Food for replenishments of milk and orange juice.
People don’t usually think of that kind of thing as exercise but it is. According to the study: "It makes a huge difference. Just the 10
additional minutes a day that you go to the store and back easily add
up to a couple of pounds a year in terms of body weight."
I am so loving this.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
Ummmm, last time I was there, Montclair was walkable, friend.
Park Slope ain’t the only neighborhood with sidewalks. Where I agree is that cities and towns–all of them–should do everything they can to encourage vibrant pedestrian life. That means: sidewalks, bridges over highways, large tracts of public land with trails, rail trails, bike lanes, more sidewalks, slow-speed zones (15-20 mph strictly enforced) in densely populated areas… I could go on, but I’ll move it to my blog!!
Oh, go ahead: rub it in.
At least you didn’t say “or Teaneck.”