Toss out those smokes, dust off that bike

Flush with a new $32 million public heath grant, Los Angeles County in the weeks ahead will begin attacking obesity and tobacco use by underwriting an array of nutrition and fitness strategies, including an innovative plan for bicycle and pedestrian paths near Metro rail stations.

In all, nearly 20 “Transit Oriented Districts” are being envisioned along the Metro Blue and Green lines in the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated county territories where obesity rates are particularly high among children and adults. The idea is not only to lay the groundwork for pedestrian and bike amenities around the stations but also to expand access into surrounding neighborhoods with populations of at least 550,000.

In a boon to the region’s increasingly organized cycling community, crucial funding also will be provided for environmental reviews of the county’s Bikeway Master Plan, a network of on- and off-road bikeways. The plan, currently being drafted, was facing a major hurdle because money for the assessments was expected to start drying up.

The county’s bike plan coordinator, Abu Yusuf, said he “was overjoyed” to learn of the infusion of money. “It wasn’t a sure thing,” said Yusuf, an avid cyclist. “We could have definitely been under the chopping block.”

These efforts, important as they are, represent just one facet of a sweeping strategy that the county’s Department of Public Health proposed late last year to U.S. Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Facing intense competition from communities nationwide, Public Health was awarded $16 million for obesity, nutrition and physical activity projects, along with another $16 million for anti-tobacco efforts. The grant, provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), was announced Friday.

“I personally know the challenges that come from quitting smoking and adopting better habits, such as exercising more and eating healthier,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who pushed public health officials to expand their proposal to include bicycle and pedestrian amenities as well as a social media campaign. “At a time when government so often has been forced to cut the budget, it’s nice to gain some new resources to create healthier, smoke-free environments and reduce chronic diseases such as diabetes.”

The grant monies, which were distributed nationwide, signify a turning point of sorts for the federal government, which traditionally has not invested huge sums at the local level for preventive health measures or for planning, policy support and logistical direction.

The largest chunk of the grant, for example, will finance six three-member “mobilization” teams that will be dispatched to work with community groups, local officials and others to support passage of second-hand smoke rules in at least 20 cities in L.A. County.

The county also will team up on several fronts with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Office of Education on issues ranging from physical education to the creation of more stringent nutritional standards for school meals.

Said Dr. Paul Simon, director of the county’s Public Health Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention: “We want to build healthier lives, from the ground up.”

To read additional details of the Public Health Department’s pitch to the federal government, as reported to the Board of Supervisors last November, click here.