In Search of a City: Healthy Living
Living and working in the central city and downtown is the right thing to do for so many reasons. It is good for the environment because people drive less and reduce their carbon footprint. It maintains a healthy tax base for Columbus, which shoulders most of the responsibility for social services in central Ohio. Central city residents help keep jobs where they are accessible by transit and to households without cars, which number 10% in Franklin County.
Walking and biking to work is also good for your health, according to a study reported in a recent issue of the Columbus Dispatch. Men in particular showed measurable improvement in body-mass index number, blood pressure, and other vital signs. The study involved 2,364 workers in Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham and Oakland.
The sedentary, auto-dependent lifestyle of Columbus certainly seems to fuel health problems. I have noticed far fewer obese people in Toronto and New York, where most people bicycle or walk to work or transit stops, than Columbus. Add personal health to the list of good reasons for living and working in the city.
Tags: bicycling, columbus, Downtown, Downtown Columbus, Public Transportation