Title
To recognize The Columbus Safe Routes to School Program and to support the efforts it has made to ensure the safety, health, and equity of students in the City of Columbus
Body
WHEREAS, The Columbus Safe Routes to School program, in partnership with Columbus City Schools, strives for each student to be highly educated, prepared for leadership and service, and empowered for success as a citizen in a global community that supports and enhances safe walking and biking to school by focusing on health and equity through engineering, enforcement, evaluation, education and encouragement; and
WHEREAS, obesity is one of the most serious threats to American public health, ranking third among preventable causes of death in the United States; and
WHEREAS, motor vehicle crashes are also a leading cause of death and injury to children; and
WHEREAS, between 1969 and 2014 the percentage of children walking and biking to school dramatically declined from 48 percent to less than 13 percent; and
WHEREAS, the Safe Routes to School program, created by Congress in 2005, aimed to increase the number of children engaged in active transportation when traveling to school by funding (1) infrastructure projects, located within two miles of a public school, that directly increase safety and convenience for public school children walking and/or biking to school, and (2) non-infrastructure projects designed to encourage public school children to walk and bicycle to school ; and
WHEREAS, Safe Routes to School projects are a proven, effective approach to increasing the number of children actively traveling to school by foot or bike; and
WHEREAS, Safe Routes to School projects provide important health, safety, and environmental benefits for children, including reducing risk of obesity/chronic disease and pedestrian/bicycle injuries as well as improving air quality; and Safe Routes to School projects provide important health, safety, and environmental benefits for children, including reducing risk of obesity/chronic disease and pedestrian/bicycle injuries as well as improving air quality; and
WHEREAS, the need for Safe Routes to School projects is especially strong in urban areas, like Columbus, which suffer from a disproportionately high incidence of both childhood obesity/chronic disease and pedestrian and bicycle injuries and often have inferior pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, Safe Routes to School projects make it safer and more convenient for all residents to walk and bike to destinations, further promoting public health; and
WHEREAS, Now therefore, BE IT RESOLVED that Columbus City Council affirms its commitment to active transportation and supporting Safe Routes to School infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That we endorse the attached School Travel Plan and the Columbus Safe Routes to School Program.