It all began with a dare. In 2003, Tucson native and former surgeon general Richard Carmona challenged his friend, Mayor Robert E. Walkup, to turn their hometown into the model of a healthy city. He has done it, reshaping his city into a place where health and safety aren't an afterthought, but an integral part of municipal planning.
The sprawling, multi-faceted Healthy City Initiative is based on Carmona's five pillars of a healthy community: the physical, the emotional, safety, violence prevention, and substance-abuse prevention. Tucson now has 700 miles of bikeways and 72 miles of shared-use paths, and plans to spend more than $80 million to make it an entirely walkable, bikeable city. There are regular bike and foot races, and "we've partnered with neighborhood associations to encourage walking programs," says Annemarie Medina, who leads the health effort for the mayor.
All that moving around has also turned Tucson into one big neighborhood-watch program -- crime is down 20% since 2006. High-profile locals including Mike Stoops, coach of the University of Arizona's football team, serve as ambassadors for domestic-violence prevention. And by targeting four neighborhoods with a public-private enforcement-and-treatment project, Tucson has seen a 45% reduction in crystal-meth availability since 2006.
Walkup intends for the benefits of his initiative to ripple well beyond Tucson. In December, he hosted mayors from around the U.S. for a Healthy City Summit. And he created the Mayor's Global Alliance for Community Wellness, a Web site where civic leaders can share best practices; 41 city managers from six countries now participate.
Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Malmö, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Taipei, Tucson, Vancouver
Related Stories: | Topics:Magazine, Fast Cities, tucson, Tucson, Politics, Richard Carmona, Local Politics, Bob Walkup |
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Recent Comments | 4 Total
July 2, 2009 at 8:54am by Adam.s Adam.s
The last few months i've been looking for tucson homes for sale for my wife and I we are planning to move there hopefully at the end of the summer.
July 22, 2009 at 9:57am by Jason Seoul
How did Tucson become a healthy city? It started with a dare.
It all began with a dare. In 2003, Tucson native and former surgeon general Richard Carmona challenged his friend, Mayor Robert E. Walkup, to turn their hometown into the model of a healthy city. He has done it, reshaping his city into a place where health and safety aren't an afterthought, but an integral part of municipal planning.
The sprawling, multi-faceted Healthy City Initiative is based on Carmona's five pillars of a healthy community: the physical, the emotional, safety, violence prevention, and substance-abuse prevention. Tucson now has 700 miles of bikeways and 72 miles of shared-use paths, and plans to spend more than $80 million to make it an entirely walkable, bikeable city.
Jason Seoul
October 28, 2009 at 1:28am by Liontin Myer
Tucson was originally inhabited around 7000 BC by early Paleo-Indians, and later replaced by groups designated by archaeologists as the Hohokam. As such, Tucson is at the longest continuously inhabited location in the United States. Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino visited the area in 1692, and founded the Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1700. The Spanish established a presidio (fort) in 1775 and the town came to be called "Tucson." Tucson became a part of Mexico after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Following the Gadsden purchase in 1853, Tucson became a part of the United States of America. From August 1861, until mid-1862, Tucson was the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. Until 1863, Tucson and all of Arizona was part of the New Mexico Territory. From 1867 to 1889, Tucson was the capital of the Arizona Territory. The University of Arizona, located in Tucson, was founded in 1885. By 1900 7,531 people lived in Tucson. The population increased gradually to 13,913 in 1910, 20,292 in 1920, and 36,818 in 1940.
Liontin Myer
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November 5, 2009 at 1:19pm by Eric Sandler
Tucson is a really nice city.
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