Authorizing City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold public hearings on how making Philadelphia more walkable and attractive to non-motorized forms of transport, such as bicycles, will reduce air pollution, create safe streets, improve physical fitness, have positive economic impacts, and generally enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors to our City.

WHEREAS, Walkability is the key to creating a more “livable Philadelphia;” and

WHEREAS, Walkability helps create safe neighborhoods. More people walking on neighborhood streets creates extra eyes and ears for the community; and

WHEREAS, Walking helps reduce the need for automobiles, the largest source of ozone pollution. The Greater Philadelphia Area is currently in non-attainment of the federal health standards for ground-level ozone, or smog; and

WHEREAS, Harvard University School of Public Health has concluded that air pollution contributes to the deaths of 60,000 people nationwide. In urban areas with poor air quality, including Philadelphia, asthma is becoming a more significant concern; and

WHEREAS, Walking increases physical activity. The nation, including Philadelphia, is facing a new epidemic—obesity. The walkability of a community can help encourage residents to walk more than thus become more physically fit; and

WHEREAS, The walkability of a community is a big “selling point” for the City and can help the City to maintain its residents. The walkability of the City can also help attract residents back to the City from the outlying suburbs. Current suburban land use designs cannot offer the walkability aspect available in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, Bicycling and walking can help reduce roadway congestion since many streets carry more traffic than they were designed to handle; and

WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has a federal mandate to create a master plan for pedestrian and bicycle transportation throughout the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, Better traffic controls, including signalization and traffic calming, closure of roadways or designating certain streets as one-way, are only some of the many strategies that can be employed to increase the City’s walkability; now therefore

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby, authorizes Council’s Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold public hearings on how making Philadelphia more walkable and attractive to non-motorized forms of transport, such as bicycles, will reduce air pollution, create safe streets, improve physical fitness, have positive economic impacts, and generally enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors to our City.

End