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Apr 17, 2008 3:43 pm US/Pacific
SJ Mayor Promotes Walking For Health, Environment
SAN JOSE (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
San Jose was built with the car in mind, but now the city has put its foot down. Mayor Chuck Reed has led a charge out of City Hall to promote walking for health and transportation.
Reed and Chamber of Commerce head Pat Dando donned their sneakers and led city employees in a walk around the block around City Hall on Wednesday.
"It's time to get out and start walking, you know especially the business community we need to make sure that they understand that if their employees are not healthy, it costs businesses more money. So this is also affecting the bottom line," explained Dando.
Not only does it affect the company's bottom line, Dando pointed out that exercise helps to lower weight, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Some city employees have even formed a walking club. "A lot of them get out and walk on their lunch hour, instead of walking to to lunch, they're walking for lunch and that's great," offered Reed.
Given the current economic forecast, Reed said improving workers' health helps to cut the cost of insurance premiums the city has to pay.
But getting around on foot can be dangerous. Six lane roads cut through many San Jose neighborhoods and cars reach freeway speeds. In 2007, cars killed 16 pedestrians on San Jose streets, up from 9 in 2006, with most of the pedestrian deaths occurred in the early morning or evening hours.
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