Neighborhood Planning Could Help More Kids Avoid Obesity

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Dear Sarah Chambers,
Your comment is accurate; however, do the officials who makie the decisions for low-income neighborhoods think and operate in this framework? Is this framework within the radar of those officials?
Too, I would like to add to the comment that fear usually generates anger. Do we have many angry people in the low-income neighborhoods of our nation? Historically, did not the riots begin there?
Sincerely,
Rosemary E. Hampton

Rosemary E. Hampton of MN 10:57AM June 22, 2010

This is a power-packed piece! It covers just about anything people can think of when deciding where to live. The loss of neighborhood schools is tragic. A safety factor includes how far from us our children are for so many hours a day. And are all schools easily accessed by public transportation, since many families don't have cars? Family finances largely determine decisions we make, such as where we can afford to live. In other words, our choices are more limited on limited income. This can contribute to the "fear factor", feelings of helplessness, distrust. All the youth programs, parks, recreational facilities, may do little to instill feelings of safety in our neighborhoods. Economics can decide whether at-home supervision is available after school hours, monitoring activities, what snacks are available, how much tv is watched at these times. Does youth even have a bicycle, skate board, can tennis lessons be had, YMCA membership? Are parents available even to oversee peer influences, positive & negative? I mention just some of the things to consider when talking about health; I was raising young children as a single parent who had to work, could no longer afford a car, trusting that nothing would happen while not around to monitor our surroundings.

Sarah L Chambers of MN 11:33AM June 08, 2010