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Active Living Hennepin County is a partnership of cities, businesses and nonprofits working together to make the active choice (walking, biking, and taking public transit) the easy choice by integrating health with land use and transportation decision-making. Health begins in the places where we live, learn, work, and play.Visit Active Living to learn more.
Karen Nikolai
Healthy Community Planning Manager
612-348-8089
Laura Fredrick-Wang
Healthy Community Planning Analyst
612-543-1966
Nadine Chalmers
Active Living Planner
612-348-3986
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Over 100 residents in Hopkins, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn
Park, and St. Louis Park took part in a series of free earn-a-bike and
learn-to-ride classes in 2015. Participants in the earn-a-bike program learned
basic bike repair skills, gained exposure to bike safety, worked together as a
team to repair bikes, and got a bike to keep at the end of the program.
Learn-to-ride classes engaged adults who never learned to ride a bike, or who
had learned but lost the basic techniques of riding a bicycle.
These classes were funded by Active Living Hennepin County
(through the SHIP program) and held by the nonprofit Cycles for Change, with the
overarching goal of increasing bike access and education in communities of
color and low to moderate income communities. One exciting outcome is that earn-a-bike graduates in Hopkins have formed a bike club and have continued to ride together and to discuss important issues about biking and bike safety in their city.
 Earn-a-bike class in St Louis Park
 This fall, the
Robbinsdale Police Department conducted targeted education and enforcement
around the state law requiring people driving cars to stop for people at
crosswalks. A plain clothes officer attempted to cross at a crosswalk and drivers
who failed to yield were pulled over and educated about the requirement to stop
for people crossing the street. Some people who did stop for the pedestrian in
the crosswalk were also pulled over and given $25 gas cards to reinforce this
behavior. Captain Patrick Foley of the Robbinsdale Police Department said that
the community was overwhelmingly supportive of more attention being paid to the
safety of people walking and biking. “Community members noted that crosswalk violation enforcement was a
priority for them thanks to concerns about their own safety and also the safety
of their neighbors while on bicycle or foot,” said Captain Foley. This effort
was funded through the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP).
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 Hennepin County is growing 500 trees in its nursery at the Adult Corrections Facility in Plymouth. These trees will be used to replace
canopy trees that will be lost to the Emerald Ash Borer. Soon, fruit trees will
be added to the nursery. With funding from the Statewide Health Improvement
Program (SHIP) Hennepin County’s Environment and Energy department purchased 50
trees for the nursery which, once they are mature, will be replanted in the
community. Fruit from the apple, plum, and pear trees will be harvested and
made available through food banks, community kitchens, or for other public use.
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Image credit: www.minnesotagrown.com
The Minnesota Department of
Agriculture (MDA) must report to the legislature by this coming January on a proposal
to “effectively and efficiently promote urban agriculture in Minnesota
cities.” Some aspects of urban agriculture pertain to
comprehensive plans and land-use controls, so gaining
perspectives of planning professionals and citizen planners is important to the
MDA. A short survey may be completed online at http://bit.ly/mnurbanag.
Print surveys will also be available in English, Hmong, and
Spanish. Please complete the survey by December 31, 2015, and help
spread the word to others who may be interested.
 Last month, Hennepin County became the first county in Minnesota to receive a Silver “Bicycle Friendly Community” distinction from the League of American Bicyclists. No other standalone county in the nation has received a higher status. The five levels of Bicycle Friendly Community awards- Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze- are awarded to communities that provide safe, comfortable and convenient places to bike, according to the League of American Bicyclists. This award acknowledges Hennepin County’s progress throughout the past decades in developing a robust bicycle network. The silver award will remain in effect for four years, and Hennepin County is aiming even higher for its next opportunity to apply for the award.
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 The Minnesota Department of Health is offering up to $30,000 to an organization for a rapid Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on a built environment policy/plan. HIA provide information and recommendations to help policy makers consider health outcomes in decision making. For more information, click here.
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Every season brings new joys and challenges to biking. Many
people ride their bikes through the winter, but you do need to be prepared.
Following are a few tips that can keep you moving comfortably through the
winter:
- Take it slow on snow
and ice.
- Studded tires provide
extra grip in icy conditions.
- Use lights, reflectors
and reflective clothing to keep you visible in the dark months.
- Biking generates a lot
of body heat — wear layers. You should be a little chilly as you start your
ride. You’ll warm up within few blocks and you’ll want to avoid overheating.
- Your fingers, toes,
nose and ears are most prone to getting cold. Wear gloves, good non-cotton
socks and a hat. If it’s really cold or you’re sensitive to cold, consider a
scarf, muffler, balaclava or ski goggles.
- Clean and lubricate
your chain more frequently to prevent excessive wear. Talk to your local bike
shop about getting a lubricant for winter biking.
- There is no shame in
walking your bike sometimes.
- Combine your bike trip
with transit to extend your range and increase your comfort. Every Metro
Transit bus and train is equipped to carry bikes.
 The Winter Cycling Congress will be held February 2-4, 2016, in Minneapolis and St Paul. This is the fourth annual Winter Cycling Congress and the first time it has been held in the United States (previously, it has been in the Netherlands, Finland, and Canada). The three day conference provides an opportunity for planners, engineers, public health practitioners, advocates, tourism officials, bloggers, journalists, and others to come together to share information about making it easy and fun to ride a bike in the winter. To learn more, go to http://wintercyclingcongress2016.org/
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