Heather MacKenzie

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Bye for now,

Heather

Do you walk or ride a bicycle? For leisure? Exercise? Commuting? How often?
I do ride a bicycle for leisure, exercise and commuting (getting around town to appointments). I typically bike once a week when there is not snow on the ground because I prefer to walk most days. I continue to walk when there is snow on the ground. I think it is important to note that active transport is just one part of healthy living. The diverse opportunities for physical activity and whollistic health education and programming including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, emotional and mental health are all vital to enabling learning and growth.

Do you feel comfortable riding on the road with traffic?
No, I find that I am quite nervous riding on the road with traffic because I have many friends who have been hit by cars and SUVs while biking. Although I do not feel comfortable biking on the road with traffic, I feel more comfortable biking with traffic than driving.

Do you feel that students are comfortable cycling (for at least part of their trip) to school? If not, why? What would you change to make cyclists feel more confident?
I feel that some students are comfortable cycling to school (as I was in High School). There are some however, who are not comfortable doing so. In part, I believe this discomfort is due to vanity and hygiene concerns. Many people are concerned about messing up their hair under a bike helmet and sweating. I believe that if we have a broader biking culture in our society then people will not be as self conscious about these concerns. We should also work to ensure that schools have adequate shower facilities to enable people to bike/walk/rollerblade/skateboard etc. to work in the morning.

Another reason that many students do not feel comfortable cycling to school is because they attend schools very far from their home. We could encourage students to attend schools closer to their homes, to enable them to walk/bike etc., and we could also explain to children how to attach their bikes to buses and put them on the LRT to demonstrate the biking possibilities for long distances.

Numerous studies have established the relationship between increased physical activity and better academic achievement. As trustee, what specific actions will you take to encourage active transportation among students and staff?
I will lead by example and bike or walk to my trustee appointments wherever possible. I will propose that schools charge students and staff for parking (at least as much as bus fare) and then take the money from this and invest it in covered bike racks, bus fare subsidies, etc. I am interested in hearing the pros and cons of this suggestion discussed publicly.

How will you engage parents, principals and administrators to make health a priority, especially in regards to active transportation?
I will suggest that organizations such as the a The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society make presentations to these groups of individuals. I will attend meetings of parent councils and ask them to share their concerns, efforts and achievements regarding active transportation at their schools. I have suggested a number of other ideas in the answers to other questions.

What policies and practices need to be changed or created to achieve this goal?
I think that most of the suggestions I have made are possible within our current policies and we would just have to direct attention to whichever ideas appear might have the greatest impact. The school board has already demonstrated an interest in promoting healthy lifestyles and active transport so we would just need to scale our efforts up.

Because of the open-boundary, program-based school system in Edmonton, many students travel long distances to school. How would you encourage active transportation given this fact?
I will work to enhance the viability and appeal of community schools. I have outlined many other ideas that relate to this question in the other answers.

School closures discourage active transportation by increasing travel distances. Would you encourage study of the student health (and correlated academic) consequences of school closures?
Yes, I would encourage a study such as this. There are many studies that need to be conducted in order to get a better idea of all of the consequences of school closures on students.

An initiative in Nova Scotia, which included opening school gyms after hours for non-competitive sport activities, saw a 72% reduction in obesity rates. What innovative ways would you propose to increase school utilization and physical activity?
I would propose that all schools be open to community use for recreation and community building activities after school hours. I would encourage the Board to work with the City Council to make our city more friendly to active transportation. We could look at possibilities for opening skate-parks at schools.

Do the schools in your ward have adequate, secure bicycle parking?
No – covered parking would be ideal. In fact, if one bikes to the head office of the EPSB in downtown Edmonton (as I have), there are no bike racks at the front entrance. I would propose that we work to get secure bike racks at all schools and EPSB work locations.

What kind of education programs would you engage in to encourage effective cycling?
I will suggest that we run a competition for schools to come up with ideas to promote active transportation. We also need to ensure that children are educated on rules and best practices for safe active transport. We could look at having programs for maintaining bikes and helping students access bikes and safety equipment. One other possibility would be to have opportunities for students to learn how to ride bikes if they aren’t getting this sort of teaching and opportunity at home.

What would you do to discourage students being dropped-off/picked-up in private vehicles?
I would work to reduce the price of bus passes for students and do many of the things that I have mentioned above. I have outlined some additional ideas in the previous questions.