Nash on "walking just a little bit every day."

With Thursday's council approval of multi-million dollar expenditures for new city parks and an aquatic center, it's no longer a case of "rather than."

It's about "in addition to," and it needs to begin happening now.

In addition to monies spent on delineated bricks 'n' mortar 'n' grassy 'n' waterborne park facilities, the city of New Albany must begin now improve various manifestations indices of walkability, particularly in the downtown urban core. We can facilitate this most efficiently through the rationalizing and modernization of the street grid, rendering it useful for all of the city's residents, not only those who happen to be piloting automobiles at any particular moment.

There are other benefits to converting one-way streets, calming streets and rightsizing streets, but anything done to enhance overall walkability has a multiplier effect, touching numerous aspects of revitalization.

It also makes for a healthier city, as Matt Nash noted in his Friday column. He must be serious about exercise, because he didn't drink beer with the rest of us before the last council meeting.

Walking just a little bit every day will go a long way to improving your overall health and nearly everyone can do it. Walking is an exercise that you don’t need any special equipment to accomplish many of your goals. Walking is enjoyable and so simple that you can stick with it easily which is the downfall of many exercise programs.