Oakland Is an Awesome City That Has So Much Potential

In this episode, I connect with Warren Logan of Oakland, CA, for a discussion about the lessons learned from the implementation of the Slow Streets, Essential Streets, and Flex Streets programs that were rolled out in response to the pandemic lockdown and how other cities and communities can benefit from these experiences.

At the height of the pandemic lockdown, hundreds of cities globally took quick action to create more public spaces for people to get out of their houses while maintaining a safe distance from each other, and thus the Slow Streets and Healthy Streets installations were born. In April 2020, an early leader in this movement was Oakland, CA, and the man leading the charge there was Warren Logan.

There were some bumps and bruises on the way, and many lessons were learned, so I am delighted and honored to feature my conversation with Warren in Ep 158.

Watch the video version of this episode to get the full effect.

Landing page for the episode

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Warren on LinkedIn
- PPS article featuring Warren

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:
1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon
2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.
3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel
4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:
All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:
Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this episode:
- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm
- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:
- Website
- Twitter
- Newsletter
- Podcast landing pages
- Facebook
- Instagram

Background:
Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.