I am a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, and Mayor Kishimoto has announced a community wide challenge as a follow on to the challenge the Commission had with Palo Alto City Council last fall. Please read the Mayor's announcement below, get your pedometer, and start logging your steps. It is not that hard to get to 10,000/day, and can do wonders for anyone who can benefit from getting more fit--who among us can't benefit from that?

(BTW, the Commission beat the "pants" off the Council. Is that pants as in trousers or pants as in catching one's breath?)

Residents are encouraged to accept this challenge from our Park and Recreation Commission to create a "Culture of Fitness".  The challenge starts officially this Monday, the 12th, but anyone can buy the Palo Alto pedometer at Lucie Stern community center at 1305 Middlefield Road.  This fits in with my goals of a Walkable Community and the City Council priority of addressing Climate Action to reduce greenhouse gases.  

I invite all of you to enthusiastically participate, and I will also offer to come to any neighborhood association that joins as a group and walk in their neighborhood with them some weekend!  

Yoriko Kishimoto

Mayor of Palo Alto

To: City of Palo Alto Boards and Commissions and Neighborhood Associations

From: Palo Alto Park and Recreation Commission

Subject: An Invitation to Join the Challenge and Create a “Culture of Fitness” in Palo Alto

A New Challenge begins Monday, February 12 and finishes10 weeks later on Monday, April 16, 2007 and you are invited and encouraged to participate.

Given the success that the Park and Recreation Commission achieved during the City Council/Park and Recreation Challenge last fall, the Mayor requested that the Challenge be extended for another 10-week period and asked that the City of Palo Alto’s other Boards and Commissions be invited to participate.

The goal is to see which groups can take the most steps, monitored by a pedometer, in the 10-week period. Sixty minutes of biking or swimming are equal to 10,000 steps per day and will be counted.

Mayor Kishimoto says, “We are excited about taking the next step in getting Palo Alto moving and challenging our citizens to create a Culture of Fitness in Palo Alto in 2007. I want to invite your neighborhood association, community group or business to join the Challenge and contribute to the “culture of fitness.”

Plans for the continuation include:

• Challenge will be presented at the City Council meeting on Monday, February 5, 2007 during Oral Communications.

• Invitations are being extended to all Boards and Commissions to join the “Culture of Fitness” Challenge.

• Invitations are being extended to the neighborhood associations to join the “Culture of Fitness” Challenge.

• The City of Palo Alto has created commemorative pedometers for the Challenge, which can be purchased at the Recreation Department, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

• All participants in the Fitness Challenge are invited to sign up at the City of Palo Alto Recreation web site and use the www.10000steps.org.au Fitness Calendar Grid to log their steps. The Challenge will be “on your honor” and the results will be published and posted.

• The Challenge will begin Monday, February 12 and finish 10 weeks later on Monday, April 16, 2007.

• All registered participants in the Fitness Challenge are guaranteed FREE entry into the Sunday, March 11, Fifty Plus Fitness Weekend 2-5 K Walk.

For more information, on the Fitness Challenge, please contact Former Park and Recreation Commissioner, Anne Cribbs at cribbsaw@pacbell.net.

Background – At the December 19, 2006, Park and Recreation Commission Meeting, Commissioner Anne Cribbs announced the winners of the Commission vs. City Council Challenge. The Commission, with six of the seven Commissioners participating, plus one staff member, logged in a grand total of 4,068,881 steps. Commissioner Beth Trailer was the individual winner with 947,643 steps, with Commissioner Pat Markevitch close behind at 947,221 steps.

Yoriko Kishimoto

Mayor of Palo Alto

650-323-5590

ykishimoto@earthlink.net