Davenport:4th-worst walking city

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By Barb Ickes | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 12:57 AM CDT | () comments

I’m pretty sure I ruined poor Joe Taylor’s day.

But who could blame the Quad-Cities’ most devoted cheerleader for getting a little bent out of shape when he heard that a national magazine has dissed us?

Heck, I got a little bent out of shape, and I generally enjoy dissing us.

The bad news: Prevention magazine, along with the American Podiatric Medical Association, ranked 500 U.S. cities on their walkability, and they put Davenport in the bottom 10. In fact, we’re the fourth-worst.

The good news: They’re wrong.

The people who did the ranking for Prevention used a number of criteria, including three major factors: parks per square mile, percentage of residents who walk to work and the incidence of violent crime.

New York City ranked second overall, which beats Davenport by 496 cities. I’ve walked in the Big Apple, and it is a fabulous place to hoof it. But consider the criteria here. Are we to believe that New York City has more green space and less crime than Davenport?

Obviously, there’s going to be about a zillion more people using public transit in New York City, but they have to. There are only four parking spaces in the entire city, and they’re leased two centuries in advance.

When Taylor heard the news, he did the same thing I did and questioned the ranking’s accuracy.

“They’ve not done their research, I would say,” he began. “I can tell you that no one contacted our office. If they had, I would have sent them our Walking Guide.”

After listing a half-dozen walking guides that are available for the Quad-Cities’ various paths and trails, something else occurred to him: “We hosted the National Trail Symposium in 2006 because of our extensive walking trail system!”

Aha! He’s correct. I got right on the phone with Pam Gluck, executive director of American Trails.

“I’m just in shock,” she said. “When you look at that amazing riverfront — I just wonder whether Prevention factored that in?

“Prevention magazine, which I respect, didn’t talk about miles of trails, which makes a city really easy to walk. If a community isn’t a trail community, we wouldn’t hold the National Trail Symposium there.

“The Quad-Cities far exceeded our expectations. People just loved it.”

I guess it really boils down to what kind of walking Prevention had in mind. If they’re talking primarily about walking as an alternative to driving, we deserve the poor rating. I tried walking to work just last week, but the river had thawed, and I nearly drowned.

If they’re talking about walking for the healthy habit of it, we don’t deserve the near-bottom rung. Davenport parks guru Dan Sherman said the city has 2,200 acres of park land, including 12 miles of paved trails.

Taylor doubts that anyone from the Prevention study stepped foot in Davenport.

Thankfully, there are no plans by Motor Trend magazine to team up with the American Chiropractic Association for a national pothole ranking.

Poor Taylor would need smelling salts.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.