UPDATE: On Friday, I had contacted Commissioner Johnson for more
information on the proposal he criticized, and he is sending me an electronic version
so I can look in more detail. Based on his response, I've made a few edits to this post and may do another after I see more. [UPDATE 2: Nope, he sent me the same page I've already linked to below, so I'll give him points for responsiveness, but not for accuracy.]
Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson's latest post at his Taxpayer Watchdog blog at caught my attention with a smart headline:
“Sorry kids, but we had to mortgage your future. Here, have a bike helmet.”
Johnson's target was a county decision (with Johnson alone dissenting) to apply for $10 million in federal stimulus funds through a Center for Disease Control program aimed at encouraging healthy lifestyles. The discussion took up the final third of a recent County Board meeting (see video).
Johnson raises a legitimate issue when he writes, "programs like this are more about social engineering, or, as one of my colleagues on the county board admitted, 'this is about changing people’s behavior,' not creating jobs."
However, the decision on how to allocate the funds has already been made at the federal level; the matter before the commissioners was simply an authorization to submit a proposal.
Even some of us willing to use incentives to change behavior might agree that this is not a great use of stimulus money — but I don't know the jobs impact, and am not sure Johnson does, either. At the meeting, no details were provided about what employment would be created in the county, and other proposal details are still being worked out.
Johnson's post didn't link to the actual item considered at the meeting [Download PDF], which would have made clear that the county has not "requested federal stimulus funds." It is still preparing a proposal, which isn't due until December 1st.
Johnson took a general statement about $2.7 million in commuter incentives, such as "subsidized bicycles, helmets, walking shoes and transit passes for those who walk/bike or take transit to work and school” and conflated it into "millions for bike helmets and walking shoes."
(The Strib account appears to have been provoked by Johnson's post. It appeared several days after the meeting and picks up on Johnson's framing of the grant, though the commissioner contributed nothing but a soundbite to the discussion by the Board.)
The commissioner also says he is at a loss "as to how sitting in a train instead of a car addresses obesity, physical activity, or nutrition."
Let's help him.
Thursday, I had a meeting in St. Paul. If I drove, the total round trip would have involved walking and carrying a computer bag approximately 100 yards.
Had I taken the bus, I would have walked 3/4ths of mile from my house to catch an express bus, transferred twice, and then walked another two blocks to the building, for a total of more than two miles.
Instead, I rode my unsubsidized bike 25 miles round trip, got two hours of moderate exercise and saved at least one hour in commuting time over the bus.
Price incentives, such as transit passes, can induce people to try a new way of getting to work. Zoning changes and better connections to destinations also can make a difference. Smart Trips in St. Paul and other cities has helped commuters shift to healthier modes of transportation, showing sometimes all it takes is better information about choices.
