October 01, 2009
he Memorial/Elmwood Parks Walk, three miles in length, takes walkers past Sounding Stones – pictured above, the Elmwood Park Grotto and more.
There are a lot of great reasons to walk: it’s free, it’s good for your physical and mental health, and you can make it a social activity. Omaha by Design is giving metro area residents nine more reasons to lace up and head out with its Nine in ’09 Great Walks list.
The walks, located throughout the city, were compiled by Omaha by Design’s volunteer Place Game facilitators. The Place Game, a free service of Omaha by Design, is a fun, easy and organized way of helping groups brainstorm potential improvements to the public spaces in their corner of the city.
Walkability is one of the indicators of a great public space, said Pat Salerno, a Place Game facilitator with Omaha by Design. “We want our public spaces to be accessible, beautiful, connected, fun, well maintained, safe and used,” he noted.
The Nine in ’09 list takes walkers through a mix of urban environments, from park settings to historic and cultural areas in Omaha. The walks vary in length and include points of interest along the route. A map and directions for each walk can be downloaded from www.omahabydesign.org/greatwalks.html. The maps were drawn by Lisa Smith, City of Omaha Planning Department.
Tammie Dodge, program manager at Activate Omaha, encourages residents to think about road testing the list throughout the year. “If you dress appropriately, use common sense and remain aware of your surroundings, walking is a great way to explore the city, no matter the season,” she said.
Do you know of a great Omaha walk that’s not on the list? Map it and send the information to Omaha by Design.
Omaha by Design offers Place Game workshops from March through October. For more information, call 402.554.4011 or email info@omahabydesign.org.