Our Take: Neighborhood walking paths, new playgrounds good move by city

Our leaders, from the local to the state level, constantly remind us that Georgia is the No. 1 place to do business in the county. This assertion is backed up by the ongoing construction of the massive Hyundai plant still under construction in Bryan County and, more recently, the breaking ground for South Korean car part maker Hwashin here in Dublin. 

   But there is another statistic, a not so positive and often overlooked one, that has a major impact on the quality of life of residents here and around the state: Georgia is the 13^th fattest state in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2022, 37 percent of Georgia adults are obese. 

   The data is grimmer locally, with County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a nonprofit health research program of the University of Wisconsin, showing Laurens County with a 41 percent obesity rate. The CDC reports that leading causes of death in Georgia are heart disease and cancer, conditions that can be brought on or made worse by carrying around excess weight. 

   To make matters worse, the childhood obesity rate continues to rise, with about 20 percent of Georgia’s youth classified as overweight. 

   There are many factors that go into a person’s health and wellbeing, so these broad statistics should only serve as a starting point to compiling how healthy our community is. But the data should be eye opening and proof enough that we need widespread efforts to promote physical activity and provide easy access to affordable, healthy food choices. 

   That is why we commend the recent action of the City of Dublin in adding walking/bicycle lanes in a neighborhood adjacent to a school and the approval to purchase new playground equipment in four parks. The 10-feet wide pedestrian trails along Cardinal Drive and Edgewood Drive are perfect additions to the neighborhood behind Hillcrest Elementary School. The trails provide easy foot access to the school and provide somewhere for families to safely walk or ride bikes throughout the week. Meanwhile Hilburn, Pritchett, Springdale and Stubbs parks will soon be seeing new playground equipment as the city continues its efforts to improve local parks and greenspace, providing more and better access to outdoor activities for our families and young people.

   These efforts will go a long way to promote outdoor activity and a healthy lifestyle for generations to come.