Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner walked a one-mile trail through downtown Syracuse starting at City Hall as part of her proclamation that Monday, Sept. 10, be named “Move It Monday.”

The announcement coincides with the opening of a series of mile-long walking loops located around the city of Syracuse, local parks and the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, according to a Sept. 10 press release.

Miner presented the proclamation on Monday afternoon in front of a trail beginning at City Hall, and walked the mile-long loop alongside city and county officials, according to the release.

Each loop is marked with a sign reading “The Monday Mile.” The goal of the mile-long trails is to get people in the community active, and the trails are part of the Healthy Monday campaign.

Healthy Monday is a national campaign that encourages people to be more active, eat healthier and quit habits that endanger their health, such as smoking. Syracuse University alumnus Sid Lerner founded the campaign, according to the Healthy Monday Syracuse website.

SU participates in Healthy Monday through programs such as Meatless Monday and the campus’ version of Move It Monday, which offers free exercise classes to students.

The Lerner Center for Public Health, named for the SU alumnus that started Healthy Monday, worked with the mayor and county executive’s offices, city and county parks, SUNY Upstate and SU to “sign” 10 1-mile loops, Thomas Dennison, director of the Lerner Center, said in an email.

“By creating literal stakes in the ground, we are creating an environment that supports movement and being active,” he said.

Bob Dougherty, Syracuse common councilor, said he felt the mile-long loops were a great idea and are important to the community due to the value of exercise.

“Anything that gets people out doing stuff is a good idea, that’s what I would say,” Dougherty said. “I’m a pretty active person, I ride my bike all over the place.”

Dougherty bikes regularly for exercise and is part of Bicycles and Ideas for Kids Empowerment, a cycling program that works with inner-city kids. He said he worked with the Lerner Center for B.I.K.E. Syracuse and spoke with Dennison regarding the Move It Monday campaign.

“They explained to me the idea of Move It Monday is if you do something on a Monday, you kind of keep doing it,” he said.

With obesity being such a problem in the United States, Dougherty said he feels campaigns like Move It Monday are valuable to the city.

“I would like to continue us having partnerships with people who want to help the city and help our population get more fit.”

This portion of the project is just the beginning, said Rebecca Bostwick, program director for the Lerner Center. In spring 2013, the Lerner Center and its partners will sign additional routes.

“This project was a major initiative of ours under the Healthy Monday Syracuse campaign. We started brainstorming and working on this back in April,” Bostwick said.

The university’s Healthy Monday website has a new section providing maps and directions for the various Monday Mile routes in addition to other walking trails, including one on South Campus, Bostwick said.

Residents can participate in the Monday Mile at several locations including Thornden Park, Burnet Park, Upper Onondaga, Onondaga Lake Park, Beaver Lake Nature Center, Highland Forest, Jamesville Beach, SUNY Upstate, SU and Syracuse City Hall, according to the release.

Published on September 11, 2012 at 2:06 am

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris