I have two home towns; the one I was born in and the one I grew up in. I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and lived there 5yrs before moving to Pennsylvania. Madison was a city filled with automobiles and subway systems, but tons of people walked around too. I don’t remember too much about Madison. After we moved we got a house and I spent the rest of my pre-college years in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Souderton is pretty small, it’s an automobile town, but has plenty of sidewalks and little parks and schools to go for a run at or spend a few minutes strolling around on a Sunday. Based on the 2013 census it has a population of 6,644 people. I enjoyed growing up there, there were lots of opportunities to get involved in the community and play sports. We had a Boys and Girls club right up the street from my house that I worked at during my high school years. The schools were great and lead me to many great memories like being Editor-in-cheif of our award winning student run newspaper and starting an annual Zumba fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald Camp Adopt-a-Camper Program that raises money to send kids 7-18yrs old battling cancer to camp in the Poconos for a week in the summer where they get to play and have fun and not have to worry about there struggles. They also are able to form lasting friendships with children who understand what they are going through.

The first city I’d like to talk about is Boston, Massachusetts. I believe Boston is similar to Souderton because it was designed for encourage people to walk. It has place for people to work, eat, shop, be entertained. Souderton also has a lot of these aspects, however over the years it has become run down. The movie theater has been under construction for so many years I’ve lost count, but they’ve started a petition to help get the job finished. during summer there are concerts in the park on Sunday nights encouraging people to come out and enjoy the weather and community. There are sidewalks everywhere so people are able to walk. The downtown has been a slow process with trying to renovate it and make it look better, more appealing and inviting for people to stroll around. I believe that if Souderton could finish it’s make over/upgrade then it will be a more walking oriented town.

The second city I’m going to talk about is Copenhagen. Bikes are a common mode of transportation in Copenhagen. This reduces the fossil fuel usage and pollution. I think it would be beneficial for Souderton to have it’s members become more biker friendly eliminating the need to use cars so often. Most of the grocery stores and shopping centers do require a person to travel quite a bit of distance, unless you want to stop at a convince store or eat out, so walking isn’t a reasonable alternative to automobiles. However biking allows someone to get to the place they need to go quicker and requires less exertion, while still promoting a healthier lifestyle. I think it would be an improvement if Souderton started advocating for biking over driving.