In the Tuscaloosa News on Thursday, June 30, page 3D (Note: This is a correction since my original post stated Sunday newspaper) there was an article about a retired gentleman, Dan Burden, who has become an internationally recognized authority on designing walkable communities for healtheir communtities and people. He does not own a car and walks everywhere. The article says he has served as a consultant for many cities large and smaller because of recent national interest in improving the rates of walking and biking for the MANY benefits they provide.
The accompanying photo shows him walking along major arteries of a city, with a large stick (with chalk attached?), marking off where lanes should be established or widened. Even in car-dependent S. California (LA County), he has spent a few day this year with city planners who are "walking the talk along side him."
I'm wondering if, given the devastating tornado we experienced, he'd be willing to offer his services free of charge to our city planners? Wouldn't hurt to ask.