The Brief

For a century now, the United States has prioritized the automobile over the pedestrian. Major cities slice up their neighborhoods with thick highways and some suburbs don’t even bother installing sidewalks. Even in deep-blue San Francisco, a battle broke out this year over whether to close a coastal highway to cars permanently.

It might seem obvious that making a neighborhood more friendly to pedestrians encourages people to walk more, improving public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from driving. But it’s surprisingly tricky to demonstrate that with data, since other factors influence how much a person walks, like their socioeconomic status. Cities need such data to prioritize which neighborhoods to make more walkable, and then public health officials need still more research to confirm the benefits of any interventions.

To that end, a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology used 11,000 twins to show that whenever a neighborhood becomes 1% more walkable — by, for instance, adding sidewalks to make it easier for people to get from parks to restaurants and other businesses on foot — residents walk 0.42% more minutes a week.

So if a city boosts an area’s walkability by about 50%, an average resident might theoretically walk about 20 more minutes a week, according to the study. That’s important, the researchers write, “because even small increases in physical activity at the population level can contribute to improvements in public health.” (You can find the walkability score of your neighborhood here. The service is separate from the study.)

Experts have long encouraged people to walk for their health. But by targeting walkability overall, cities can bake that encouragement into the landscape itself.

“Individual behavior change just isn’t doing it. We’ve kind of done that to death, in my opinion,” said Glen E. Duncan, the lead author of the paper and a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at Washington State University. “We just tell people to eat your fruits and vegetables and get more exercise, without really thinking about the larger structural problems that hinder people from eating better and getting more activity.”

A key component of the study was a database of twins, which allowed the researchers to look at pairs of similar people living in different neighborhoods. The researchers could investigate the objective measurements of walkability in the twins’ neighborhoods — such as plenty of destinations readily accessible by sidewalks — to determine if the built environment influenced their activity.

They found that the twins who lived in more walkable neighborhoods reported walking more weekly minutes than their siblings. Now policymakers can use this information to make their cities more walkable, Duncan said. “That could be a really good thing for public health.”

The study could help city governments looking to take climate action, too. Cities are prime candidates for “multisolving” techniques, interventions that solve multiple problems at once. New sidewalks or zoning laws to get more businesses within walking distance for residents don’t just make it easier to get around on foot.

“Every trip taken on foot instead of by a fossil fuel-powered car reduces greenhouse gas emissions,” said Elizabeth Sawin, the director of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Multisolving Institute, who wasn’t involved in the new research. “Walkability also helps connect people with the neighbors and local businesses, and increases a sense of connection and economic vitality.”

With more people opting to walk instead of drive, fewer cars on the road would improve local air quality and put fewer pedestrians and cyclists in danger of getting run over by cars: Every day in the U.S., an average of 20 people are killed by motor vehicles. But it’s not necessary to close off roads to cars to make a place more walkable; a city government simply needs to improve the existing infrastructure to make people feel safer walking and cycling. That might be particularly welcome in underserved neighborhoods.

“I think it is going to make a world of a difference for many people — marginalized groups in particular,” said Bunmi Akinnusotu, director of city innovation at the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Aspen Institute, who wasn’t involved in the research.

Cities can change more readily than you might think. San Francisco voters ended up closing that coastal highway in the November election, clearing the way for it to become a two-mile-long park for pedestrians and bicyclists. And ever since the lifting of COVID restrictions, cities across the U.S. have been experimenting with slow streets and other ways to improve pedestrian safety and human health.

“If we really want to move the needle on public health,” Duncan said, “we need to be thinking about things that we can change that impact a large percentage of the population.”

It’s taken over a decade and $1.3 billion, but Hollywood Burbank’s new terminal is finally ready for action. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the first passengers will be taking off and arriving at the brand-new structure.

Visitors note: The new terminal entrance has moved from Thornton Avenue to the intersection of Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way. There’s also a central security checkpoint and an indoor baggage claim.

The project stemmed from Burbank’s Measure B, passed in 2016.

LAist reporter Cato Hernandez got a sneak peek inside the building last week and reported on the scope and the thinking behind the decor.

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.

Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.

The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.

That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.

The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.

After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.

Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.

Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.

Neither starter lasts long

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.

In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.

This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.

Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.

Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.

Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.

Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.

After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.

Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.

Up next

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills — all key subjects on the show — made him better at his job.“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.

“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”

His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”

He was also a producer of several independent films.

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.