"Greenways and trails have restorative power"

Above: Relive the opening of the virtual #GreenwaySummit from April 3 with executive director Dennis Markatos-Soriano and 8 80 Cities founder Gil Penalosa. 

Note: The following text is Dennis Markatos-Soriano's opening remarks from the 2020 Southeast Greenways & Trails Summit, held virtually on Friday, April 3. Review the entire day's content here. 

Good morning, everyone! I’m Dennis Markatos-Soriano, Executive Director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. I would like to thank you for joining us today for the virtual Southeast Greenways & Trails Summit. These are some of the toughest times each of us have ever faced. In just the past month, worldwide COVID-19 cases have grown 10 times to over 1 million people and deaths have climbed to 50,000. To slow the spread before we get a vaccine, changes are disrupting our economy faster than ever. Here in the U.S., more Americans have lost their jobs in two weeks than in all of the Great Recession over 18 months. Millions more have had cuts to their pay, including all of us at the East Coast Greenway Alliance. We are all adjusting as best we can, amidst the stress of a spreading disease that separates us from the people we love. For you to take time amidst all this to be with us today is quite an honor. Thank you.

But we are here together because this work gives us joy and because we know it is what our communities need. Greenways and trails have restorative power, even transformative power. In fact, they remind me of the artistic symbol of our Southeast Summit: the butterfly, presented by Jacksonville-based artist Sarah Crooks. A butterfly is a creature of transformation that I think is very relevant to us in this crisis. Before the crisis, we were caterpillars inching along the ground, focused on our eating, consuming, on our own lives. Now, we are all wrapped up in our homes like cocoons, biding our time for what’s next. It’s my hope that we can come out of the crisis like a beautiful butterfly ready to make the most of the time we have on this amazing planet. Like the monarch butterfly that journeys throughout the East Coast Greenway corridor from Maine to Florida, beyond political borders of our cities, states, and even national into Canada and Mexico. Perhaps we will emerge from our cocoons with the wisdom from flight above meadows and forests that we, in fact, are all connected – that threats to health anywhere is a threat to health everywhere, like famous southerner, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., wisely shared that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Perhaps our greenways can help connect people across lines of division that have gotten too deep and wide of late. Greenway progress and programs can bring our people together to tackle shared challenges as we rebuild -- rebuilding community, rebuilding our connection with nature, and rebuilding our health. I look forward to flying with you in the months and years ahead.

Our first Summit in 2017 was in Durham North Carolina, where I am today. We wanted to be with you in-person again this week, but we are glad to at least be together virtually. I’ve been amazed to see how well our staff has shifted gears to recording remarkable sessions and setting up live content we are sharing with you today. A big thank you to V, Devin, Brent, Sarah, John, and Niles on our staff along with top-notch volunteers and partners on our Summit host committee for their hard work putting it all together! Feel free to clap in your house as if we were all together. And we’ve all been blown away by the amount of people who registered, over 300 leaders from all over the Southeast and throughout North America. 

You are all doing critical work in your communities. The 1,000 miles of Greenway we have developed together these past 28 years is giving people needed peace of mind and physical and spiritual health in these challenging times. With gyms closed, our wide greenways are giving people equitable public space for much-needed physically-distant exercise. In fact, Greenway use has surged almost as much as toilet paper sales with several segments reporting a doubling of bike rides, runs and walks. Before the crisis, the segments we have built together already ranked as one of the most popular parks in America – with over 30 million visits per year. 

We may not be on the front lines with our courageous friends at the Red Cross and nurses and doctors in our region and all over the world, but we play a crucial role. Our greenways are systematically working to improve public health now and in the future. Our greenways provide safe, accessible space to prevent and eradicate obesity, Type II diabetes, and other underlying health conditions that increase risks for people during the pandemic. What you have done and are doing to develop and steward greenways and trails saves lives and increases quality of life for everyone. 

Last week, our federal leaders passed a needed relief bill. Now, they are beginning to craft a stimulus bill, and we need to do our best to make Greenway infrastructure investment a core component. Please join the East Coast Greenway Alliance in the weeks ahead as we work with partners all over the country to lift up the return on such investment and the public support for that investment as a win-win-win stimulus solution to support jobs and the economy, to improve public health, and to address climate change. Now is the time for us to be bold in calling for billions of dollars in investment for Greenways, not just airports and highway expansions.

We had hoped to hold this Summit in the great city of Jacksonville Florida. I encourage you to visit Jacksonville next chance where remarkable work is underway by many, including our lead Summit sponsor, the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. Let’s imagine we are there in a city sculpted by the St Johns River that is a few miles from beautiful beaches and amazing greenway segments on Amelia Island and the Timucuan Preserve to the Northeast. We are in the southernmost part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. Head south a bit and we find the oldest European-founded city in the United States, St Augustine, established in 1565 by the Spanish. 

Please join me in the comments section in thanking our many Summit partners based in the Jacksonville region, including Downtown Vision, the Eastside Environmental Council, Groundwork Jacksonville, the St Johns River to Sea Loop Alliance, the Health Planning Council of NE Florida, the Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center, the North Florida TPO, the American Planning Association of Florida, Florida Blue, Bike Florida, and the City of Neptune Beach.

I would also like to thank all of the sponsors who made this Summit possible. From McAdams and Toole to GSK and Alta, these firms, foundations, and organizations give us this opportunity to learn from each other, to get inspired by each other, to connect, and to think through how we can emerge from our cocoons in the months ahead.

Now, I would like to introduce a leader of one of our Summit sponsors, AARP. As demographics shift, AARP is an important partner for all of us.  Danielle Arigoni is the Director of AARP’s Livable Communities program working to foster age-friendly states and communities all over the country. We are delighted to partner with a leader putting her planning degrees to work to enhance the lives of people of all ages, especially those most vulnerable when there is a lack of safe and accessible biking and walking corridors.  Danielle, thank you for your support and your involvement today.