Grant County walkers stride toward community improvement

By on Thursday, January 18th, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories

JOHN DAY – As mentioned in previous reports, Oregon Health and Science University and the Grant County Library have partnered to form a community walking group that focuses on personal health and overall community wellbeing. The Walk A Latte group was formed in April 2023 and meets every Thursday at the library in John Day. From there, the group of 16 community members begins their walk throughout the town. Following their outing, a meeting is held with discussion regarding community improvement.

OHSU has agreed to provide $5,000 toward a project that the Walk A Latte group came up with. Group representative Larry DeCew said they’ve identified the crossing on the 7th Street walking path, where it crosses Bridge St., as being potentially dangerous to pedestrians:

“We came up with this idea—let’s get some signs. The big diamond signs; fluorescent green, with the ‘walking’ symbol. They make some that have LED flashing lights that go all around the perimeter, and they have a solar panel with a control box. They’re quite expensive, but they were within our budget.”

The proposal has been approved by both the John Day City Council and OHSU. We’ll provide updates as they come in.

Listen to the podcast with Larry DeCew here: