Abronze for health is better than no medal at all

Houston doesn’t do so well when it comes to policies that promote healthy living, according to a private philanthropy that evaluated U.S. cities ont heir commitments to safety and well-being.

Ofcourse, all rankings are based on subjective sets of criteria that determine the outcome. In this case, the de Beaumont Foundation, end owed by the founder of the Brookstone chain of electronic gadget stores, devised a methodology by asking national experts what they thought made cities healthy. They ended up with a list that includes things like paid sick leave, universal pre-K, affordable housing policies and clean indoor air.

Houston scoreda “bronze medal ,” which is not as good as gold medal winners like Los Angeles, Washington and New York that are less shy about passing regulations. But it’s better than the zero medals won by others in Texas and mostof the rest of the South.

What put Houston in the medal sat all? Some of the points in Houston’s favor may seem odd. For example, the survey ranked the city highly for its “Complete Streets” policy, passed by former Mayor An ni se Parker. Although Houston’s streets are much less pedestrian and bikefriendly than, say Portland, Ore.—which also received no medal—it’s the on-paper policy that matters. (And Houston hasn’ t even passed its bike plan yet!)

Houston also received credit for its prekindergarten program, even though it didn’t meet the quality benchmarks that the survey lays out because of its high enrollment. Andit got points for “healthy food procurement,” by virtue of the city’s contracts with service companies that have minimal nutrition standards for vending machines in municipal buildings.

One might also quibble with measuring laws limiting the density of places that sell alcohol onthe grounds that liquor sales might be associated with higher crime levels, but not measuring, for example, policies that foster clean air by increasing tree coverage.

But hey, if you don’t like this ranking system, you can always make your own.