Reporter’s File – A Walk in the Park

For the last three weeks, I’ve been working on a story about Mayor Darwin Hindman, his legacy and the local park system – but the upcoming election has been on our minds for much longer.  It’s not every day that a town replaces its mayor of a decade and a half, and ever since we sat down with Hindman in January (he’d just received recognition from First Lady Michelle Obama for his efforts to promote active transportation), we’ve been trying to put his legacy of activism and advocacy in context.  Then, earlier this month, I met Dr. Andrew Kaczynski – a professor at Kansas State University who’s been looking at park use and what it means to the field of kinesiology.  Currently, he’s working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to create a tool people like you and me can use to see how our local parks measure up.  Suddenly, how we could tell Hindman’s story became clear.  To find our more, check out this week’s Under the Microscope on air or online at KBIA.org.

- Elle Moxley

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