Commercial bike rack with bicycle rider desig

It's not often a person stands up and questions the mega-corporation known as Walmart. But when it comes to a commercial bike rack, that's just what one Jupiter, Fla. person did at a recent town meeting.

Walmart is expanding their store in this southeastern Florida town from 128,000 square feet to 165,000 square feet and spending about $12 million to make the change.

Except, there was a perception somebody may have forgotten the bicycle parking racks. At least, that's what Polly Daugherty feared after she reportedly spoke to a few employees at the store who apparently told her they didn't think a bike rack would be added.

So Polly showed up at the town meeting and wanted to know why. After all she said, Jupiter is a "green town."

There is a happy ending to this story. Protests weren't required. Or a petition drive. Town planners quickly assured her that a commercial bike rack is required and in fact, a certificate of occupancy would not have

Parking bollards in a downtown setting

People see them every day. Few probably know what they are. But these often overlooked traffic-controlling devices have an incredibly long history of stopping vehicles, steering pedestrians and saving lives. They are called bollards.

Parking bollards (also known as traffic control bollards) are basically those unassuming posts you see sticking out of the ground in various locations - on streets, on crosswalks, in front of stores, government offices, schools and other structures. They quietly direct people and drivers in the direction that planners want them to go...or not go.

Bollards come in all shapes and sizes. Most are pole-like and stand a few feet tall. Some are tall, like the ones you see in front of Best Buy. Some are squat like you might see in front of a courthouse. Others are thick in circumference, meant to stop a large truck, even a tank.

And while many people are not consciously aware of these traffic control devices, their purpose is

Standing by one of their recycling receptacles are (from left) Kristin Hall, City of Cleveland Sustainability Manager, Anand Natarajan, City of Cleveland Energy Manager, Rita McKenzie, West Side Market Administrator and West Side Market intern. Source: City of Clevelan

Placing recycling receptacles where people see them every day has paid off in a fantastic way for the City of Cleveland Mayor's Office of Sustainability.

The Office's mission is to promote green strategies throughout city departments and with local citizens.

So they thought, sure most people practice recycling at home. But what about when they are away from home? They are certainly generating plenty of trash that has recycling potential.

The solution? The department decided to bring recycling to where the people congregate. Downtown of course!

Think about how smart this is. People know all about recycling in their homes. Placing your milk jugs, plastic bottles, glass bottles, aluminum cans and old newspapers in recycling

Commercial planters easily add curb appeal to apartment

Why is curb appeal so important to renters? How much impact could commercial planters filled with colorful flowers or a shiny, clean park bench have on a prospective tenant? How can you spruce up the outside look of your apartment complex without blowing up your budget?

After all, curb appeal is basically a first impression, the first image a renter receives about your property. And we all know how important first impressions are from our interaction over the years with fellow humans.

Let's start with the psychology. The reason why first impressions are so critical is because our brains gather an incredible mass of information when trying to make a decision. Because there is such a complex amount of data processing going on, the brain looks for shortcuts.

This has evolutionary implications clear back to when people first become humans. With dangerous creatures and other calamities out there in the environment, people had to digest

Source: Heartland Habitat for Humanit

The first Thanksgiving held in America back in 1621 was held on wooden picnic tables and in a show of support and thanks, The Park Catalog has donated 400 wooden planks to the Heartland Habitat for Humanity in Kansas City, KS.

If you are not familiar with the charity, Habitat for Humanity is an amazing organization. It was created in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller and its purpose is to eliminate substandard housing, homelessness and basically provide places for people to live.

As we gather around the dinner table this Thursday, many of us may take for granted that roof over our heads. But an adequate home is something a large part of the world's population does not get to enjoy. There are an estimated 2 billion people who live in slum housing and more than 100 million are homeless. That's Habitat for Humanity's mission, to create "a world where everyone has a decent place to live."

Habitat largely depends on donated materials, such as our wooden picnic

Park managers take notice: When are picnic tables and park benches more than just pieces of outdoor furniture? When they become part of a workout routine.

In fact, park benches and picnic tables seem to be taking on new functionality as outdoor fitness equipment promoted by fitness experts on sites such as YouTube and Pinterest.

It's a great concept. The routine motivates people to go outside, breathe fresh air and work out with Mature Nature. And rather than just jogging in a park, with these routines you can turn a park into a virtual outdoor gym and enjoy a complete workout.

Outdoor workouts are a simple yet fantastic concept. Of course, you probably don't just want to run to the nearest park and just start cavorting like a monkey on top of picnic table benches, park benches, playground equipment, walls and trees.

The first priority exercisers might pay attention to is that you probably want to be sure to pick

Dogs enjoy a day with dog park equipment in a designated space

Adding dog park equipment to a park could make the local park manager a hero to dog owners for one simple reason.

Dogs were made to move. They want to exercise. They were originally bred to work - hunt, herd and protect. They were not made to sit on the couch all day.

Creating an off-leash dog park is one thing. But it's only a first step. Just like a child needs a playground and adults need a gym, dogs need something to do too.

And if they don't get some sort of exercise, just like people, they can revert to practicing some pretty bad habits.

For example, according the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, there are several benefits to keeping a dog active (okay, what we really mean is wearing Fido out, in a good way).

Source: Babble.co

Exercising on outdoor dog play equipment can prevent:

Chewing - Rex thinks, I got to do something all day, might as well gnaw on the cushions, shoes and remote control (see

Source: Resources for the Future surve

What types of challenges do state park directors face? Perhaps they can be solved with a Buy-A-Bench memorial bench or picnic table program.

Resources for the Future, non-profit organization founded in 1952 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., conducted a study a few years ago of state park directors to get an insight into the types of challenges they encounter and how they rank them in terms of minor problems or huge headaches.

The group's mission is to apply economics as a way to develop more effective policies on the use and conservation of natural resources.

Not surprisingly, results from the survey revealed lack of funding as the No. 1 headache. As states have tightened their budgetary belts, it seems the places that many legislators like to pick on are state parks.

According to the study, the majority of park directors said that insufficient funds for capital expenditures (excluding land acquisition) and construction of new facilities was either

A park visitor works out on outdoor gym equipment which is gaining in popularity

Outdoor fitness equipment is fast becoming the new "adult playground" at parks around the country as local citizens now prefer a total workout outside instead of just the normal jog or walk through the woods.

Park managers across the US report strong participation when they add these outside gyms, or "Fitness Zones" as they are called. That's good news, considering how there are many trends in society today causing us to burn fewer calories than normal (basically our tablets, cell phones and computers).

In fact, a recent survey of state park managers found one of their biggest concerns is how fewer and fewer young people are using park facilities. It doesn't take a university research team to figure out why: Those kids are at home on the couch playing video games or on their computers yakking away on social media. Their fingers are the only muscles getting a workout.

Adults face a similar situation. Today,

Dog owner using a dog waste statio

We all love dogs. Our canine brothers and sisters. Who doesn't? But there are a number of very important reasons why owners should have access to a dog waste station in any public area so we can still appreciate our furry friends. It's THE most essential piece of dog park equipment.

Sure, as a dog owner you might pick up after Fido does his business. Well, maybe most of the time. But here's a startling fact: About 40% of people in the US don't pick up their dog's waste. They just leave it there on the ground for the rest of us to smell or step in.

Here's another startling fact: As many as 37%-47% of American households own a dog. That means there could be as many as 80 million canines.

They not only own millions of dogs, they also own millions of pooping machines. The EPA estimates that a typical dog excretes about three quarters of a pound of waste a day. That's 274 pounds per year! Per dog! That's not only a lot of dog waste, that's a mountain

Example of vandalism at national parks

Park vandalism is an ugly problem and is highlighted this week by one person on a 10-park graffiti-spree ruining portions of national parks and then posting her work on social media. Consider installing metal picnic tables and metal benches are some of the solutions officials could use to deter vandalism, including more vigilant reporting and awareness by park users as happened in this case.

The National Park Service issued a report saying it is investigating incidents of vandalism in several western parks by a woman, who in a moronic display of selfishness, is painting images on park property. Not with chalk, which can be easily removed, but acrylic paint.

Parks affected reportedly include Yosemite National Park, California; Death Valley National Park, California; Crater Lake National Park, Oregon; Zion National Park and Canyonlands National Park, both in Utah. Investigators are also awaiting confirmation in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona;

From PreventCigaretteLitter.or

An outdoor ashtray can have a huge impact on a common misconception when it comes to the state of litter in America.

Why? Because most people don't realize that discarded cigarette butts are the No. 1 source of litter. If you think about the number of smokers out there and how easy it is to toss a finished smoke, it starts to make sense. But did you know that discarded butts are nearly DOUBLE the next closest source of trash? DOUBLE. That includes every McDonald's wrapper and empty Mountain Dew bottle and a million other disposable items.

Those little burned down cigarettes are contributing in a major way to making part of your local park, shopping area, university, etc. into an eyesore.

According to Keep America Beautiful, Tobacco Products accounted for 37.7% of litter. Paper Products came in second at 21.9% followed by Plastic at 19.3%, Metal - 5.7%, Glass - 4.5% and then Organic - 4.2%.

Here's another common misconception. Many smokers reported to researchers

Courtesy of League of American Bicyclist

A bike parking rack takes up less space and is becoming a preferred part of the urban landscape as research shows more people choose to ride their bikes to work instead of drive their cars.

The League of American Bicyclists issued a report recently indicating that from 2000 to 2011, bicycle commuting in bike-friendly communities skyrocketed by 80%.

Here's a breakdown of some of the cities with the highest growth in bike commuters. These city dwellers prefer to leave their mode of transportation in a space-saving parking bike rack instead of their car in a space-wasting garage:

Those are tremendous increases. What are transportation planners doing right in these cities that the rest of the country is not? They're creating more bike lanes and adding more public bike racks. In general, just making it easier to pedal than drive.

That's amazing. More people

As a park or facility manager, have you ever been in a situation where you needed picnic tables quickly? Portable bleachers and benches for a festival taking place in a few days? Just a few commercial litter or trash receptacles to complete a project and open a park?

The Park Catalog announces its new QuickShip program that can deliver over 50 different site furnishing products in a lightning-fast turnaround - as little as 24 hours in some cases.

Park professionals can discover how to take advantage of this program at our booth, No. 4026, at the National Recreation and Park Association Congress held in Charlotte, N.C., from Oct. 14-16.

The Park Catalog offers a new QuickShip program with shipping in as little as 24 hours

"We know there are instances where our customers simply cannot wait a few weeks to receive their outdoor site furniture and furnishings," said Scott Averbach, VP of Marketing, "So as a solution, we created a program that streamlines the purchasing and shipping process and

Lower Central Park Photo by David Shankbone

Picnic tables, park benches, Frisbees, jogging, dogs or anything else that gets you into a park will improve a person's mental well-being, according to an extensive study recently conducted by a British university.

The research team from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and the University of Exeter analyzed data gathered over 18 years in a yearly survey of 10,000 people.

The annual study is called the British Household Panel Survey and is distributed to a massive base of United Kingdom residents. The General Health Questionnaire asks a wide and extensive range of questions from income, marital status, health, family size, life satisfaction, etc.

Using longitudinal data combined with statistics pulled from targeted areas, the researchers discovered that urbanites who live near green spaces reported feeling better than the general population overall.

They were also able to track people who moved over a five year period and