Weighty issues concern mayor

The future of Oklahoma City is a ferret named Bandit, Mayor Mick Cornett said Monday.

Cornett, speaking at a news conference at the Oklahoma City Zoo, used Bandit and a pair of elephants named Asha and Chandra to explain a new Web site designed to help city residents lose weight.

"If cities could be represented by animals, I think a lot of American cities would look like elephants,” Cornett said. "But what we really need to be looking like is ferrets. You take Bandit here — this is the future of Oklahoma City.”

The Web site will offer weight loss tips, help people track their weight loss goals and network with others for ongoing support.

The goal is for Oklahoma City residents to lose a combined 1 million pounds.

"This city is going on a diet,” Cornett said. "That may sound abrupt and in your face. You need to get people's attention. We want to raise awareness that obesity is at epidemic proportions in this country. And Oklahoma City is not going to sit back and just let it happen and let it continue to get worse.”

Hundreds of people had signed up on the Web site as of Monday evening.

In addition to nutrition and exercise tips, the site will offer social networking features such as blogs and discussion groups to offer support for those trying to lose weight.

"One of the things we are asking is for our employers to send links to this Web site to their employees,” Cornett said.

Oklahoma City makes regular appearances on lists of the most obese cities in the country, a dubious distinction that Cornett said he'd rather not have.

Anne Roberts of the Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition said most of the cities on those lists are in the South, where a car culture dominates and people rarely walk anywhere.

"We don't really live in a city that is amenable to walking,” Roberts said. "We have to find other ways to get active.”

The city has made recent efforts to change that. A bond issue passed by voters Dec. 11 included $68 million for new sidewalks, and the city has rapidly expanded its bike paths in recent years, Cornett said.

But there is only so much the city can do.

"You can't legislate obesity,” Cornett said. "I'm not here today to say government is going to be the answer. It's going to be people taking responsibility for themselves that will be the answer.

"If they are at their ideal weight, this Web site can help them stay there,” Cornett said. "If they are not at their goal weight and they would like to get there, then this Web site can help them.”