Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston hadn’t ridden a bicycle in more than 40 years. But two months after purchasing a silver three-speed Trek, the mayor was rising at 5 a.m. for a ride through his Hyde Park neighborhood and appointing former Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman as Boston’s new bike czar.

“I was ecstatic,” says Freedman recalling the mayor’s offer. “Boston has the potential to be a world class cycling city. It’s compact, flat and has a strong cycling subculture. We have the raw materials for a very successful program.”

“A lot of families don’t have the means to do a lot of recreation activities or be part of 24 Hour Fitness,” says Gerardo Mouet, Santa Ana’s executive director of the Parks, Recreation and Community Service Agency. “One of the only opportunities for active living and exercise is parks and recreations programs and services.”

Mouet has spent 16 years working for the City of Santa Ana, and assumed the top job at Parks and Recreation two years ago. The city has some of the highest obesity rates in the state—more than 70 percent of adults are overweight or obese, according to a 2005 county report cited by the Los Angeles Times—but residents have few opportunities to be physically active.

Mayor Gavin Newsom is an energetic advocate for healthy eating and active living and is widely credited with transforming San Francisco’s approach to nutrition, transportation and activity policies.

The city’s youngest mayor in over a century, Newsom committed himself to making San Francisco the most pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly municipality in the nation. Toward that end, he secured $8 million in federal and local funds for the Better Streets program, which ensures that public health perspectives are fully integrated into urban planning processes.