October 13, 2005

City hall suits vs. media hacks: ‘Stair Challenge to the 18th Floor’

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

The gauntlet was thrown down by energetic San Jose City Councilmember Ken Yeager to members of the media: Meet at City Hall on Oct. 11 and prepare to be embarrassed.

The goal was to climb the 17 flights of stairs up to the 18th floor where the city’s top dogs gaze out their floor-to-ceiling windows at their kingdom below. Photo by Julie Davis Berry

The goal was to climb the 17 flights of stairs up to the 18th floor where the city’s top dogs gaze out their floor-to-ceiling windows at their kingdom below.

Yeager, who showed up for the challenge wearing an intimidating “I climbed Mt. Whitney” T-shirt, came up with the idea while conversing with Mercury News columnist Leigh Weimers about trying to promote one of his pet projects: increasing the health and fitness of the citizens of San Jose.

“One way to publicize this was to pair up council members with the city press corps as a way to bring attention to healthier lifestyles,” said Yeager. “We also wanted to get employees to take the stairs more and integrate physical fitness into their everyday lives. We advertised it last week through e-mails and had a tremendous turnout. Leigh and I were the first two up and when we got to the top, health packets and water bottles were handed out.”

Paramedics stood watch on the ninth floor—just in case.

“I knew this was a competition the elected officials could win,” said Yeager with a cocky air. “I’d say reporters are generally out of shape.”

Other council members participating were Forrest Williams and Madison Nguyen donning sweatsuits, an athletic shoe-wearing Nancy Pyle, and Councilmembers Dave Cortese and Chuck Reed decked out in their office duds. Reed even carried his brief case during the challenge (no word if it contained oxygen or not).

Each council member was paired with a member of the media and they went up two by two clutching timers. A warning was issued about pushing, shoving and tripping but at least one challenger we know (who will remain nameless) did not heed the warning.

“I cannot turn down a challenge,” said Councilmember Nancy Pyle (above right, climbing with Almaden Times Weekly staff writer Kymberli Brady) while waiting for the countdown and her ascent to the top of City Hall—the hard way. Photo by Candy Richter.

Members of the press participating in the challenge included Times writers Diego Abeloos and Kymberli Brady, and reporters from the Mercury News, the Metro and Silicon Valley Community Newspapers. The T.V. folks sat this one out.

The stairwells were filled with more than 100 other city hall staffers making the climb, including City Auditor Jerry Davis and City Attorney Rick Doyle.

Reed did his homework. He passed out cards with “City Hall Stairs Challenge Fun Facts.” They included:

- 17 flights of stairs up to the 18th floor

- 417 steps

- 243 feet

- 120 times up from sea level to summit of Mt. Everest

- 80 times up to go from the nearest airport to the summit

Clockwise, from bottom left: Mercury News reporter Pat Lopez-Harris, Metro reporter Todd Inoue, Councilmember Dave Cortese, Times staff writer Diego Abeloos, Mercury News columnist Leigh Weimers, Councilmember Forrest Williams, Councilmember Ken Yeager, Mercury News reporter Janice Rombeck and Councilmember Madison Nguyen breathe sighs of relief after making the climb. Photo by Candy Richter

- 47 times up to go from base camp to the summit of Mt. Everest

On the flip side of the card were warnings about the normal physiologic changes that occur in every person who goes to a higher altitude, such as shortness of breath, increased urination and weird dreams, along with a detailed list of symptoms of acute mountain sickness.

At the end of the challenge, the times were tallied with Metro reporter Todd Inoue taking first place with a time of 2 minutes and 49 seconds.

“It was fun competing against the suits, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going down to the ninth floor to find my left lung,” said Almaden Times Weekly Sports Writer Diego Abeloos after the climb.

Just days after running the Almaden Times Classic 10k, Yeager was crowing about the success of the event. “We are definitely going to make it an annual event. I was so heartened that we had 125 employees walk up the steps. But the real measure of success is if we can get more employees to take the stairs throughout the year.”