Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can have this kind of arrangement in Charleston and other southern cities. I'm not sure why you think this is only doable in NYC.
But unless a person works in retail, it is generally more difficult to live in walking distance of work. Good chance getting kids to school is going to be out of walking distance as well.
See, again, this is what I'm not understanding. Is this something that southerners struggle with? I thought it was an accepted part of living down south. When you say you can have this arrangement in southern cities, do you truly understand what Manhattan gives you from a walkability perspective? Or did you just say, "well hey, I can walk and get groceries if I need to in Greenville." In Chicago, in my neighborhood, I could consciously choose which of the four grocery stores I wanted to walk to within 5 cityblocks. The one with the guy who plays piano? The one with the freshest produce? The cheap one? Or the one with the best coffee?
Yes, you can walk to school in walkable northern cities. In fact, a lot of suburbs in NYC, Boston, and Chicago are compact enough and zoned so that all kids can walk to school. And as far as work goes, you live in the city to walk to the train that takes you to work if you can't physically walk to work.
Even Seattle and LA don't have 1/2 of the walkability as Boston or NYC. Not sure why this is being disputed.
How much time have you spent in the south? I've seeen a person make assertions about Charleston as though he has been to the city, but I had seen him a week or so before say he had never been to Charleston.
It doesn't make any sense to generalize about cities based on what region they are located in, given every city in the south is laid out differently.
How many people are going to get a good paying job near where you live in Chicago that they can walk to?
I don't know how walking to a train is any different than walking to a car,, except it should be more convenient and quick to walk to your car than to a train station to get on a train that departs at certain times.
I don't think mass transit has anything to do with walkability and I can't understand what is so exciting about mass transit. Personally I like driving and I like having privacy to hold private conversations on the phone. For me, taking mass transit is like being a 14 year old being forced to take the bus to school again. I couldn't wait to drive then. For me, driving is freedom.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 12-05-2017 at 07:21 PM..
It is longer than that, based on Google maps. 15 minutes or so. But Yankees stadium and NFL arena are not within walking distancc so my point holds up.
How much time have you spent in the south? I've seeen a person make assertions about Charleston as though he has been to the city, but I had seen him a week or so before say he had never been to Charleston.
It doesn't make any sense to generalize about cities based on what region they are located in, given every city in the south is laid out differently.
How many people are going to get a good paying job near where you live in Chicago that they can walk to?
Charleston and Savannah are absolutely beautiful. Great food by the way- every bit as good as any major city pound for pound. I love going down there, and im not sure I wouldn't love living there tbh.
But that's not to confuse the conversation- We are talking walkable and convenient. Boston is convenience personified. Libraries, parks, gyms, river front, 100+ restaraunts, 40+, bars, shops, coffee shops, grocery stores, and work all within walking distance OR walking distance to the line that took me to work. And that was just in a little neighborhood downtown.
After spending time in ATL and living in Houston, it's way different. Agreed? New apartment complexes with parking structures. New shopping malls. Highways separating neighborhoods. Deserted areas. No public transportation. Let's just say, Uber is your best friend on weekends in Buckhead or Midtown Houston. With the exception of a row of bars and maybe a mall and a Starbucks here and there, things are spread out, and I'm sure as hell not walking 1 mile on a major road to get groceries when it'S 100 degrees out.
Public transportation and walkability are not the same thing in my view. If you are riding a train or subway, you aren't walking.
Boston would be too cold for me to walk.
Boston is a good example for me.....Fenway Park is not located near the CBD, it is out by the interstate. In Greenville, the minor league baseball team is associated with Boston Red Sox, and the field has a Green Monster replicate. It is right on Main Street. You can go to a game then go to a bar, restaurant, or ice cream shop around Falls Park which surrounds a 30 foot drop waterfall and has a massive suspension pedestrian bridge right over the falls. It is pretty cool.
It is longer than that, based on Google maps. 15 minutes or so. But Yankees stadium and NFL arena are not within walking distancc so my point holds up.
I use to walk it all the time. At the far end new rays pizza is about a 25 min walk. Closer end is only about 5mins. Don't pay attention to what Google map saids. It's not always right
Maybe if you walking slow. I can walk a mile in about 10 or 11mins and its not quite a mile.
I don't see a difference in between parking downtown and walking around, and taking a train downtown and walking around. Two modes of transportation that achieve the same objective. I know downtowns in the south would not have as much without suburbanites like me driving in on a regular basis to spend money. And I don't have to go downtown on a schedule decided by somebody else....that's the beauty of driving.
I think that perhaps some northerners forget what it is like to drive on the open road because traffic is so bad in those cities. I'm driving 60 mph in and out of downtown Greenville on 385 when I go down there.
To me, walkability is related to things like wide sidewalks, aesthetics like trees, not having to cross busy commuter highways,
entertinament venues, restaurants, bars, musuems, parks etc located near each other, etc.
I would say Peachtree Street in downtown ATL is not very walkable because to me it has no aesthetic appeal. Peachtree street isn't your typical southern 'Main Street' though.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 12-05-2017 at 07:53 PM..
I don't see a difference in between parking downtown and walking around, and taking a train downtown and walking around. Two modes of transportation that achieve the same objective.
When you get in your car at your house, or your apartment, and drive to your place of work that has a parking lot, what are the chances you will become a metric for a prospective store owner?
On the contrary, if I'm getting ready to open a store, and notice high volume of foot traffic too and from a commuter rail stop, I'd likely think that's is a great location.
^Hence the idea that an urban core is/was shaped by transit. It's also considerably more expensive to live near the train in the Northern cities, which equates to more conveniences. In Boston and the surrounding suburbs, density and rents go up as you get closer to transportation.
In ATL, you're going to get spotty malls and offices with parking lots because there is very limited foot traffic. That inherently creates a lack of walkability. If they put in a full on subway system, you can bet your mortgage on rents going up near stops, and true walkability would follow.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And I don't have to go downtown on a schedule decided by somebody else....that's the beauty of driving. 
