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Where do you want to live? Downtown? I lived in the cities of Pittsburgh and Denver at various times of my life. Neither of the places I lived had all those amenities withing 1/5 mile.
You must have lived in more residential areas. I've lived in SF, Seattle, DC without a car and can say I had all the amenities I needed within 1/5 from where I lived. In DC and SF I didn't live on top of any stores, but on quiet and even quaint side streets that looked nothing like concrete jungles or heavily commercialized areas. Still, 2-5 blocks away I could find plenty of things to walk to including metro/bus stops.
You must have lived in more residential areas. I've lived in SF, Seattle, DC without a car and can say I had all the amenities I needed within 1/5 from where I lived. In DC and SF I didn't live on top of any stores, but on quiet and even quaint side streets that looked nothing like concrete jungles or heavily commercialized areas. Still, 2-5 blocks away I could find plenty of things to walk to including metro/bus stops.
Well, in most cities, 5 blocks is about 1/2 mile. In both Denver and Pittsburgh, I was close to a grocery store but not any other type of shopping that met my daily needs (Target-type places, clothing, etc.)
I do know many parents who have children in Seattle. They go to public schools, ride the metro bus to downtown Seattle for shopping, movies etc. In Seattle living in an urban environment doesn't mean living in a cramped apartment surrounded by concrete. There are tons of neighborhoods with single family homes or townhomes just minutes from downtown. I always concentrate on the central Seattle neighborhoods because of the diversity. Leschi, Madrona, Central District, Mount Baker and Madison Valley. Each are close to buslines, neighborhood libraries, parks, the lake, outdoor neighborhood markets, ethnic restaurants and more. I ride the metro bus all over Seattle and see kids riding the bus all the time. Sometimes I catch the 48 to work at 7:00am and its packed to the gills with school children.
Seattle is an awesome city, one of my very favorites I used to live in the Belltown area and was spoiled by all the accessibility to places. I often would not even leave the area for several weeks since I could walk to work Downtown, go shopping, go out, to movie theaters, to the local park by the water, everything. I have to drive around some of the neighborhoods you've listed. I believe I've been to a few like Madrona, but that was some time ago. I heard they are very desirable places to live.
I would recommend San Diego, especially in the downtown area. It is one of the safest cities in the United States, the climate is very mild, it has a lot of diversity and ethnic restaraunts, the public transportation (trolley, buses, Coaster) is not great but descent. San Diego is said to have a feel of a European, Latin, or Asian city, but at the same time being a military town with patriotism and family values, makes it feel very American.
Ha ha, this is exactly what my friends said that told me to visit San Diego with the thoughts of relocating to the downtown area. This was precisely the thing that disappointed me, high expectations of the San Diego as some urban/beach paradise. San Diego failed to impress me in that respect. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful area and I was very impressed by places like LaJolla, some beach towns on the way, Coronado and the drive accross the bridge and the beaches themselves When I visited San Diego for the first time I went for the beaches, loved it and wasn't disappointed a bit. When I went to look at it as a place to live Downtown, I got disappointed. It was pretty dead. Not the gas lamp district that gets pretty busy on weekends but the entire area and the shopping area there, just seemed to lack people. City just didn't look 'lived in'. Maybe it's true and all people just went to the beach , I guess it's hard to have it both ways. In this case I would rather much prefer to live in the beach town itself.
Any Seattle neighborhood just east of downtown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, the Central District(CD), Madison Valley, Madrona, Leschi, Judkins Park, Madison Park is a walk or short busride to Nordstrom, Macy's, Pacific Place and all the major shopping, Gameworks, the 20 or so movie theaters at Pacific Place and the Meridian, the Cheesecake Factory(which kids love). You are also a short busride to Madison Park Beach on Lake Washington which kids love throughout the summer. All the neighborhoods have major metro bus service which runs every couple of minutes to downtown and throughout the city. You are close to all amenities in all the neighborhoods I mentioned. I know families who live in these neighborhoods with children and love it.
I think my parents were pioneering New Urbanists because they made sure we lived within walking distance of stores, the library, schools, etc. They were lucky that the library moved across from the high school right about the time we got to high school age. So the amenities moved and the school changed and we moved as well. I had to ride the bus to Jr High for a year, big deal. No public transport because it was a town of 30K.
I guess my point is that there are places in almost all sizes of cities and towns where you can get by without a car or use it at a minimum. Or is it that you want the high rise lifestyle of a big downtown?
I think my parents were pioneering New Urbanists because they made sure we lived within walking distance of stores, the library, schools, etc. They were lucky that the library moved across from the high school right about the time we got to high school age. So the amenities moved and the school changed and we moved as well. I had to ride the bus to Jr High for a year, big deal. No public transport because it was a town of 30K.
I guess my point is that there are places in almost all sizes of cities and towns where you can get by without a car or use it at a minimum. Or is it that you want the high rise lifestyle of a big downtown?
I don't need to be right downtown, I mean in the financial district with all the skyscrapers and high-rise condos. But I would definitely prefer to live in a big city maybe just outside downtown but in a dense area where there are things to walk to and a good public transportation.
I've found these places where I used to live, but my concern is whether I will be the only person living there with kids. I guess, I need to go back to some of these places and take a look around and try to notice more. I didn't used to pay attention to the families with kids when I lived in places in the cities, so my impression was that there were no kids in the cities. I will have to revisit that.
I'm getting the idea that you could look for an in-town neighborhood with kids, but choose a home near the commercial edge so you have easy access to the amenities & transit you desire. Finding a neighborhood with good schools within walking distance may be the hard part. But then the high school could be on a transit line.
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I used to live in the Belltown area and was spoiled by all the accessibility to places. I often would not even leave the area for several weeks since I could walk to work Downtown, go shopping, go out, to movie theaters, to the local park by the water, everything. I have to drive around some of the neighborhoods you've listed. I believe I've been to a few like Madrona, but that was some time ago. I heard they are very desirable places to live.
