[skyl4rk]

Please nominate any Michigan neighborhoods which you think would be good for living without a car.

Some characteristics of a good car-free neighborhood:

Pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
Less than 1 mile from a grocery store with enough types of food to complete your shopping.
Less than 2 miles from health care, clothing retail, work opportunities, hardware store, selection of bars and restaurants, entertainment, culture, parks, waterfront, gym, trails and other amenities.

If you live in, or know of such a neighborhood, what are the positives and negatives of living there?

(Note that it is OK to own a car and still enjoy this type of neighborhood as a resident or visitor).

[Giesela]

I would add in the availability of taxi's or buses. I actually live in a Dayton Oh suburb and there are neither which is hard if you don't have a ride when you leave your car at the mechanics or have a procedure they won't let you drive after.
Midwestern town's, mid size cities aren't usually very pedestrian friendly. Interesting question.

[animatedmartian]

I live in Eastpointe and it wouldn't be that hard to convert to car-free living. Though doing it and actually enjoying it are two different things.

Within a mile of me; two full service grocery stores, plus a Target; a mom & pop hardware store plus a Home Depot and a Lowe's; many drug stores including chain stores; a few small dive bars; and a gym. By bike, the waterfront is 20 minutes away (though most of the parks along it are private).

It is a bit lacking in the parks and recreation department. There's very few sizable parks and even fewer with playground equipment. Most are on school properties. This is actually noticeably annoying because neighborhood kids will resort to playing on people's lawns and in the street instead of going to a park where they can play.

The best opportunities for a job are through retail outlets. There's Eastland Mall and a lot of stores, both local and chains, however that's about it. Bus coverage is pretty decent with routes on the major thoroughfares (which form a mile by mile grid), however, job centers (like industrial and office work places) are pretty far away and the quality of service isn't great enough to make it more efficient than using a car.

Overall, this area is somewhat walkable, but 3 times out of 5, it's more convenient to use a car. I wanted to mention it because most inner-ring suburbs in Metro Detroit resemble this and only a few areas within the city are probably entirely walkable where it makes more sense to not use a car (like Downtown, Midtown, Hamtramck, and a few small downtown areas in the suburbs).

[Cliffie]

You sound like you're describing the Ann Arbor main campus area. It's kind of pointless to own a car there at all. Even if you need something that's a ways off, you can take a bus to 98% of the general area very easily.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

You sound like you're describing the Ann Arbor main campus area. It's kind of pointless to own a car there at all. Even if you need something that's a ways off, you can take a bus to 98% of the general area very easily.

Sorta but not quite.

Ann Arbor has greater density than where I am. There's more people, more stores and business, more jobs, etc, within a smaller area.

Eastpointe is pretty much all SFH. There's a lot less within the same area and things are still somewhat spread out. Also parking is never an issue. That's why I say it's convenient to use a car because most everywhere has it's own off-street parking.