Are walkability and urban living important to real life Yinzers? (Pittsburgh: apartment, home)

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

This is very true and something I hadn't considered even though I've been living through it. Along Butler Street there really are very few vestiges of the Lawrenceville of a decade ago. Off the top of my head I can think of Frankie's, Hambones, a few fast food places, and a few convenience stores. These people probably aren't going to a place like Morcilla or even cheaper place like Condado, so the amenities for them to actually walk to are fewer and fewer.

Hambones isn't anywhere near as divey as it used to be. They serve Sunday brunch now FFS!

In terms of non-gentrified businesses, there's still a ton in Central Lawrenceville. There's the nail salon, the "Asian massage" place, the vacuum cleaner shop, the shoe store, a few pizza places, Barb's Corner Kitchen, Stinky's, the Irish bar, etc. I'm sure everyone uses the PNC, Deli on Butler, and the Wine & Spirits.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by norcider

I walked from yinzer neighborhood to yinzer neighborhood before walkability meant you needed to be within 100 yards of a coffee shop and craft beer joint or you'd die of inconvenience.

^ This. I mean I walk from Polish Hill to Bloomfield, the Strip, and Lawrenceville for many of my needs. Meanwhile I think it was Eschaton in the past who said something like the majority of people only consider 1/4-mile or less to be "walkable". How lazy are we becoming?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

^ This. I mean I walk from Polish Hill to Bloomfield, the Strip, and Lawrenceville for many of my needs. Meanwhile I think it was Eschaton in the past who said something like the majority of people only consider 1/4-mile or less to be "walkable". How lazy are we becoming?

Again, the way walkability is basically defined by urban planners is amenities close enough to you that you will walk even if:

1. You have a car.
2. The weather is cruddy.
3. There's parking at the other end of your trip.

Under those standards, the area I currently live is not walkable. I mean, it takes about 15 minutes to walk the 0.8 miles to get to the Rite Aid in our neighborhood. We do this all the time when the weather is nice, but if we absolutely need something there and it's winter (or pouring) we'll get in the car and drive for three minutes instead.

If we lived instead like two blocks from the Rite Aid - say a 5-7 minute walk - I couldn't see us ever piling into the car.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

^ This. I mean I walk from Polish Hill to Bloomfield, the Strip, and Lawrenceville for many of my needs. Meanwhile I think it was Eschaton in the past who said something like the majority of people only consider 1/4-mile or less to be "walkable". How lazy are we becoming?

Growing up in Dormont in the 1960s, it was mostly kids doing the walking.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Again, the way walkability is basically defined by urban planners is amenities close enough to you that you will walk even if:

1. You have a car.
2. The weather is cruddy.
3. There's parking at the other end of your trip.

Under those standards, the area I currently live is not walkable. I mean, it takes about 15 minutes to walk the 0.8 miles to get to the Rite Aid in our neighborhood. We do this all the time when the weather is nice, but if we absolutely need something there and it's winter (or pouring) we'll get in the car and drive for three minutes instead.

If we lived instead like two blocks from the Rite Aid - say a 5-7 minute walk - I couldn't see us ever piling into the car.

Eh. I understand that you're just regurgitating what urban planners have "universally defined" walkability to mean to them. I'm still going to think it's pure laziness. If I hop in my car and drive to the Strip to pick up a mocha at La Prima or a bag of popcorn or something instead of walking the 15 minutes I feel "lazy" because, yes, I certainly could have (and should have) walked to reduce my carbon footprint.

[norcider]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

^ This. I mean I walk from Polish Hill to Bloomfield, the Strip, and Lawrenceville for many of my needs. Meanwhile I think it was Eschaton in the past who said something like the majority of people only consider 1/4-mile or less to be "walkable". How lazy are we becoming?

I lived in Greenfield and walked to my classes at Pitt regularly. Just like I walked to Squirrel Hill from Wilkinsburg to go to the Starbucks. People have become soft, not just over the hill yinzers and their personal handicapped placards.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Eh. I understand that you're just regurgitating what urban planners have "universally defined" walkability to mean to them. I'm still going to think it's pure laziness. If I hop in my car and drive to the Strip to pick up a mocha at La Prima or a bag of popcorn or something instead of walking the 15 minutes I feel "lazy" because, yes, I certainly could have (and should have) walked to reduce my carbon footprint.

I understand your point, but I think I should note that ironically given your politics you're making a fundamentally conservative argument here. You're arguing that bad outcomes are the fault of individuals for not acting in a personally responsible fashion. It's just that what you consider "responsible" is different than many other people.

[Space_League]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Eh. I understand that you're just regurgitating what urban planners have "universally defined" walkability to mean to them. I'm still going to think it's pure laziness. If I hop in my car and drive to the Strip to pick up a mocha at La Prima or a bag of popcorn or something instead of walking the 15 minutes I feel "lazy" because, yes, I certainly could have (and should have) walked to reduce my carbon footprint.

Well you guys both have a point. Weather and other factors can seriously impact the walkable range.

Carrying a week's worth of groceries over the icy, hilly streets of January Pittsburgh doesn't sound like something anyone would want to do for more than a couple of blocks.

On the other hand, a leisurely walk to the coffee shop on a sunny spring afternoon is something entirely different

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Space_League

Of course the people on CD are passionate and vocal about these topics, but is that something that people in the real world take for granted or squander(for example, driving everywhere while living in a walkable neighborhood).

I am curious, having never been to the city, to what extent is these ideas and practices part of the normal conversation in Pittsburgh society?

Ohhh no. Yinzers could care less about walking or biking

[WhoIsStanwix?]

I’m not sure those writing off walkability and urbanity as a concern for yinzers are considering the outrage caused by the possibility of losing a grocery in Bloomfield or of the actual uprooting and relocation iof low income residents from East Liberty’s core to other neighborhoods. Walkability and/or public transit access are absolutely important to many “yinzers”, who I am taking to mean long time Pittsburgh residents.