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Chippewa Township is a very old suburb in my home area, from the 1950s. Not a lot of cul-de-sacs, but lots of dead-end streets coming off a main road. Big Beaver, too, though it's a bit newer, more from the 60s. My family's homestead farm was in Chippewa/Big Beaver. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ch...!4d-80.3769999
Some Long Island 50s suburbs are gridded. It sounds very odd to hear built in the 50s as very old. I never heard anyone used very old to describe a 50s neighborhood IRL!
Transit can take you out of town ( long distance buses / trains). Not really for rural areas, but there are car rentals. Or traveling with someone who already has a car
Transit can take you out of town ( long distance buses / trains). Not really for rural areas, but there are car rentals. Or traveling with someone who already has a car
Long distance buses and trains take you to the station. Period. Rentals require planning ahead and are not cheap, though probably cheaper than owning a car. Bumming? Really?
Usually when I read articles like this, I roll my eyes and the first impression I get is "These are kids talking"
I was young and single once. Walkability to museums, bars, art galleries and theater took preference.
Yeah, that was great when I was 25.
Now, I'm a father of 4. I'm not a 20 y/o making 40K a year working in a bar. I make over 20 times that amount. I work extremely hard. The last thing I want to do is wade through urban traffic on my way home. I don't want to have to fight for space or pay for parking just to grocery shop. Then I have to park in a large parking garage and then put all the groceries into a cart and then take an elevator.
Sorry, I love having garage. I love wide streets without potholes. I love my drive-thru Walgreens where I can pick up my prescriptions instantly instead of walking to some urban pharmacy and waiting for 30 minutes in a long line just to approach a pharmacist who then tells me that my prescription will be ready in 20 minutes.
I love being able to run 2 miles in my neighborhood at 10 PM on my street, and not worry about being robbed or held at gun point; sorry can't do that in an urban area...not even the nice parts.
I love having a large state of the art modern new gym with plenty of parking. I'm not forced to working out in the dumpy cramped urban gyms with old equipment and where you wait 30 minutes for a treadmill. But the urban gym has character because it has a boxing ring in the basement with a picture of Ali and the smell of mold
When I want to ride my bike, or throw the football around with my youngest, I like that I can do it my backyard or walk to a common area with a manicured soccer field. I'm not having to walk 5 miles to the nearest park only to compete with a million other people who want the same field. No thanks
Look, I'm a dad. I don't have time for your bohemian sense of European cool just so I can claim that I live in a place with soul. I don't need that bullshyte. I have actual responsibilities and need to get rest and want to relax. I'm not trying to impress anyone like our European friend. When I crave something fun and exciting, I'll fly to Paris or Prague for a week.
I think there is the weird idea that walkability only means walking to bars and entertainment.
I judge walkability by walkability to useful stuff. There is a senior complex in my neighborhood, about 1 block from the commercial main drag. Within a block, the seniors have a post office, a bank, a grocery store, and a pharmacy. Add a few more blocks and there is Kaiser, a lot of coffee shops, restaurants a bakery and the library. There is an artsy movie theater. A mini park. A couple of wine shops. There are a bunch of yoga studios - some with "senior yoga." The grocery store even does home delivery!
The building even has a garage! I don't know if they have an home care in that building, but there are some senior homes a little further from the main drag that do.
This is all "normal stuff" the average person does that is in walking distance. Families live in the neighborhood and also walk. There is an elementary school on the main drag, a high school on the other main drag. A charter school a few blocks from that. Not sure where the middle school is - I don't have kids. The high school used to suck and is pretty good now. The elementary school is really good. I see families out and about in the bike lane with their trailers and cargo bikes and so on. I even see unattended kids in the bike lane.
Walkability is goof for everyone at all life stages.
Very opinionated article, although I think the author raised some good points, I just feel as though some of the "issues" mentioned (like the garage thing) aren't real issues, just a matter of personal preference.
Long distance buses and trains take you to the station. Period.
it gets you out of town; then local transit to your destination.
Quote:
Rentals require planning ahead and are not cheap, though probably cheaper than owning a car. Bumming? Really?
giving ways you can leave your town without owning a car. I was thinking more of a "road trip" with friends. I've gotten (and given) rides to others when we were going the same way even though I have a car.
I had a friend living in Boston who would split the rental with others for a trip out of town to more rural area; for more city trips: train or bus.
Very opinionated article, although I think the author raised some good points, I just feel as though some of the "issues" mentioned (like the garage thing) aren't real issues, just a matter of personal preference.
I think the garage point was the weakest point; it was just his taste and nothing of substance.
I think the garage point was the weakest point; it was just his taste and nothing of substance.
Garages are a huge deal for some urbanists, according to some literature I've read. You absolutely, positively cannot have a garage on the front of the house!
Garages are a huge deal for some urbanists, according to some literature I've read. You absolutely, positively cannot have a garage on the front of the house!
How about a city whose garages are in alleyways and access to them?
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