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It's more of a safety issue and lack of interesting things to do. LoL at classist, please, do not give me that hippie nonsense, I am just being real. Obviously if the area is 99% latino, people in LA aren't talking with their feet either. I like balanced areas, and those areas are anything but, they are very low on the diversity scale for LA overall standards. I have done the whole volunteering in bad neighborhoods thing, but why would somebody openly choose to live there. Almost everybody there would leave if they had the means.
Commercial or industrial areas can be gentrified, though it's the types of businesses that will get displaced. All those cheap Hispanic-run stores on Broadway aren't going to last forever.
Yes, it seems more benign when commercial cores or industrial areas get gentrified, though it can change the surrounding areas as well. And the way things are going, who knows what area is next in LA. Now that a lot of NE LA has gentrified(Silver Lake, Echo Park, Highland Park, Eagle Rock) and downtown is becoming "hip", even Boyle Heights is starting to change apparently--so perhaps the next move will be into Westlake/McArthur Park areas, there's already density and it's close to downtown.
(Or is that area already gentrifying? It wasn't last time I was in LA last year, but things change really quick)
Yeah it is gentrifying a bit. Temple in Westlake has seen some proposals for new mixed use buildings, and the area known as "City West" along the Harbor Freeway is starting to develop to the west, while Koreatown's development is pushing east. I actually considered some apartments in the area due to its proximity to DTLA but ended up vetoing it due to poor / average walkability and not a ton of housing options.
I think that a certain amount of safety comes with walkability. So areas that are lower income that have better urban design might be less walkable at night due to safety issues. This certainly was the case with most of DTLA, and still the case in skid row areas. I believe areas like Westlake, Boyle Heights and Historic South Central will be continue to get safer for pedestrians as more amenities pour in these areas.
Safety and walkability aren't related in my mind. New York City was still very walkable even when 2,200 lives were snuffed out in a single year.
This is plenty walkable. The question is whether you put your head down as you walk through a gang of corner boys blocking the corner, make eye contact as you walk through and say "What up?" or cross the street altogether and avoid the smoke from Newports and Phillie blunts? What do you think?
One possibility is yelling out "Narcos!" if you get too uncomfortable.
This whole percentage thing is a bit flawed IMO, first of all people need to understand that nearly half of LA's population lies in the San Fernando Valley which really knocks down the percentage of what most of us consider LA. Cities more intertwined with the "real LA" like Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and even east like Huntington Park and South Gate feel more LA than anything out in the valley. I live here in Seattle and in no way would I consider it more walkable than Chicago or Philly, sure you can go by percentages but really it doesn't tell the real story as cities with larger borders and higher populations get knocked down due to it with the exception of NYC which is a different beast. One more thing as well is that the 90 walkscore penalizes poorer areas since many things it looks for only really exist in higher income areas, most things that are not needed on a daily basis.
One more thing as well is that the 90 walkscore penalizes poorer areas since many things it looks for only really exist in higher income areas, most things that are not needed on a daily basis.
That's true. Baltimore is a good example of this. Structurally, it's about as dense as Philly and denser than DC in some respects. But it's suffered massive population loss and many neighborhoods probably have more checking cashing stores than grocery stores. Then if you had to factor in drugs and homicide, its walkability score would drop through the floor.
I must have missed who was saying Seattle is more walkable than Philly or Chicago?
Red John's list of cities ranked by % of population living in 90+ Walkscore neighborhoods has Seattle above Philly and Chicago. The same list y'all keep saying is the definitive indicator of walkable urbanism.
Red John's list of cities ranked by % of population living in 90+ Walkscore neighborhoods has Seattle above Philly and Chicago. The same list y'all keep saying is the definitive indicator of walkable urbanism.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitzrovian
First, walkscore obviously is not the sole barometer of urbanity. There are a lot of other things that go into the quality and intensity of urban environment (eg public transit, structural density etc).
Red John's list of cities ranked by % of population living in 90+ Walkscore neighborhoods has Seattle above Philly and Chicago. The same list y'all keep saying is the definitive indicator of walkable urbanism.
Ummm, I have been arguing AGAINST walkscore the entire time lol.
Safety and walkability aren't related in my mind. New York City was still very walkable even when 2,200 lives were snuffed out in a single year.
This is plenty walkable. The question is whether you put your head down as you walk through a gang of corner boys blocking the corner, make eye contact as you walk through and say "What up?" or cross the street altogether and avoid the smoke from Newports and Phillie blunts? What do you think?
One possibility is yelling out "Narcos!" if you get too uncomfortable.
I can agree with that. LOL. DTLA is more walkable than I thought!
DTLA is almost like an island, separated from other neighborhoods by freeway underpasses and the LA river. Hopefully, planners can find a way to connect the neighboring areas to Downtown better.
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