Is Wilton Manors really "walkable"? (Miami, Tampa: city hall, credit card)

[kevinkagy]

No. The only walkable areas in Florida are in Miami.

Miami Beach
Downtown Miami
Coral Gables
Coconut Grove
Downtown Fort Lauderdale

Everything else in Florida, is un-walkable.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

No. The only walkable areas in Florida are in Miami.

Miami Beach
Downtown Miami
Coral Gables
Coconut Grove
Downtown Fort Lauderdale

Everything else in Florida, is un-walkable.

Well, that's rather arrogant not to mention inaccurate because

A. Fort Lauderdale is not even in the same county as Miami.
B. Dunedin, near Tampa area just got named the most walkable small town in the country, and if you have ever been there, it's a very walkable village atmosphere.
C. Same thing with Safety Harbor nearby.
D. Same thing with St. Petersburg downtown nearby.
E. You forgot downtown Delray/the beach and downtown Hollywood in South Florida
F. Ever been to St. Augustine?

[Wild Style]

its no NYC or Chicago by any stretch of the imagination but you should be ok. Just be careful with the parks. They had reports on the news of homosexual men engaging in not so family friendly activities over there.

Originally Posted by dsimicata

Moving to Wilton Manors and wondering how "walkable" the town is?

Does Wilton have an area I could live where I could walk to a major supermarket, parks, library, lots of shops, coffee houses, restaurants, etc.?

In other words, if a person became "too old to drive" could they survive by walking in Wilton Manors?

I've always lived in busy neighborhoods in Chicago and NYC. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

Well, that's rather arrogant not to mention inaccurate because

A. Fort Lauderdale is not even in the same county as Miami.
B. Dunedin, near Tampa area just got named the most walkable small town in the country, and if you have ever been there, it's a very walkable village atmosphere.
C. Same thing with Safety Harbor nearby.
D. Same thing with St. Petersburg downtown nearby.
E. You forgot downtown Delray/the beach and downtown Hollywood in South Florida
F. Ever been to St. Augustine?

downtown hollywood? Umm whats there besides pretty/empty buildings with the smattering of trinket shops and some restaurants?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

downtown hollywood? Umm whats there besides pretty/empty buildings with the smattering of trinket shops and some restaurants?

You can also walk to Publix, Walgreens, Convenience stores/newsstands, and anything else you need and there are a few clubs. It's actually harder to drive into that shopping center on Youngs Circle than it is to walk there after they fixed up the circle and made it better for pedestrians. I admit that it is kind of cheesy to see the "Walgreens" logo sticking out of the park (which is actually really nice, go visit it sometime, they have a nice lit fountain now, a small but worth-your-time arts center, and artists/musicians hanging out there). I have to admit that the cameras there kind of invade my sense of privacy but on the bright side at least I can walk there at night without getting robbed now.

I forgot a few places you can walk in other parts of the state as well but they are mostly on the beach. I think except for South Beach, the most functionally walkable area is actually St. Petersburg (yeah Florida needs to get it's act together).

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

You can also walk to Publix, Walgreens, Convenience stores/newsstands, and anything else you need and there are a few clubs. It's actually harder to drive into that shopping center on Youngs Circle than it is to walk there after they fixed up the circle.

i was there a month or so back, wasn't that hard to drive to me. But also I didn't see much of anything there worth driving nor walking to. There was a great article in Sun Sentinel or Miami Herald (i forget which) talking about the problems that area is having with attracting and keeping meaningful businesses.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

i was there a month or so back, wasn't that hard to drive to me. But also I didn't see much of anything there worth driving nor walking to. There was a great article in Sun Sentinel or Miami Herald (i forget which) talking about the problems that area is having with attracting and keeping meaningful businesses.

I actually posted that article at one point (no responses either). They want to attract a major chain retailer on one side of the circle and the vacancy rates are high right now. Most of the places that closed down were even more useless. Only time will tell if they actually attract anything decent there, but I have a friend that lives there and I used to think it was pretty lame, until I saw it from the perspective of someone that lives there and walked around from that point of view. It's actually a pretty good location for pedestrians and at night it gets packed. I'm not saying it's SoHo but it's at least a step up from trying to walk around Wilton Manors...point being during the day you can walk to the store, to get a prescription filled, to a restaurant, to a shop etc and at night you can walk to a club, a bar and it's not like ridiculous or dangerous.

[Wild Style]

^^

Point taken! I see what you mean. I guess its all relative. Where I live now is pretty walkable, I am a black away from CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Block Buster. Just so darn hot I don't feel like doing it :S

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

^^

Point taken! I see what you mean. I guess its all relative. Where I live now is pretty walkable, I am a black away from CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Block Buster. Just so darn hot I don't feel like doing it :S

Theoretically, my area is walkable too. I have Publix, a few strip malls, etc. But it's walking around suburbia. It's just not appealing no matter how good the weather is. Wilton Manors is kind of that way too. Better than here, but for the most part you can walk if you have to, but it's easier to drive. Downtown Hollywood/Youngs Circle and the park there is at least someplace that you might want to walk if you like the weather that day and they even have a trolley to the beach. Like you said, it's all relative. There is plenty of stuff there now but like you said it has a lot of vacancies, but it really has a lot of potential.

[vvolin]

I know it is a city of its own, with a mayor and all. There are about 30 cities in Broward County, technically speaking. But in reality it is just a bunch of neighborhoods. Some municipalities have been able to diversify their life style, though, but for the most part is just a big urban area, more prone to beach and trendier life style along the coast, more family oriented out west. But Lauderdale-by-the-sea is different overall: it has prohibited high rise buildings to maintain its beach life style. Southwest Ranches has laws in place to maintain a rural feel. If you are going to move to Broward County anyway and you want to find the most walkable community, then I would recommend Lauderdale-by-the-sea. If you can afford a property, even a condo, along the A1A, that's great. I would have moved there in a second, but it was too difficult to find an affordable family size property. And the commute to Davie (FAU) would have been more than we were willing to accept.

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by vvolin

I know it is a city of its own, with a mayor and all. There are about 30 cities in Broward County, technically speaking. But in reality it is just a bunch of neighborhoods. Some municipalities have been able to diversify their life style, though, but for the most part is just a big urban area, more prone to beach and trendier life style along the coast, more family oriented out west. But Lauderdale-by-the-sea is different overall: it has prohibited high rise buildings to maintain its beach life style. Southwest Ranches has laws in place to maintain a rural feel. If you are going to move to Broward County anyway and you want to find the most walkable community, then I would recommend Lauderdale-by-the-sea. If you can afford a property, even a condo, along the A1A, that's great. I would have moved there in a second, but it was too difficult to find an affordable family size property. And the commute to Davie (FAU) would have been more than we were willing to accept.

Psssstttt... stop telling people about my town! Shhhhh, mums the word.