Houston is the most "walkable" city in Texas (Dallas: houses, university)

[worldlyman]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

I can't believe we have a poster calling Westchase walkable. I used to live there. It's NOT walkable. The streets are in a suburban pattern, designed to PREVENT you from walking through. No grid, but instead curves, and in order to travel any distance you must first walk to a main thoroughfare.

Let's be clear--- the fact that you can walk is not what makes a place walkable. Following that logic, everywhere with ground is walkable.

Westchase IS walkable. I used to walk to Kroger, Big Lots, YAOs Restaurant, the 82 bus, the 25 on Richmond. The wife and I used to walk over to La Madeleine's, Marini's Empanadas, Sherlocks and other points of interest at the Carillon when we used to live there. People who live along Meadowglen and Briarpark walk all the time in Westchase.

The fact that you CAN walk DOES make a place walkable because there ARE concrete sidewalks regardless of girth. I haven't had to step through too many swamps or pastures getting around in Houston's general city limits

Other cities are more "walkable" yes, but Houston is walkable.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

I proved a point and got what I wanted. Not like the uptight whitebread Anal Urbanists with no real sense of adventure and who can only talk about "walkability." That taco truck has really good fare...so you uptights find yourselves a cute little "Tex Mex" cafe on South Congress or some other cute street in Austin or Dallas.

Well if proving a point goes by that video, then I will say the entire world is walkable. That is a the definition of average walkable suburbia. That video really does nothing to prove Houston is walkable. The sidewalks in that video are narrow. You have too many obstructions along the way. You filmed a dead strip mall at night and passed that off as walkable. Very misleading as most would not dare walk that stretch during the day. Most people that like walking wouldn't choose that sidewalk unless they have no choice.

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by 14Bricks

Houston named most walkable of all large Texas cities - Houston Chronicle

I agree with the article during the daytime, but not in the wee hours in the morning. I wouldn't walk Fondren Rd/Bissonett or S Braswood in the wee hours in the morning. Or where the two meet S Braswood and Bissonett.

Austin should probally come up dead last, if it is a Texas survey.

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

Westchase IS walkable. I used to walk to Kroger, Big Lots, YAOs Restaurant, the 82 bus, the 25 on Richmond. The wife and I used to walk over to La Madeleine's, Marini's Empanadas, Sherlocks and other points of interest at the Carillon when we used to live there. People who live along Meadowglen and Briarpark walk all the time in Westchase.

The fact that you CAN walk DOES make a place walkable because there ARE concrete sidewalks regardless of girth. I haven't had to step through too many swamps or pastures getting around in Houston's general city limits

Other cities are more "walkable" yes, but Houston is walkable.

Even Hwy 59 feeder is "walkable"

Yes, Westchase is walkable. I have done that so many times. Westpark and Hilcroft need fixing though, 1 bus stop is a stick and the pole serving 81 Westheimer Sharpstown (formally the 82 bus)
Plus the 25 Richmond stops on the feeder with a complete sidewalk, unlike Crapital Metro in Austin where the closest 3 bus stop northbound from Austin City hall is not ADA complaint.

Well, at least the electric companies don't lie about ADA compliance on their utility bills, and Reliant is not the only game in town.

I guess that is what some Conservatism can do, undo monopolies.

I know Houston like the back of my thumb. I have been everywhere in Houston!!! Can't wait to escape the transit ghetto of Austin and visit Houston and have some decent restaurant food!!!!

Nobody does restaurants for foodies in Texas like Houston. Nobody, except for San Antonio and they come in second, with Tex Mex it can be a tie.

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

I don't think anybody minds poor people on the bus. But there are often homeless people. Metro is only OK at transporting people, but it's great at transporting hepatitis.

BTW poor neighborhoods are not automatically walkable just because poor people can't afford cars. The street grids of many old neighborhoods that happen to be poor is conducive to walking, but there's the problem of what to walk TO. I would say if there is not a grocery store in walking distance, your neighborhood gets a 0 walkability rating. No, a corner shop and a liquor store don't count.

I used to walk from Fiesta on Hilcroft and Bellaire to Bellaire in Cannock. It was a 30 minute fast walk, and the corner store was closer. Is that walking distance? and plus all of Sharpstown Section 2 had sidewalks since 1989. Try that one in San Antonio and Austin.

Sharpstown is no means rich, and it is an old neighborhood as old as the late 50's.

I am beginning the feel that I should have stayed in Sharpstown and not moved to Austin, where I developed Arthritis walking up steep hills, and a bus system that ignores the working poor, the bus in Austin always only wants to serve the wealthy in the Domain, and just businesses on arterial streets where there is no apartments nor houses.

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by jbarn

So places like Odessa, Arlington, Plano, Pasadena, etc.... are rated higher than Fort Worth. I think this list just lost all credibility. And Richardson and San Marcos are rated higher than Dallas and Austin....laughable. And Houston being more walkable than Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth....folks would like to believe that, but it is simply not true.

San Antonio is more walkable than Austin. I call this survey bluff.

And sidewalk construction on Harry Wurzbach from 410 to Eisenhower is underway. More sidewalks are being built in San Antonio than in Austin. Port Arthur is more walkable than Austin. Been there too.

And San Marcos has recently put in Sidewalks on the south side you can see them going to San Antonio from Austin look to your right off the Interstate. Where you see the RR 80 exit and the San Marcos tourist center and the baseball fields you will see brand spanking new sidewalks. I watched them build those.

The best sidewalk in San Antonio is the stretch from Nacodogches and Loop 410 on the Bill Millers BBQ side up until Danbury Dr.

I heard Marbach and 410 is getting sidewalk replacements. In Austin you have to sue the city to get them. Been theres and dones that.

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

I can't believe we have a poster calling Westchase walkable. I used to live there. It's NOT walkable. The streets are in a suburban pattern, designed to PREVENT you from walking through. No grid, but instead curves, and in order to travel any distance you must first walk to a main thoroughfare.

Let's be clear--- the fact that you can walk is not what makes a place walkable. Following that logic, everywhere with ground is walkable.

Everyone has a different definition of "walkable"
I have legs and shoes so i can handle walking in Westchase.
If you are having trouble maybe try going to the gym and doing some more cardio.

[worldlyman]

Originally Posted by Spade

Well if proving a point goes by that video, then I will say the entire world is walkable. That is a the definition of average walkable suburbia. That video really does nothing to prove Houston is walkable. The sidewalks in that video are narrow. You have too many obstructions along the way. You filmed a dead strip mall at night and passed that off as walkable. Very misleading as most would not dare walk that stretch during the day. Most people that like walking wouldn't choose that sidewalk unless they have no choice.

"Sidewalks in that video are narrow?"

They do allow passage for pedestrians who need to get somewhere, do they not? There are food and services in those strip malls. Accessible by foot. Apartments and houses are adjacent to those "narrow" sidewalks and bus stations. That's my point.

Streets and sidewalks need not be cute and fuzzy, especially in a city of 630 square miles, appealing to Anal Urban whitebread types in order to get somewhere. So "walkability" is something that is defined by very broad sidewalks adorned with all sorts of cute cafes, carted newstands, upscale boutiques and lovely organic markets unbothered by non-threatening distances and lower-end "strip malls"? I don't think so.

Substantial numbers of people DO get off the 2 bus at Gessner and Bellaire and then trek northward or southward BY FOOT. And why do you presume people "would not dare" walk that during the day? Seems like those Latinas walking their babies in strollers down Gessner seem to "dare." Pedestrian commuters need to get home. They need to get some food or items at these "dead strip centers." They NEED TO CATCH BUSSES.

But I guess the critical condescending types don't really bother with Houston's busses anyway, so how would they know what is a "dead strip mall?" (As if that's the only strip center on Gessner.)

I rest my case. People (though not the ones who demographically matter to the whitebread Anal Urbanists) do regularly walk along that Gessner route in my video, though nominally during the daytime. They also do more so, densely, along perpendicular Ranchester from those colorful apartments to Chinatown, neo-urban village style. Lots of people walk there, to-and-fro, demonstrating walkability from abode to market in Houston.

But since it doesn't look like Rodeo Drive or Miracle Mile or 16th Street or...whatever...it doesn't matter to the Anal Urbanist types who demand a different definition of "walkability."

[stoneclaw]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

Your mindset is exactly what I just disproved. 16th Street in Denver, lol. I've had far better food in Houston's hole-in-the-wall "strip malls" than in the likes of 16th Street or Santa Monica 3rd or San Diego's Gas Lamp...(I must say that beer up in the Mile High City gets to me faster and they have good beer.)

And yeah, I did the walkability thing in between METRO busses like the 2, 25 and the 81/82 to get to that delicious food on the way home or somewhere. I proved that I can leave my Mitsubishi at home and walk around H-town, take some busses.

I don't have to be garnered with something like "16th Street" to get around this city. You scaredy cats just stay home. "Poor people looking to commit a crime" simply because they walk in areas that don't look like 16 Street? LOL.

Yeah, that Houston pedestrianism (ladies strolling their children, families walking with groceries, Burmese kids playing running up and down, Latino workers getting water and juice drinks from Welcome Market, etc) I see along Ranchester in Chinatown, they are waiting to rob or mug every Anal Urbanist they see, LMAO.

We adventurous types will continue to prowl and get the most of Houston in whatever way.

Sorry, Anal Urbanism doesn't cut it.

Don't try and make this out to be an issue like i have a beef with poor people because I don't. I happen to know of some of the best food found in low income areas, but i stand by my statements. I've been living on the southwest side of Houston for almost 4 years, lived in Gulfton for 2 of those years. There are a lot of ghetto apartments budding right next to eachother. And yes, I have come across people on foot who are very unsavory looking and often look like they're up to no good. Many of the strip centers are crumbling and disqusting. Yes there's alot of density in that area, but c'mon bro? Posting a picture of an old strip mall to promote walkability? Let's just say that I hope you don't work for the Houston visitor's bureau.lol. These are things that Houston has gotten criticized enough for.

I think that Houston's better areas should be shown as illustration of Houston's walkability. You can thank city-data and other of these urban forums for my mindset. Because we are often trained to believe that urbanism on the upswing should be near the primary focal points of town, and have access to smooth mass transit. I'm not discounting these areas as something special, but i want to think about areas that are going to have better property values, appreciating land, and more postive growth.

On the other hand, I'm glad that these areas contribute to Houston's walkability overall, but i think you need to use better examples is all i'm saying

[stoneclaw]

EDIT to above post. Picture- meant video.