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As I mentioned on your other thread in the Charlotte forum, if this move is about being close to your parents it should be a no-brainer between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Not quite a no-brainer because my parents are exactly halfway between Charlotte and Raleigh.
It doesn't work well to use the Walkscore site that way. It's much better if you put in a specific address. That's what I'm saying. It's very flawed. You couldn't have a MORE walkable town than Carrboro, but it only gets a 27 overall. That's ridiculous. I know many people in Carrboro who don't even own cars!
Not quite a no-brainer because my parents are exactly halfway between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Then look at the Triad or closer to wherever they are. There are walkable areas of Greensboro and Winston-Salem, too.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro would be closer than Raleigh. I wouldn't do Raleigh if they're not there.
And seriously, don't put much stock in Walkscore's overall ratings. It really works best if you drop a pin in it or a specific address. My husband drives maybe once a week here in Chapel Hill. The rest of the time he walks. Our neighborhood is not listed on there.
It doesn't work well to use the Walkscore site that way. It's much better if you put in a specific address. That's what I'm saying. It's very flawed. You couldn't have a MORE walkable town than Carrboro, but it only gets a 27 overall. That's ridiculous. I know many people in Carrboro who don't even own cars!
That's because the actual limits of Carrboro extend far beyond the walkable sections of Carrboro (including some rural areas) so when you also weigh areas that have walk scores of 0, then you get 27.
I agree though that I never use the neighborhood feature of WalkScore. Also beware that WalkScore doesn't take into account the geographical limitations and just takes into account straight line distance. You could be on the other side of railroad tracks from a whole bunch of shops/restaurants with no way to cross but WalkScore will give you a high WalkScore for proximity.
It doesn't work well to use the Walkscore site that way. It's much better if you put in a specific address. That's what I'm saying. It's very flawed. You couldn't have a MORE walkable town than Carrboro, but it only gets a 27 overall. That's ridiculous. I know many people in Carrboro who don't even own cars!
I don't know. I've spent a lot of time on that site and find it's quite useful. They're looking at a lot of factors like whether you can walk to the grocery store. For Carrboro it says "Most errands require a car." The highest-scoring neighborhood gets a 50 and the site says "Some errands can be accomplished on foot." My neighborhood has a score of 86. Public transportation in the neighborhood is very strong with buses every few minutes. And pretty much every errand can be accomplished without leaving the neighborhood: groceries, dry cleaning, tailors, post office, car repair, appliance repair, doctors, lawyers, accountants, hair care, dentist, post office, drug store, pet care, exercise facilities, restaurants, entertainment. Hard to think of anything that's missing.
I get that millennials are rejecting suburbs everywhere, but you're missing the point. Your reply to CLT4 was "Uh...San Diego is extremely suburban. What are you smoking?" That's what I was replying to, pointing out the fact that a huge part of San Diego, called Mid-City, as well as Downtown, is NOT suburban AT ALL. Homes are very close together, and each neighborhood has an active business district. In quoting me, you excluded where I pointed out that my neighborhood is the smallest of these many walkable neighborhoods in San Diego, and that some neighborhoods are connected to the (currently expanding) San Diego Trolley system; and also that downtown San Diego is undergoing tremendous development of high-rise condos and apartment buildings. The Walk Score website gives these seventeen neighborhoods in San Diego walk scores of 80 or higher:
Rank Name Walk Score
1. Core-Columbia 98
2. Horton Plaza 97
3. Little Italy 97
4. Gaslamp 97
5. Harborview 97
6. Cortez 94
7. Marina 94
8. East Village 93
9. Village 88
10. Sherman Heights 87
11. Park West 86
12. Normal Heights 86
13. Grant Hill 85
14. Ocean Beach 82
15. North Park 81
16. Hillcrest 81
17. Logan Heights 80
Meanwhile, there is no neighborhood in Raleigh with a walk score of 80. The highest score is 62 (thirty-eight San Diego neighborhoods have a higher score than that), and the overall score for Raleigh is 30. The assessment is that "Raleigh is a Car-Dependent city." https://www.walkscore.com/NC/Raleigh
That said, there are three neighborhoods in Charlotte with a walk score of 80 or higher: Fourth Ward, First Ward, and Second Ward. Eleven Charlotte neighborhoods have scores above 62. Charlotte's overall walk score is 26, and the assessment is "Charlotte is a Car-Dependent city." https://www.walkscore.com/NC/Charlotte
This takes me back to the very purpose of this thread: trying to find interesting and walkable neighborhoods like I'm used to in San Diego because they seem scarce in Charlotte and Raleigh.
I actually love the idea of walkscore, but it's reliability and consistency has been all over the map (pun intended) in the last few years. My downtown Raleigh address's walk score has changed up and down over time while nothing but more walkable locations have been added to my neighborhood. It's like they can't settle on a methodology. I checked out the link from your post to see what's up lately and noticed that all of the most walkable neighborhoods aren't even listed as neighborhoods in Raleigh. So, of course you don't see a walkscore above 62. There's no Glenwood South. There's no Cameron Village. There's no Warehouse District. There's no NC State Univ. There's no DT proper, etc. It's very disappointing to see that walkscore has fallen so far in its accuracy and thoroughness.
When I put in my DT Raleigh condo address, walkscore shoots me to a "country" photo in the suburbs (Garner) and gives me a walkscore of 29. It's pathetic.
Yes. Walkscore is not reliable at all. It's beyond RIDICULOUS to give Carrboro the scores that they do. It's really very flawed and I would not rely on it for data. Just go to Google Streetview and look at things for yourself. Make up your own mind. Take a little Google Streetview walk/drive and see what you think w/o relying on a go-between website that doesn't take into account all the specificities. This right here?
Quote:
And pretty much every errand can be accomplished without leaving the neighborhood: groceries, dry cleaning, tailors, post office, car repair, appliance repair, doctors, lawyers, accountants, hair care, dentist, post office, drug store, pet care, exercise facilities, restaurants, entertainment.
All doable on foot in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. From my house in Chapel Hill I can also walk to the library, park, pool, bookstore, movie theater, not to mention tons of quality restaurants and bars, all of which you can see via Google Streetview, but for whatever reason Walkscore doesn't necessarily see that. They do a better job if you drop that pin or put in a specific address, but it's still pretty flawed. I'd rather see for myself via an in-person visit or the next best thing, a virtual drive via Google.
IMO neither fit the bill exactly at this point but I think the SouthEnd/NoDa/Uptown corridor combined will get closer sooner. When Atherton Mill& the Design District come on line in 2019 it will boast some 200,000 sq ft plus of ground retail in addition to what's happening Uptown. Thompkins Mill in Optimist Park is another interesting redevelopment as it will include office,retail, apartments & a 20,000 sq ft food hall. SouthEnd to NoDa is only 5 miles apart & will be connected by the blue line,rail trail or car
By the way, if you go to the details of how you got a particular WalkScore, you'll notice businesses missing from their lists or businesses that no longer exist that are counting towards your score.
Obviously, use it to get a general idea but as with every ranking/metric, don't read too much into the exact numbers.
In terms of Carrboro, Google Maps has the limits of Carrboro wrong I think and that's why the WalkScore for Carrboro is wrong as well (they're tied in together I think). Go into Google Maps and search "Carrboro, NC" and it includes parts that have Chapel Hill addresses as well.
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