Where are the pedestrians in San Antonio?

[210]

Originally Posted by cm729

We were in San Antonio, considering a move there and several people (born and raised Texans btw) said they were shocked that we'd been walking around, esp outside the tourist areas.

How did it go? Also what areas exactly were you walkiing around in?

We didn't run into any problems ourselves but walking from a huge mall to our hotel someone driving by actually pulled over during rush hour and asked if we were ok...

Where exactly were you at this point?

[cm729]

The car that pulled over - was near North Star Mall.

We lived in Hill country for a few months and the friends we knew were familiar with San Antonio, Ft. Worth, Corpus Christi...which means only that they were people used to cities - they all felt it was risky walking anywhere outside of the Riverwalk/Alamo area of San Antonio and pretty much said the same about other cities in Texas. We had already done the walking around at that point and were surprised they thought we'd taken such a huge risk (we're a family with kids). None of the areas had barred windows or seemed anything other than working people's neighborhoods.

We've lived other places where people just didn't seem to walk around much, including Hill Country towns. Even if it was plenty safe we rarely ran into other pedestrians..people just use their cars more in some places or drive to walking trails instead of walking where they live. Seems more common in Northeast and the East coast (in general of course) And places with more neighborhood life as far as corner stores, diners etc.as compared to the more wide opened areas/no sidewalk subdivisions that came along later (even NE burbs have less walkers). I'm not sure its necessarily an indication of a bad area...I think people can get so used to driving that they get out of touch with the "people contact" of walking and public transportation, etc. Just my take on it.

[210]

People who like urban developments where on can walk everywhere, read about City South.

//www.city-data.com/forum/san-a...er-future.html

[Paul56]

I've seen the pedestrians in the downtown area but certainly not the numbers I've seen in other cities; however, that question may be more applicable to areas like Schertz.

Sure, there are some (read very few) pedestrians in Schertz like those folks out for a walk or jog along Schertz Parkway... myself included.

But the Schertz Parkway sidewalk only serves those who are out for a recreational stroll or jog... not those who might be looking to combine that with a trip to do some shopping.

For example, I'm down the street from HEB, Lowe's and other shopping. If there was a short section of sidewalk leading there myself and many others could walk up there for browsing & shopping instead of a 2 minute car trip.

It is also interesting to note that along Schertz Parkway there are no benches or parks where one can sit and relax for a bit... I can walk for 5 miles and come across nothing of the sort. I do come across trash along the sidewalk that has been laying there since last summer.

Lack of pedestrians was one of the first things I noted about the area. Discussions with others about this seem to focus on 2 areas:

-it is too hot to be out walking
-there are sidewalks but they don't go where we want to go

Very different from the last place I lived... but I have adapted as I'm sure many others have. But, it sure would be nice to have the sidewalks in Schertz that supported pedestrian traffic. I think pedestrians and the facilities that encourage that bring more a sense of community to a place... rather than running around inside a steel box all the time.