By Rachel Emma Silverman
- Associated Press
In today’s WSJ, Shirley Wang has an article (and related video) about “sidewalk rage” — anger at slow walkers who clog up sidewalks and grocery aisles. While such ambulatory behavior is certainly annoying, I’d almost welcome feeling some sidewalk rage these days. That’s because it means that I’m actually out walking.
You see, I live in Austin, Texas, a sprawling southwestern city with intense heat and busy highways that make long-distance walking a tough proposition. Driving is a fact of life for me. That’s a big change from New York City, where I lived for many years before moving here. I don’t miss much about New York (especially the wintry weather!) but I really do miss walking everywhere.
Sure, I walk my dog and kids around the neighborhood several times a day. And if the spirit moved me, I could walk up to the 7-11 or the taqueria about a half-mile away. But most of my go-to shopping and errands are not within walking distance of my house. Driving certainly makes my juggle easier for things like supermarket shopping, but I miss the exercise and sociable aspect of walking to get a cup of coffee or go out to lunch with a friend.
Walkability has become an increasingly important factor in the real-estate market, according to my colleague Nancy Keates. Brokers say that today’s home buyers are paying much more attention to what retailers, restaurants and amenities are nearby, as well as sidewalk and road safety.
Websites, such as Walk Score, have sprung up to rank which homes have the most amenities within walking distance; ads on many real-estate websites now include Walk Scores. Walking-distance amenities raised values by as much as $3,000 for a one-point increase in rankings, Walk Score found.
How important is walkability to you? How walkable is your neighborhood? Is your office in a walkable area? Do you find having walkability helps your juggle or is driving easier for you and your family? And if you do walk frequently, do you ever get “sidewalk rage?”
A Son, not sure if you’ll check back here. My brother and his wife sailed, they didn’t “cruise.” So somewhat different. We did visit them (they had visitors at least every month, so perhaps not the honeymoon they’d envisioned!). They have many stories about crossing from Miami, being out alone in the middle of the night in a storm, trying to stay awake, seeing at the last minute a wire that went from a ship way in the distance to something it was towing - would’ve snapped their mast and more had they not happened to notice it, etc. They met some couples sailing as retirees and those folks made my brother and his wife promise that they wouldn’t wait til retirement to do the adventure again. So about 10 years ago, my bro and SIL moved to a small tropical island “just for a year” and have been there ever since. Living in a beer commercial, as they have described it. (though it seems more like a fancy mojito commercial to me)
I would actually prefer to relinquish my driver’s license rather than give up walking when I become a senior.
We have a couple of walking trails in our town which I hit when. These are nice because they are removed from the roads. One of the trails has amazing views of the San Jacintos (snow covered this winter) and the Pacific Ocean. These are strictly recreational trails (no access to stores, coffee shops etc), and I’m ashamed to admit that I drive to the trail heads.
We bought our current home so that our kids could safely walk to their schools once they reached junior high age. That way they could participate in after school programs or go to a friend’s house without us having to drive them.
On the whole our town isn’t pedestrian friendly, and it’s a big gripe of mine given that we have a great climate for walking. I’ve been trying more than a decade to get a sidewalk put in along a street near us so that folks can walk to the new town park. Our town just won’t pay for sidewalks; they use them as a bargaining chip for new development. Not a very effective strategy when the town is 90% built out.
Portia’s got the right idea for a home to live in as one ages. I’ve got my eye on some condos in our town’s downtown which are in walking distance to a train and bus station, as well as the town library and shopping.
refugees! haha! I meant “retirees”, of course. Sorry
Clarksville in AustIn
some parts of S Austin
Really, any city has walkable nooks. You just have to find them. When I move to town, I drive or bike the streets within a 2-mile radius of work, looking for places to live, and have found good spots & safe paths even in Austin (between interstate & airport, walked to supermarket, biked to campus, took bus to work @ Balcones) & Fairfax Va. Gave up babysitter # 1 bc driving 8 miles to her house took 45 min I didn’t have. Those are different issues than refugees have to deal with, but similar attention will yield the livable, non car-dependent lifestyle you want.