How walkable is your neighborhood?

[Kenosha]

I live on 33rd and Peoria, Heart of Brookside.

I got a 55.

This website is lame.

[deinstein]

My old address at 1400 block of Trenton was a 69.

My current address at 19th and Cincinnati is a 62.

I'd much rather be at the latter of the two though.

[Rowdy]

Speaking of walking neighborhoods-why oh why cant people keep their dogs on leashes?  I either see dogs that get out of the backyard roaming the neighborhood or people walking their dogs without any restraints.

[mac]

Have any of you been to Sustainable Tulsa's website and taken the footprint quiz. It is very good. My only complaint it that it doesn't address people who work from home. (there are some days I never leave the house).

Anyway, check it out
http://www.sustainabletulsa.com/

[HazMatCFO]

I live near 111th and Mingo and scored 2. However, with all the development going on just a mile west on Memorial, I suspect the score will go up soon.

Oh well, I like 2.

[Lewis]

68 for 7100 S Memorial Ave Tulsa 74136

I think this might not refect the reality of actually walking in the area.

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by mac

Have any of you been to Sustainable Tulsa's website and taken the footprint quiz. It is very good. My only complaint it that it doesn't address people who work from home. (there are some days I never leave the house).

Anyway, check it out
http://www.sustainabletulsa.com/

I've taken that quiz--I got an 18.  My only complaint is that it doesn't break things down enough.  For example, when it asks how much you drive a week, I had to check between 10 and 100 miles.  There's a big difference between those numbers.  Also, for housing, it lumps all houses above 2500 square feet together.  My house is slightly above that (with three kids, we need that space), but I know plenty of people that live in houses of 4000 square feet or larger.  Also, it doesn't ask you basic questions, like do you recycle.

[natedog784]

House in Broken Arrow I grew up in:          19

Mom's new house in Claremore:                3

Student hall of residence on Fitzroy Street, Central London:                              95

Townhouse on the Isle of Dogs, London:       64

College Room in terrace house in Cambridge:  60

Mansion flat in Wiesbaden, Germany:          71

Ignoring the fact that public transport is not taken into account, one of the biggest flaws I see seems to be the distance walk score thinks grocery stores are from the various houses I've lived in.  

It says the nearest grocery store to Fitzroy Street is 2.1 miles.  I would guess there are hundreds within a radius that large.  On the Isle of Dogs, walk score says the nearest grocery store is 3.96 miles.  An ASDA (Wal-Mart) is about a 10 min. walk away.  Finally, in Wiesbaden the nearest supermarket to my flat is apparently 8 miles.  In reality, there are at least 3 within 1/2 a mile.  

Besides that, the methodology is flawed.  Its a heck of a lot easier to live without a car at any of the locations I've lived in Europe, and many of them received lower scores than locations in central Tulsa.  

Just because commercial activies are nearby to residences as the crow flies does not mean that they are easy to access on foot in a fast, efficient manner.

[Kiah]

Boulevard des Capucines = 62


41st & Yale = 80


But, it's an interesting exercise. It makes you think about what "walkable" means.  (And, it makes you realize that we only started using "walk" as an adjective when it became an unusual event for us - given the built environment we've created for ourselves.)

[cannon_fodder]

41st and Yale would be very walkable... if people would actually walk.  That is to say, its the cars that make it a problem at all.  Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy to say a city is not walkable.

[Kiah]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

41st and Yale would be very walkable... if people would actually walk.  That is to say, its the cars that make it a problem at all.  Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy to say a city is not walkable.

Yes, ambling along a 10 ft. strip of concrete, with nothing but an 8 inch curb between me and a hundred idiots driving their Hummers at 40 miles an hour with a cell phone in there ear, sounds like a pleasant little stroll to me.  Window shopping at the many quaint little shops in the area might be a little difficult though -- accross three acres of parking lot.

[cannon_fodder]

That's what I mean...

Because people dont think Tulsa is walkable they all have cars (me too!)... so we all drive.  So the streets are high speed high capacity and the sidewalks are too narrow.  The shops are all geared for cars too, with vast in front parking and signs high up on the store front. In places where people dont think you can drive comfortably it is the exact opposite (much of Europe, many downtown areas, Manhattan to be sure).

Call it a self fulfilling prophecy or a self reciprocating cycle... whatever.  The system and thought process support themselves.