How walkable is your address?
Posted by: Noel Jones
Here's an interesting article from the New York Times about a new web site that will calculate the "walkability" of your home, in relation to surrounding services, businesses, entertainment and transportation. This is a great tool that we can use to attract home-owners to the West Ward, because as the price of gas gets more and more expensive in the next few years, walkability is going to be a factor in determining property values, and the West Ward is very walkable compared to neighborhoods across America where people are accustomed to driving everywhere. One more reason to love the West Ward!
Calculate your score by clicking the link within the article below:
New York Times Article by Rob Lieber on Neighborhood Walkability
What's your score?
Posts
14 comments:
Ours was 85%! We're at 8th & Ferry. Post yours here if you like, along with your general location so readers can get an idea of how different pockets of the neighborhood differ...
MIne was a 68%. I noticed that many of the places they used no longer exist such as the now-defunct movie theater downtown and the Gettymart. I am below the average score of most Eastonians. I also noticed that the nearest park is .59 miles from my house though I can see one out my window as I write the comment. Hmmmm
I saw this app while visiting the zillow.com website. Mine is a sad 66% being on 13th and Northampton Sts.
94% without any transportation data available. LANTA stops at my doorstep practically, and I walk 5 minutes to the TransbridgeBus to NYC, so that'd make it 100%? Could this be why my car sits in the garage all the time instead of me sitting in it?
83. N7th and Bushkill. but, they include one (or both, can't tell) 'groceries' at the head of the block; seriously, I don't go in either of those dumps.
for walkability, I think the score should drop for the HILLS!
My house on College Hill is an 86. My parents' house in Huntingdon Valley (the suburbs) is a 34.
12th & Lehigh - 75% Which is just above the Easton average of 72%.
Some info was outdated as with others the movie theater. Note the difference a few blocks makes as Nikkita had a 66% and was only about three blocks away.
I actually scored a 75%, and frankly I did not know what to expect.I am in the 1100 block of Ferry. Although this part of the street is very poorly lit and I do not recommend a woman walking alone at night.But on the up side,I can hear the church bells almost like beacons, giving a pleasant sound of Faith.
Miller's is 94%. So I guess Tim's is right. Just for fun I typed in my in-law's address who live in Forks Twp and their's was a 12%. Guess suburban folks don't know what they are missing!
I am down-right proud and a little smug about all this!
You should be Noel,This is the real kind of stuff that begins to create a
sense of ownership and dare I say camaraderie among Neighbors.
Now if we could only get everyone on the same page we would be off and running instead of playing catch up.
Peace to all and I will see you walking!!!!
p.s. Tim Pickel~even 68% is a great score, compared to most areas of the U.S. in which to live. even in the suburbs in our area, the score goes down to the 30s!
what i'm reading here is that no matter where you are in the WW, the score ranges from 66% - 94% and that's without transportation data available--all those scores would shoot even higher with that data involved, because of walkability to LANTA and the Transbridge buses to New Jersey and New York.
Yes, I have a great walking score! If when I want to see a movie, I can sit in front of an out of business theatre. If I need a new outfit I just walk to DC Dancewear (I am not a dancer). If I want some groceries I can go to Aztec city, where box mac and cheese and hot sauce and not much else is sold. Wait..Are we serious about this?
The tool is clearly flawed, but comments can be entered into the site to help them improve the accuracy. The overall point though, is that some cities are geographically designed in a way that lends itself to handle a contraction of the economy, while others that are very spread out and reliant on cars for transportation are not. The simple fact that anyone who's car is broken down can walk down the hill to a bus station and catch a bus to NY, NJ, Philly or Allentown says a lot. Also, whether the corner stores are quality or not, the bottom line is that anyone in the WW can walk to get food--not great food, but food none the less, and now we have a new fresh produce store on 3rd Street, so even that scenario is a little better. Many cities in the U.S. require a car at all times for daily life--no stores or mass transportation within reach.
Now I agree with you, we've got a long way to go to making the WW as walkable as it could be. We need our storefronts back--which requires pressuring local government to offer de-conversion incentives to investors to return converted storefronts back into storefronts that entrepreneurs can use to re-localize the economy here.
Post a Comment