$4 a gallon have you ready to park the jalopy rely on your feet for transportation? Good for you! As you trade the truck for tenny-runners (the F-150 for flip-flops? the Caddy for Keds?), you may get a kick out this really cool website:
WalkScore.com, where you can type in your address and find out how walkable your neighborhood is. The WalkScore folks just ranked San Francisco as the
most walkable city in the country, with a score of 86 out of 100.
So how do some South Dakota addresses stack up at WalkScore? I whip out the phone book and try some familiar locales:
- 414 NE 5th Street, Madison (which is for sale!): 74
- Mayor Hexom's house, Madison: 55
- Madville Times World Headquarters, Lake Herman: 0 (but we have bikes!)
- Todd Epp's house, Harrisburg: 29
- Pat Powers's house, Brookings: 28
- The Fishback house on 8th Street, Brookings: 78
- Governor's Mansion, Pierre: 74
- Frequent commenter Stan Gibilisco's current abode, Deadwood, SD: 42 (Stan, I just punched in your ZIP; feel free to type in your actual address for a more specific score!)
It's summer, it's Friday, the boss doesn't care: Go to WalkScore.com, enter your home address, your friends' addresses, see how easy your walk will be when the oil runs out!
OUCH! 35 out of 100 for my place! BUT... I'm across the street from the Community Center!
ReplyDeleteI scored an 11; yet walk ~75% of the time. But the site isn't listing either of my nearby grocery stores, the drug mart, or a couple of bars.
ReplyDeleteAccuracy is questionable, but an interesting concept.
Unfortunately, I think that because of our pervasive connectivity technology (cell phone/IM/internet), people tend to ignore those closest to them and focus on those friends they have already made. This is what is diriving alot of my generation's dependence on ubiquitous low cost transportation.
Until someone comes up with an electronic method to identify people near by who are lookings for new friends our dependence on transportation will continue. The embodiment of this concept would be a cell phone that would identify for you people around you via GPS/cell phone triangulation/etc. that want to get to know new people. Maybe a toggle switch that lets you be in meeting people mode vs. not meeting people.
My generation is so dependant on and integrated with technology that our thought processes and speech are noticeably different from past generations. I think a technological solution is actually required.
Mine is an 80. I love living in the city again. I walk everywhere now.
ReplyDeleteI got an 83 for my little place in the Verm. Watch out, San Fran!
ReplyDeleteNow if I could get those Sigma Nus to shovel their sidewalk in the winter...
I was 35 - I in the same township as you do and it says that I'm .22 miles from Lewis. It's a little off. Interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteNo problem with my actual address being public knowlege. It's in the phone book anyway!
ReplyDeleteStan Gibilisco
715 Ridge Road
Lead, SD 57754
Would be interesting to know the score, as I have:
+ YMCA with swimming pool 2 blocks away
+ Grocery store 3 blocks away
+ Alco department store 3 blocks away
+ Library, Post Office, Arts Center, and several small restaurants all within 5 blocks
+ Gold mine less than 1 mile away
Cory:
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I have a quantifiable reason now to keep not walking! Wait until I tell Mrs. Epp!
And I can attest that San Francisco is an extremely walkable city. Donna and I have walked all over the place--only one taxi ride--to sightsee, eat, sleep, shop, etc. A car is a pain in the tuchus in Frisco. Boston is also very walkable in my experience as is DC and NYC. Houston, KC and LA, not so much.
Todd Epp
Walking and Riding Editor
SD Watch http://www.southdakotawatch.net
Update for Stan: your Lead address registers a 46 on WalkScore!
ReplyDeleteNow if they could only add categories such as ClimbScore and TumbleScore, I'd be in the 90s for sure.
ReplyDeleteWe do lack a pharmacy and a hospital, both of which exist within 6 blocks of the Post Office in Deadwood.
Well, if this gets me out walking more, good! I hate driving anyhow, even to Deadwood (3.5 miles each way, but it ain't no easy bike ride).
Well, living in the country is definitely not of interest to this ridiculous walk score. Couldn't even get our address to register, which would have been 0/100 anyway. So what are farmers/ranchers supposed to do? Move to town? Get real!
ReplyDeleteTried an address in Rapid City and still came up about 12.
Seems like the people touting this website want everyone to live in a city. But they are forgetting that a number of things they depend on for their daily lives are provided by people who cannot live where there is a high walkability score. And forgetting that sometimes quality of life is compromised when people essentially live on top of each other.
This did give me a good laugh though!
Anon 12:52 ...
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree, living cheek-to-jowl with one's neighbors has a lot of drawbacks, even if the WalkScore is high. I've done it. It can drive a poor bloke batty.
Some people will have to live out in the country to run the solar and wind ranches that will keep all those city hive dwellers warm and well lit!
I hear you on the city vs. country. While my place in town scored an 83, the farm was a whopping "zero."
ReplyDeleteBut I think this can at least provide a heads up to the "pad dwellers" that there are plenty of amenities within the distance of their feet.
Country folks have likely been combining trips to reduce gas consumption, time, and wear and tear for years...
I scored a 66. In reality, we do walk to the drug store, grocery store, and hardware store at least some of the time. Our library is about a third of a mile too.
ReplyDelete