How “walkable” is your life?

Filed in National by on June 21, 2007

On a scale of one to ten. One being “I have to get into the car for every little thing” and ten being “I live in Manhattan and never have to get into a car.”

Mine is a one or two. I like my life, my house and my neighborhood – but I hate my car dependant life style. Even at work I have to get into a car to go to the bank or the post office.

Delaware sucks (as far as all of this is concerned). I feel like I’m just throwing money at Osama Bin Laden.

Why am I going all on about this? Well, the Kent county thing below, this news from the Senate, and this post by Mahaffie.

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Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (14)

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  1. Mike says:

    I take your point Jason. I live in Lewes and work in Dover. I started out working closer to home, but my career has led that part of my life north. I don’t want to give up Lewes, though. I love this town.

    But parts of my life are walkable.

    I am most pleased to be working in downtown Dover now. Most of my lunch hours are walked. There are restaurants and shops within a few blocks and I can usually get a good hike into my day that way.

    I can also walk to many of the meetings I have at other state agencies. A meeting this morning took me about 5 blocks to walk. After, I swung up Loockerman Street to pick up some lunch to take back to my office.

    I live farther out from the center of Lewes than I’d like. One can walk downtown from here, though there is a very ped-unfriendly bit where Kings Highway and Freeman Highway split hat you have to navigate. Nonetheless, I do head into town on foot when I can.

    When you have kids the age mine are — pre-teen and teen — you are going to be driving more than you’d like.

    That will change.

  2. tommywonk says:

    I’d rate my walkability as 6 or 7 compared to most Americans.

    I live on the western edge of Trolley Square, so my lifestyle is fairly walkable. I drive to work (several miles south of Wilmington) and for shopping once or twice a week, though I could easily survive by shopping on foot. I gas up about twice a month.

  3. jason330 says:

    Mike – Downtown Dover is a great walking town. I used to work just past the train station (across the tracks) on Forest Ave and walk to one of your favorite lunch spot when it was 33 West Bradford. Years and years ago I lived in what is now Smithers and worked in what was Mort’s deli. I don’t miss the drunks coming out of Loockerman Exchange (as it was know then) but I miss wlaking my ass off.

    I work in Smyrna now which is a pedestrian nightmare. My house is located not far from some shops – but it is a suicide mission to walk to them. Some teens do it out of boredom or a sense of inviciibility.

    It would not have taken much to connect our neigborhood and those shops. Just a little vision and a few bucks.

  4. anon says:

    If only the back-to-back cul-de-sacs had all been connected with pedestrian walkways, you could walk or ride a bike across New Castle County without ever stepping on a major road.

  5. Mike says:

    Ah… Mort’s. I saw a news piece on Mort some time back. He got some sort of award.

    I used to eat there when I first worked in Dover. Many years ago.

    A co-worker came out of the closet to me over lunch in Mort’s one day. I’d been pestering him about all the pretty women we worked with. I was newly married and I think trying to live a vicarious single lifestyle through him.

    Must have been very annoying. so he let me know he was gay.

    It was cool. I apologized for always trying to fix him up. He forgave me and we stayed friends until he left the state.

    I can’t think of a more unlikely place to come out of the closet, though, than mMort’s, back in the day.

  6. jason330 says:

    It was a fun first job, but they had an odd training program. On day one they said, “Just put wipe down the tables put the chairs up and sweep the floor.”

    The next day I’d come in and they’d say “you did a good job with the tables chairs and sweeping, but you forgot to mop.” So I’d add that task.

    The next day The next day I’d come in and they’d say “you did a good job with the tables chairs, sweeping and mopping, but you forgot to clean the bathroom.” So I’d add that task.

    On and on for weeks adding one task per day and always introducing the new task in the same way.

  7. Ryan S. says:

    Eight or Nine, especially since I don’t own a car. Slightly higher for this summer and last, because DC is a great town for it. Newark is no slouch for walking either.

  8. Duffy says:

    Hmmm…I’m not sure. My car use has dropped significantly as I’m telecommuting 3 days a week. I do, however, have to drive to virtually everything.

  9. oedipa maas says:

    I rate my own walkability about 3 or 4. Even though I live in walking distance of downtown and the Riverfront, there still is not enough there to get what I want. But I guess I could adjust what I want….I work in PA — not in an office park, but right off of Rt 1 meaning that we need to get into our cars to get lunch or anything else. We are right next door to the Chadds Ford Winery, so that is a decent benefit. None of my projects are in state, though, so I drive or fly alot now.

    On the other hand, I’ve walked down to the Jazz Festival almost every night this week with friends and neighbors and it is easy to walk down to some decent places for dinner or cocktails.

  10. Von Cracker says:

    I’d give myself an 8 since I live off of Del Ave in Wilmington. Restaurants, bars, Rx, and a crappy supermarket are all within a quarter-mile of my front door. The only time I use my car is to and from work (which is only a 25 minute ride into PA), visit family or Costco.

    If I worked in downtown Wilmington I’d certainly take the bus, which would bring my driving down to about 10 miles a week.

  11. Dorian Gray says:

    I’ll give myself a 5. I have to drive 5 minutes to the train station but I do take the train to work and to Philly when I go shopping, dine out, bars, etc.

    But I do live in a suburban neighborhood (in Newark) so I do more driving than I’d like. But Ryan S. is right – Newark is pretty cool for walking to bars, etc.

  12. G Rex says:

    A few years ago my car was stolen (from my driveway, no less) and I was car-less for a month or so while the insurance claim was settled. I gave DART a shot for a few days, but there being no direct bus from where I live to where I work, I had a half hour transfer gap between one bus and another-both ways. Then I dragged my 12-speed out of the basement and got it back into working condition. That worked out fairly well for me, apart from the seven flat tires I had to repair over a two week period – mostly due to all the broken glass and sharp metal bits on the shoulder of Ott’s Chapel Road. I even lost a few pounds and got my wind back up in time for hockey season. So anyway, my life is bikeable, not walkable, but it wouldn’t be if I had to wear a shirt and tie to work. Public trans sucks ass for anyone not going to and from Wilmington, IMO.

  13. donviti says:

    2

    I live on Shipley road so walking to and from anywhere is cheating death

  14. Richard says:

    I agree with donviti, we live off of Baynard BLVD off of Shipley and even walking that road is taking your life into your hands. So I will say I am a 1 on the walk vs. ride. The one saving grace is that if we go through the neighborhoods we can walk to church. There is scuttle but about putting in sidewalks on Baynard, let’s see if that happens.

    I used to live in Wilmington and we were close enough to walk to the Ice Cream festival at Rockwood park. There wasn’t anywhere else we wanted to walk to. So the rest of my life, shopping, work, fun was and remains a drive.

    You can’t really bike all that safely in Northern Delaware either. And I have found that the buses either don’t start where I need them or don’t end where I need them.