[quote=CA renter]BTW, we regularly use the sidewalks in our neighborhood, as do most of our neighbors; it’s a very walkable neighborhood because of the sidewalks and front yards. I think you have a distorted view of what suburban neighborhoods are like and why people prefer to live in them.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say that sidewalks alone are what make a neighborhood “walkable.” My idea of “walkable” is having destinations that you can walk to — parks, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, coffee shops, movie theaters, entrainment, etc. If you need a car to do any of these things, I don’t think that qualifies the neighborhood as “walkable.” Just an opinion coming from a city dweller who grew up in the ‘burbs.
Speaking of the suburbs, has anyone checked out Arcade Fire’s new record? It’s called “The Suburbs” and covers some interesting territory regarding the burbs and sprawl — memories from growing up in the burbs and the empty feeling you get returning to them when you’re older. An entire album about the suburbs! Highly recommended for the poignant social commentary. Some sample lyrics:
“Kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams we’re still screamin’ and runnin’ through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin’ at all
Meant nothin’ at all
It meant nothin”
“You started a war
That you can’t win
They keep erasing all the streets we grew up in”
“They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
‘Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They’re calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World’s so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there’s no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights”
“Took a drive into the sprawl
To find the house where we used to stay in
Couldn’t read the number in the dark
You said let’s save it for another day
Took a drive into the sprawl
To find the places we used to play
It was the loneliest day of my life
You’re talking at me but I’m still far away”
