When I was growing up on the farm, I couldn't walk anywhere. Sure, I could walk down the street to the neighbor's house. But that was about it. Groceries, movies, restaurants, you name it, if I wanted to get there, I needed to drive. Now that I live in downtown Portland, everything I could possibly want is within a few blocks of my house. It's so amazingly convenient, sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it's real.
I recently found this cool website, Walk Score. It's billed as a tool for house & apartment hunters that allows you to figure out if the home of your dreams will force you to spend a good portion of your life in the car. On the flip side, it shows how living in a walkable neighborhood will allow you to actually get out and enjoy life.
So, I typed in my current address (see map above) and it rated a 94 out of 100. Pretty impressive. But when I typed in the address of the farm (see below), I wasn't that surprised to see it spit out a big fat zero. The place is great for growing veggies and raising goats, but it's pretty isolating when you're a kid without a car. (Or living in an age when gas costs almost $4 a gallon.) Needless to say, I'm psyched to have left the commune for the city. But you probably already guessed that.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Get your walk score
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5 comments:
I like the idea - but there seems to be some glitches. If I don't put in my zip code, it says I live on Peaks Island. And apparently there is a Hannaford at Winter and Gray St. - which must be inside someone apartment. Plus they are missing the Reiche School which is a rec center / library and school.
And I am not criticizing just because I only got a 89.
The maps appear to be powered by Google and I guess Google isn't the know-it-all we all assume it is. For instance, my map said I still have a Wild Oats down the street ...
I just heard about this site, too. Apparently real estate brokers are using a good 'walk score' as a selling point in some areas of the country.
My walk score is 45… I was rather upset with it. And I was surprised to know that there is another score called drive score
to evaluate my house. I found the way to calculate it online at Fizber site (http://drivescore.fizber.com/). I’ve got much better results – 51.
Pretty cool. Lots of times, I wish I lived in a town like Portland where I could walk everywhere. I put in my address and it only scored an 8. I live in the middle of nowhere where we have hiking trails and wildlife but everything is a drive!
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