Walkability

Have you ever been motivated by pure laziness? I have. Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron. I’m lazy about taking my car out of the garage (one has to pay for a permit to park on the street where I live). So, instead of lifting the door, pulling the car out every time I wanted to run an errand, I put my feet to the concrete and started walking.

No one walked where I grew up. My neighborhood was a constant cautionary tale. When you walked, you did it with a look and pace that said that you were simultaneously bored, angry and in a hurry (Check out any model on the catwalk for a visual). Where I lived, strolling was for folks looking for trouble.

A move to a suburb of Los Angeles changed all of that, as did the recession and a growing awareness about the environment. The Tween-let and I live next to a freeway that’s a vein between downtown and the ‘burbs. The constant course of vehicles makes me hyper aware of the noise and air pollution and so whenever we can, we walk. Oh! The screams of protest from the Tween-let when we first embarked on this lifestyle change.

We didn’t begin all at once. We began by walking to school, and began to include other errands on the way to and from. Here’s how you can do it. Make a list of the businesses that you use most, such as the bank, the drugstore, you get the picture, then assess the walkability of where you live by using Walkscore, a website that helps you determine the walkability of your neighborhood and locates the businesses you use most that are in a one-mile-radius of where you live.

Feet to the concrete people!

- Aunt B