7 ms·
Americans will pay more to live in walkable neighborhoods
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- phpisthebest 4y agoI actively looked for, and found a home in a neighborhood with no sidewalks (and no HOA)
- UncleOxidant 4y agoI can understand not wanting an HOA, but why wouldn't you want sidewalks?
- Rebelgecko 4y agoI don't know OP's reasoning, but some people don't like sidewalks and public transit because they think it makes it easier for undesirables to visit their community
- phpisthebest 4y agoI have to maintain them, snow removal in the winter, pay to have them replaced when the crack, liability for injury if people trip and fall, sidewalks invite people walking their dogs who do not clean up after them.... Tons of reasons.
- theGnuMe 4y agoThe liability is a red herring because technically that land is not yours if it is adjacent to the public road (at least in Minnesota). Your town however can force you to remove the snow and ice on it. I don't know about repairs... most likely the city will fix it and charge you an assessment. When they upgrade the sewer and roads they usually add an assessment to the adjacent properties vs paying for it out of tax revenue.
- rahimnathwani 4y agoThis depends on where you live. In San Francisco: Under the provisions of Article 15, Section 706 of the Public Works Code, it is the responsibility of property owners to maintain the sidewalk in front of and/or surrounding their property, including driveways and sidewalk structures, and to repair any defects or conditions which may cause injury to persons or damage to property. In the event of such occurrences, property owners are liable for any claims that may arise. This seems bonkers to me, as I grew up in the UK, where you're not responsible for maintaining stuff that's not yours.
- bscphil 4y ago> to repair any defects or conditions which may cause injury to persons or damage to property This is a remarkably strong requirement. I wonder if the same holds in Los Angeles, and if so, how every property owner has not been sued out of existence by now. I don't know that I've ever seen a sidewalk adjoining private property being repaired, and the state of the sidewalks shows it. I've tripped over bulging chunks of concrete pushed up by tree roots I don't know how many times.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- MomoXenosaga 4y agoIn my country they have rules that (fast food) restaurants have to keep the side walk clean from trash.
- rotifer 4y agoThe city recently added sidewalks to my (low traffic) street after doing some sewer upgrades. Lots of people continue to walk on the street because it's consistently flat, as opposed to the dip and slope you encounter on the sidewalk at each driveway entrance. These can be more treacherous in the winter because you now have ice on a slope. People with (even mild) mobility issues seem to be disproportionately affected.
- sn0wf1re 4y agoA simple solution is to not dip the sidewalks. Just have a larger bump for cars.
- theGnuMe 4y agoSnow removal and sidewalk maintenance of the parts that abut your house.
- floxy 4y agoFeels more "homey"? Less manicured / managed? More rural. I grew up in a house without sidewalks, and currently live in a house without sidewalks. Maybe that's what you grew up with and so it feels more "authentic"?
- patrick451 4y agoSidewalks are an erosion of property rights. They are a legally mandated ingress to you private property. I don't permit people to take a shortcut through my living room even if it's convenient, and I don't want them walking through my yard either. This is why I own property and do not live in a public park. The law requires that you maintain this ingress, e.g., shoveling snow, and if you fail to so will impose large fines. If the government wants sidewalks, they should be maintained by the city and contiguous with the street.
- paulryanrogers 4y agoHeaven forbid we each sacrifice a modest slice of property to keep pedestrians safer from cars.
- phpisthebest 4y ago[flagged]
- giraffe_lady 4y agojust comically evil god damn
- jewayne 4y agoSorry, but I can't avoid picturing you as one of the dystopian fat people in Wall-E who are so obese they've lost their ability to walk.
- snowwrestler 4y agoTechnically correct as even vehicle occupants who are injured in crashes are not, by definition, pedestrians.
- yuppie_scum 4y agoWe live in a society
- 4y ago
- jewayne 4y agoNobody needs an HOA. Until they need an HOA.
- mushbino 4y agoWhat would you need an HOA for?
- brailsafe 4y agoname checks out
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y agoThe article says that walkable neighborhoods are 35% more expensive. So that means you can save quiet a bit on housing if you choose to live in a non-walkable neighborhood.
- biohax2015 4y agoAnd pay with your mental health..
- hd95489 4y agoCorrelation is not causation. Sidewalks mostly exist in high density or very affluent areas
- jewayne 4y agoYour definition of "high density" and "very affluent" are different from mine.
- prepend 4y agoI don’t think they are more expensive because they are walkable. I think they are walkable because they are more expensive (deformable locations, amenities). It’s weird that this article makes such a seemingly wrong point.
- actionablefiber 4y agoCome to Northern Virginia. We have a very ample supply of ludicrously unaffordable neighborhoods where you also need to be in a motor vehicle just to leave your subdivision because it spits you out onto a highway. Walkable neighborhoods tend to accommodate high densities quite nicely, so the per-person cost is reasonable, however there just are not enough of them.
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago?So move to DC? BTW, DC + rideshare bike is an amazing upgrade to the usual DC sightseeing experience. You go from walking 10 miles to zipping around on bikes. It was incredible how well DC shrunk with a bike share. Manhattan? Not so much. Chicago? I mean, if you can get to the lakeshore, it gets better, but still not what DC was. Houston was a city that SO BADLY needs to be converted to bikeability. You can bike year round! Alas, Texas + no zoning + oil company capital of America.
- xrd 4y agoIf you read the Walter Isaacson book about Steve Jobs, two things stand out. First, he transformed four industries: computers, music, film and phone. Second: the incumbents in the music industry were initially very resistant to aligning pricing around the $0.99 Steve Jobs insisted on setting. He was right it: changed the entire music industry to sell music that way. He negotiated all those deals by taking the executives of those music companies on a walk behind the Apple headquarters. Walking is the path to brilliance.
- brailsafe 4y agoIt's a bit of a leap, but my most valuable moments with people come from walking around with them.
- nunez 4y agoCan confirm. Currently spending $2400/mo to live in a big house 45 mins away from downtown Houston. Cannot FUCKING wait to spend $3000+/mo on a (likely) much smaller and older house in downtown Houston. Space, walkability, price; choose two.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- brailsafe 4y agoOnce you live somewhere you can walk 2 mins to deal with groceries, it's hard to go back.
- accrual 4y agoI lived across a quiet non-main street from a grocery store for a couple years. It was the best I've ever cooked and eaten, because it was so easy to go and get something fresh for dinner every or every other night.
- more_corn 4y agoBut never vote for policies that make them more walkable.