Fun interactive article on walkable neighborhoods. No surprise, I live in one. wapo.st/41lOtkO - ThreadSky

stephelms.bsky.social • 88 days ago

Fun interactive article on walkable neighborhoods. No surprise, I live in one.

https://wapo.st/41lOtkO

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wdncnu.bsky.social•88 days ago

Oooo - cool app! Thanks for sharing.

erincarly.bsky.social•88 days ago

(Sent you a message.)

stephelms.bsky.social•88 days ago

So…I just realized that I completely misread the title of this as being why people prefer walkable neighborhoods (because duh!) but it really was: “Why so many Americans prefer sprawl to walkable neighborhoods.” Which is…kinda sad? (Although, full disclosure, I was one of those people…)

jonathankrall.bsky.social•87 days ago

That was a weird article. They admit that housing in walkable neighborhoods is expensive because demand exceeds supply, but conclude that people like sprawl because housing is cheaper. 1/2

jonathankrall.bsky.social•87 days ago

It's true that survey data supports their claim that people prefer sprawl, but perhaps the real result is that surveys of people who can afford housing are biased toward the status quo.
Note that they don't show data on how wildly supply is mismatched to demand. 2/2

stephelms.bsky.social•87 days ago

Right? It was like…this is the way things are, hence people must prefer it. Rather than looking at structural issues (such as cost) that influence people’s choices. Or are there ways to change zoning to add more variety to what can be built in the suburbs. Maybe it doesn’t have to be either/or.

stephelms.bsky.social•87 days ago

I think I got distracted by the fun map and didn’t pay as much attention to the article. 😂

stephelms.bsky.social•88 days ago

Where I used to live. As mentioned in the article, it was a trade-off in housing cost & size when I moved. Had a much bigger house & yard but as an empty nester the trade-off is well worth it. In hindsight I wish we had looked here when we bought in the 90s but didn’t question the suburban dream.

stephelms.bsky.social•88 days ago

And I do chuckle a bit. Yes, the core of Annandale is generally walkable but I wouldn’t call it an overly enjoyable place to walk. You have to navigate strip malls w/ parking lots & lots of multi-lane roads to get around.

mrpresident1776.bsky.social•88 days ago

Agreed! Hoping to convert a few of those streets from 4 to 2 lanes but for my state DOT has gone silent on the idea

stephelms.bsky.social•87 days ago

I did see an article that said the county is looking at options for Gallows Road which I was happy to see. The road diet option is getting local pushback course. And they are saying the entire project will take 20 years to implement…

https://annandaletoday.com/fcdot-outlines-options-for-gallows-road/

mrpresident1776.bsky.social•87 days ago

Yeah, that entire corridor is a challenge. A shorter section of Annandale Rd is planned for repaving next year as is John Marr Dr so with a bit of luck and political pressure, we may get two road diets https://annandaletoday.com/road-diet-proposed-for-annandale-road/

wdncnu.bsky.social•87 days ago

John Marr Dr? Big Smiths fan base in Annandale?

stephelms.bsky.social•87 days ago

Ah! I missed that one. What is it about housing & roads where at a first glance the solutions feel counterintuitive but when you learn more they make sense. Makes advocacy harder than it needs to be.

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