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Friday, July 18, 2008 The Oregonian
Portland soars in new rankings from Walk Score, an online tool designed to help house and apartment hunters find walkable neighborhoods. Among the nation’s 40 biggest population centers, Portland finishes No. 10 for walkability, behind San Francisco (No. 1) and Seattle (No. 6).
Walkscore.com has been a popular Web destination for the past year, allowing users to type in a street address and instantly see the 0-to-100-point walkability score of a current or future home. This week, the site re-launched with new rankings, guides and maps that allow users to compare cities and neighborhoods within them.
Portland outscores most cities because we boast so many walkable neighborhoods, led by the Pearl, Old Town/Chinatown, downtown, Northwest and the Lloyd district. They aren’t necessarily the prettiest, most affordable or most peaceful pockets of Portland. A high Walk Score doesn’t mean litter-free and scenic. It doesn’t guarantee pedestrian-friendly design, low crime or streets flat enough to comfortably tote groceries from the store.
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A neighborhood with a high Walk Score is one where, if you choose, you can ditch the car for many errands, to take the kids to a park or to dine out — saving gas, burning calories and strengthening ties to your community as well.
Walk Score’s color-coded maps aren’t subtle. Front Seat, the “civic software” company that created the site, was inspired to quantify walkability by Sightline Institute, a sustainability think tank. The organizations, both in Seattle, promote walkable communities as one solution for our fatter, lonelier, warmer world.
Not incidentally, Walk Score’s Portland map colors the most walkable areas a perky lime green, representing a dense mix of restaurants, stores, parks and other amenities within a mile or so walk.
Travel away from the city core and green lightens to cautionary yellow (in North Portland, between the Willamette River and Interstate 5, or along Cully Boulevard in Northeast Portland), where feet aren’t as likely to get you where you need to go.
Wander farther — into Linnton, just southeast of Sauvie Island; toward Powell Butte in outer Southeast Portland; or west of Southwest Capitol Highway — and mellow yellow burns into an angry red, the color of the walkability boondocks. (Don’t skip over the “walking oases,” pools of green surrounded by red, including the area around Cathedral Park near the St. Johns Bridge.)
High gas prices appear to be driving many visits to the Walk Score site, said Mike Mathieu, 39, founder of Front Seat, a for-profit company with a mission “to connect people to the places we live and resources we consume.” But he considers walkability a shorthand for benefits that go beyond gas savings: a lighter environmental impact, less congestion, healthier lifestyles less prone to obesity, a better chance to know the neighbors.
“If you’re thinking about environmental issues, health issues, the cost of gas . . . one of the biggest decisions you can make is where you’re going to live,” Mathieu said.
Walk Score makes it easy for house- and apartment-hunters to find walkable neighborhoods — if they want them.
Get online with PDXgreen all week at blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen. Shelby Wood: 503-221-5368 or shelbywood@news.oregonian.com
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...What are the lifestyle opportunities in and around Portland, Oregon. Are there hiking clubs, biking trails, civic clubs, golf clubs, local arts and theater, lakes, streams, fishing, boating, camping or other types of lifestyle opportunities?
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