The Burnside Blog
LA More Walkable Than Portland?
Neighborhood Notes reports that Walk Score has published its list of America’s most walkable cities, and Portland doesn’t fare as well as you might think. Maybe we should just shut up and be proud that our compact village with of dinky blocks, pocket-sized architecture, and wide sidewalks, made it into the top ten and shares company with foot-friendly meccas New York and Chicago. What bothers me is that Los Angeles, Long Beach and fared better, taking the eighth and ninth spots.
Sure, LA has some pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, but overall, it’s a traffic-clogged jumble of pavement that doesn’t even belong on this list. I last visited Los Angeles in 2002 for business, and couldn’t believe how terrible a pedestrian experienced it offered compared with San Francisco, where I was living at the time. I was there to cover E3, an annual technology and gaming conference at the LA Convention Center, and I remember how shocked my local hosts were when I told them I’d be walking from the venue to my hotel room, which was located across from the USC campus on Figueroa Street. The two-mile walk was terrifying. Unlike San Francisco and Portland, drivers hardly paid attention to the handful of pedestrians, and the sidewalks were narrow. The city they call Long Beach isn’t much better. I doubt if this has changed much in the last six years.
I’ve lived in four of the cities on the top ten list, and I’ve visited all of them. Portland, I believe is not only more walkable the Long Beach and Los Angeles, it’s also more pedestrian friendly than Seattle, which took the number six spot.
By Mike Thelin on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 02:07PM PDT
I wasn’t aware that Ross Island was a neighborhood.
By Penny on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 01:49PM PDT
LA is not as enjoyable to walk around as Portland. I agree that safety equals walkability. If there are far too many lanes and traffic is fast, the area is not pedestrian friendly. I also think that safety is an issue. If I, as a single woman, do not feel comfortable walking through an area by myself, then, it’s not walkable. I think Portland is fairly walkable, but certain areas are a little scary. Read: the Steele Bridge/Rose Quarter end of Tom McCall Park/the Esplanade and the Morrison Bridge (west facing side). We have 10,000 acres of parks; didn’t they include this in their analyses?
By lynnette on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 02:21PM PDT
Thanks for the link.
Keep in mind that Walk Score is still really new—it launched June ‘07. Give ‘em a little time and I’m sure they’ll improve. It’s a really cool idea.
By vernacularvalentineetc.blogspot.com on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 04:02PM PDT
The walk score is not opinion; it is based off of a methodology which is listing the services within walking distance of an address. Los Angeles is filled with hundreds of walk able communities that are among the most densely populated in the US. These communities just happen to be composed of non white immigrant and usually don’t offer Baby Rock Climbing Gear Emporiums and Dog Spas found in San Francisco and Portland. LA is also in the process of building a new light rail line that will go from USC to Downtown LA in 2009 and also has a plan for pedestrian improvements along Figueroa which is the street that runs between those two locations.
By paul on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 07:44AM PDT
And remember, Portland is very spread out for only having ~560k people and is half the density of Los Angeles. I would say Portland seems more walkable because it has such a nice center area. LA does have walkable neighborhoods if you know where to look, but they lack such a vibrant and ped-friendly center area like Portland has.
By David on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 09:23AM PDT
You only have to drill down into the map of any neighborhood to see that their accuracy leaves a bit to be desired. Also, according to the map in this morning’s O, Ross Island and Oak’s Bottom are the least walkable in the Metro Area!