Text 17943, 72 rader
Skriven 2008-12-16 12:02:03 av Carol Shenkenberger (24403.cooks)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson (24265.cooks)
Ärende: AUXILLARY PICNICS 81214
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 >  >  CS> I would not have had this same viewpoint, had i not lived for 4 year
 >  >  CS> with no car.
 > 
 > Apart from you and MLoo, have any other Echo people ever done that?

Dont know.  Be interesting to find out!

 >  > Was that in Japan? Where things are not laid out on the American plan of
 >  > businesses fleeing the city centre for the outskirts???
 > 
 >  CS> And elsewhere.  Darwin, Singapore, several places in Korea, Brisbane,
 >  CS> Murtle Beach.  USA folks build with cars in mind, because they use a
 >  CS> car to get to a 1/2 mile away place.  Even 1/4 mile away.
 > 
 > I have stayed in several parts of USA, the worst of these being years
 > ago in Houston suburbia - Bayview.  Nearly an hour to walk to the
 > nearest shopping mall area, along a road with no footpaths.  When doing
 > that I saw no other pedestrians; police cars slowed and I was looked
 > over suspiciously.  I felt isolated from the rest of humanity.  No
 > public transport.  The only buses were filled with school children who
 > all gazed at me as if I was an alien.

Grin, I can understand.  In my area, you do see a bit more walking right near
me and in fine weather, some of us are known to walk up to Harris Teeters
will a cart of some sort (like my pull cart) or bicycle ride with a backpack
and baskets to there.  Don walks to Walmart in good weather (his arthritis
doesnt take well to doing that when it's cold so he takes a cab then).

 > It made me wonder why there are so few small, suburban, corner shops in
 > USA.  In every other country where I have stayed there are small stores
 > within a few minutes walking distance where local people can go to get
 > emergency supplies of food and other essentials of daily living.  I
 > would expect that in USA there would be sufficient numbers of
 > non-driving residents - aged, disabled, children - living nearby to
 > justify the existence of such shops.

There are in parts of it.  Just have to be in the right part.  Somehow, we
got to be a place where 'mega shops' got popular and many mom-n-pop sorts of
grocery or stores went away.  Not all of them mind you, but plenty of folks
here may not have anything other than a 7-11 in walking distance or may not
even have that.  Lets add that quite a few here have medical issues which
preclude distance walking but if they think of habits before that, they may
fall better in line with what you are used to, and i got used to.

 > Without public transport or assistance from friends or relatives how do
 > such people live?  Once upon a time, 100 or more years ago, there
 > probably were such small shops; what has happened to them, and why?
 > Perhaps you can explain?   Where I live in Adelaide suburbia, even
 > though there is an adequate public bus service, there are over 50 shops
 > of all kinds within 10 minutes walking time as well as a supermarket,
 > and they all are viable.  Why is USA so different in that respect?

People who live _in_ cities may have that too, but some of us live in the
residental areas away from the shops.  Being as Don doesnt drive, I selected
our house with that in mind so he does have some things he can easily walk to
(7-11 type places, 2 within 300 yards etc).  I'd have to actually measure the
mall but it's suitable at a 30 min walk or so.  Walmart is about a 20 min
walk (15 if walking fast).  Laundry cleaners is next to 7-11.  Other
direction has a grocery store and several small stores (bar even and there
are 3 bars within 2 miles of us but Don's favorite is about 4 miles so uses a
cab).  Liquor store even by the big grocery.

Although I use the car to get to and from work (20 miles each way), larger
grocery trips or ones to Asian Grocery (5-6 miles?), and Doc visits, if it
wasnt for work, I could dispense with the car and use a cab for the few times
I need to go past walking distance.  It would probably be cheaper to use a
cab if work wasnt added in as I'd not need the cost of the car or the cost of
insurance.
            xxcarol
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
 * Origin: Shenks Express (1:275/100)