Fuck Cars

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars One thing you can get within a 15 minute walk of some US homes is arrested!

(My grandma went for a walk in a Miami suburb. The locals thought that someone walking (rather than driving) was obviously suspicious so they called the cops. Because my grandma was white and female and elderly, rather than black and male and young, they stopped to talk to her rather than just shooting her. They then spent several minutes trying to get her to admit that she was walking because her car had broken down - they just couldn't get it through their heads that she was walking because she wanted to walk.)

16% said "should not" to a grocery store? What?

I feel like there should be a separate question for the "I don't want anything near me" rural choice, since those might be making the rest of the responses misleading.

I wonder what the meaning of “should not” is in this survey. A restaurant “should not” be withing 15 minutes of my home, as in “I don’t want any restaurants near me” or is it “It’s not important enough to be in the local government’s target list”?

I don’t understand the red bars the way the question is phrased now. Why wouldn’t you want a park near you?

Who needs a gas station within walking distance? One need a gas station within 15-minutes driving.

Do the 32 percent not know what a bus stop is?? Why would you want a bus stop farther than 15 minutes away????

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I'm kind of sad that "cafe", "bookstore", and "library" aren't even on this list at all. 😢

I would honestly have to do a web search to find out where the nearest elementary school, day care, and gas station are, but I'd be stunned if I didn't have those within 15 minutes. As it is, I do have everything else, including a university and a sports arena, and *two* malls. (I'm in between the Barclays Center and Long Island University in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NYC.)

@ajsadauskas @urlyman @fuck_cars Why on earth would anyone answer ‘should not’ to a bus stop being within 15 mins? How are they thinking you get to the bus stop, by driving?!

Also, as a Dutchie, the amount of ‘should nots’ for a bar within 15 mins is killing me. I understand it, but it points to such a lack of imagination about what a city can look like. I have at least 20 bars within 15 mins walk of home and I’m not in the city centre 😄

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I wonder why they included gas stations unless it's for their use as convenience store. Buying gas as a pedestrian is a very marginal use case...

Im confused about (from the poll)

• bar.. if this is not walkable you are promoting drunk driving. (even if its not your thing)
• what do you need to walk to the gas station for? or is this being used also as a corner store?

I would love this being contrasted with what they get on average, it would probably really depressing.

It's interesting, walking 15 minutes to the next bus stop sounds like a nightmare in a city but pretty good in the country ...

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars There's a couple of weird things missing there I would definitely include, like a doctor's office, a library and a gym.

I'm in a city in the UK and a lot of those are in 15 minutes walk from me. Some, like a hospital, university, cinema, shopping mall and sports arena and I think a bank I'd have to go into the city centre for, but that's only about 30 minutes walk, 10 minutes on the bike, or a short bus or metro ride. I'm generally pretty lucky in my location.

Mid-sized village (around 10k inhabitants) in Germany:

• 4 grocery stores

• 2 pharmacies

• Bus stop (and train station)

• 5 or so restaurants

• Post office

• Bank

• Gas station

• Elementary school

• 2 Kindergartens

• 2 barber shops

• Bar

• Sports field (calling it an arena would be a bit much)

Alas, no university or hospital, but I think for a village it's pretty good.

I have everything but pharmacy, post office, cinema, and university. The pharmacy is within a 15-minute bike or bus, though.

What I feel is lacking is a hardware store. I really wish I had even a small hardware store close by. There used to be one.

Also missing from the list, but I have: a bakery, a swimming pool, and a coffeeshop.

This poll shows a population not really taking the question seriously.

Why should a gas station be more accessible on foot than a local pub?

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I can walk to all except university (1hr walk, or 15min bike ride) and sports center (1+ hr walk, 18min bike ride).

I don't get the gas station though. Why so many "should"s? Why would you need to walk to a gas station?

Unless ppl are considering "gas station" to mean "convenience store", which in a lot of America that's what they are.

The fact that it's called a gas station rather than convenience store on a survey about walking is somewhat disappointing.

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I’m in Toronto’s Danforth area, so basically everything except a professional sports arena is within 5-20 mins walk.

The framing of that poll has such a sinister American conspiracy theorist edge: “if your local government decided…” — like having these things nearby can only be forced upon you and you must fight back.

Why less people want daycare in walking distance than restaraunt? Even less than fucking gas station.

And who are those 32% who don't want bus stop in 15-minute walk? Or why? Maybe they don't want it so far away and want it in 3-minute walk? If so, then I agree with them.

I knew I was pretty far away from anything. Just checked on maps and I'm 1 hour from the closest business walking. It's a dog kennel. Another 20 minutes I can be at a cafe, same story if I go in the other direction, about 1 hour and 20 to a small market. Roughly 5 miles. Biking would be a out 25 minutes, maybe faster if I hustle. Driving is just minutes. No bus or train nearby at all. ( There used to be a train that ran through my neighborhood about 100 years ago). I live in northeast US

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
Why should I *walk* to a *gas station*?

I'm gonna make a few assumptions: One is that this is just a neighborhood in my hypohetical ideal world (or rather, near-ideal). Second: we're talking about high qualiy versions of these places, and not the "just barely good enough to not go under" versions that abound. Last: "should" means "necessity" and not "luxury."

Groceries are a no-brainer.

Parks — hell yes. In fact, I'd prefer if everyone had access to all kinds of nature within "walking" (walking + public transportation) distance: parks, woods, botanical gardens, community gardens, wildlife reserves.

Pharmacies should be obsoleted: drugs should be devriminalized and un-gatekept. People should have the freedom to put whatever stupid, life-altering substance they want to into their body (with caveats like informed consent and heavily recommended medical professional supervision). Distributors could be home-delivery through the post and the over-the-counter section in your local grocery store.

Bus stops... Yes for some neighborhoods, but ideally more trains or trams, especially in suburbs.

Post offices are dying out. Letters and spam are the kinds of things people should have access to in their immediate neighborhood, but are becoming obsolete thanks to the internet (which should be a public utility instead of run for profit). I'm about 50/50 on whether there should still be home-delivery for everyone and all packages, or if there should be local holding centers for most (although, once again, any delivery network should be considered a public service instead of a few companies monopolizing the role), and at-home delivery for the most important packages/incapacitated people.

Banks are a no. Credit union, yes. Or maybe no and just let money become the digital currency it's slowly been turning intobfor the past 40 years. Ideally, society (and by extension this ideal neighborhood) would function without capital.

Gas stations: hell no. Convenience stores yes (or just all-in-one grocery stores). Maybe EV charging stations... Maybe.

Having a barber is way more convenient than people give it credit, and it doesn't benefit from centralization. At the very least, everyone should have a neighbor who cuts hair well.

Bonus round: things that should be within a 30-minute commute (by transit)—mall, movie theater, hospital, elementary school, day care, university, restaurants, bars.

No to stadiums, but yes to sports fields in the parks.

Things not on the list that should be: museums, clinics, dentists, optometrists, psychiatrists, veterinarians, pools, gyms, community centers/general use indoor halls, fire stations, makers spaces... probably others that I'm forgetting.

Sorry that this 15 minute walk is turning into a jog.

I live in Brooklyn. Almost all of these are well covered. It's pretty great. Hospital, mall, and sports arena are a little outside a 15 minute walk.

I think "places to see live music" should be on the list. There's one by me but it tends to be for bigger acts. If I want to see a smaller band play I usually need to travel a bit.

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars 57% of respondents prefer to drink and drive.

As someone who lives within 15 minutes ot a sports arena, i agree with not having one

Have everything except university and sports arena. But for me it makes sense being in the NJ/NYC metro area.

Bar should be way higher on that list. Seems a lot of people haven't experienced the freedom of being able to walk home drunk from a bar, or at least take a subway/bus, without worrying about dealing with a car. Or worse relying on the friend who had a few beers but is still "good" to drive.

I lived in the suburbs once that required a 1 hour bike ride just to get to the nearest bus stop. That place was miserable