2008-08-16 - 9:57 a.m.

...I wanna WALK with you....(sing it, Diana!)

Oops, so maybe I got the song wrong.

But how walkable is your neighborhood?

I just came across this amazingly cool website! Type in your address and see how walkable your neighborhood is! My current neighborhood gets a 92/100 and is a walker's paradise. My last neighborhood was very walkable with a 78/100 (same as my parents' neighborhood). Even with their generous algorithm, my brother's neighborhood gets a 20 and is ranked as "car dependent" (as opposed to walker's HELL, which is the ranking I would give it.) The River - our vacation paradise, gets a THREE (where the closest grocery store is a 15-20 row across the bay...).

So far this page doesn't seem to do too well with European addresses. J*na was probably the most walkable place I have lived, and it came up with a 20-60. The small print reveals that they don't take into account distance from reliable public transportation, or the size and walkability of roads - which would probably increase J*na's score and reduce my brother's score because he lives somewhat close to things that you would never walk to, because they are situated on a major HIGHWAY OF DEATH.

Anyway, to me this is a sign that oil is finally is getting expensive enough...COOL STUFF GUYS!!