Since we live smack in the middle of SF, it's the definition of urban density. I've still got a record store (and a big one) five minutes walk away. And a hospital (a big one) just up the hill. And bookstores and comic book stores and a farmer's market and dozens and dozens of restaurants (with cuisines from around the world) within walking distance. Though we do live across the street from GG Park so there's plenty of green immediately visible.

Driving Emmett back and forth to school gives me access to suburbia so I can swing by Target in Albany with their enormous parking lot. And now that he's playing baseball again I get to go exploring strange subdivisions in other nearby cities.

Speaking of cars, I'm going to pick ours up which has a new transmission and is functional for the first time since October. Emmett will no longer have to rise for school at 5:30 am, and sleep all the way to 6:30.

I live in a very walkable and/or bikeable suburban small town, but it's walkable because the Redevelopment Agency that the state just took away funded a lot of improvements to make it so. And with the economy the way it is, small businesses along Main Street are closing and retail spaces are staying empty, which is a real bummer.

The small town I live in is very walkable, for anything except groceries. I can walk to the library, post office, restaurants, the Y, and a whole bunch of stores, and a park. It's not very bikeable, though -- any distance that would require a bike (rather than walking) would probably also have some impossible hills.

Judging by my mother's stories of growing up in East Nashville, the two factors that made it much more feasible not to have a car were the streetcar and the fact that downtown was still the shopping hub. She rode the streetcar downtown on Saturday and went to movies and shopped at the big department stores. There was a grocery store and a pharmacy with a fountain in walking distance, but not really a lot of shopping.

Man, it would be so great if downtown Nashville were still a vibrant community space, rather than Tourist Central. Apart from the main branch of the library and the occasional show at the Ryman, we really almost never go there, even though (a) it's only a couple of miles away, and (b) it's on the way to pretty much everything else.

There's also a hardware store that would be an easy walk if it was open more than 9-5 weekdays and a handful of hours Saturday morning. I can pretty much guarantee I will never be shopping for anything from a hardware store at those times.

Same with our local hardware store! I've lost track of how many times we've tried to go there on the weekend or in the evening and they've been closed. I just want to buy a hatchet without having to drive to the damn mall!

Speaking of cars, I'm going to pick ours up which has a new transmission and is functional for the first time since October.

Hooray!

In regard to Oregon and prescription-only sudafed - OK, it wiped out the meth industry ... how many law-abiding citizens with bad sinuses did it also get?

Have you seen What's the social cost of making it harder to get Sudafed?

Well, I can WALK to Target.

Our neighborhood (North Hollywood) [link] has become much more walk-friendly in the four years we've lived here. We've gotten a seven screen arthouse theater, a pie bakery, a fancy hot dog joint, and a bank converted into a nightclub, along with the stuff that was already here. The subway to Downtown LA stops right there and that also helps.

We still have to drive for groceries, though.

And The Bloggess strikes again (or, why the resale shop closed).

If we had sidewalks on the to main streets I am nearest, it would be a niceish walk to a mall and 2 box store strip malls and a Target and 2 drug stores, but no sidewalks on most of that, and cars probably are driving 40-45 mph on the 4 lane roads with turning lanes so I am not really inclined to bike.

I have a lot of dining options within easy walking distance of me, plus my bank branch, a post office, the local big hospital, and numerous bars should I have any visitors that want a drink. And the library is about a mile away. But the only grocery store within walking distance is the bargain-basement one that has no fresh food and only weird off brand dry and canned goods.