Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

nathenry.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 398 posts

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#151

Post by balls187 »

chamanbuga wrote: post #133
WaxProlix wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downtown (CBD): Expensive International District: Euphemism for Chinatown, not expensive Pioneer Square: It varies, but fairly expensive despite the rampant homelessness Pike Place Market: Very expensive Ballard: Expensive new buildings, more affordable older ones Capitol Hill: Expensive, generally South Lake Union: Expensive Madrona: Expensive

Living in ID is not a choice, but a necessity when other options fail.

Until it gets gentrified like previous neighborhoods.

Other neighborhoods missing:

Fremont

Wallingford

Georgetown

Columbia City

Rainer Beach

Northgate

W. Seattle

Queen Anne

Belltown

Magnolia

S. Seattle

Ravenna

Beacon Hill

South Park

Leschi

Madison Park

Northlake

Greenwood

And a bunch more places that non-transplants know about...

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#152

Post by Steltek »

ghaff wrote: post #58
hiidrew wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it makes the top 10 according to this: https://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/ honestly surprised that SF is more walkable than NYC with this criteria

I'm guessing because NYC is not just Manhattan.

I feel Boston is similarly handicapped in ratings by West Roxbury (limited transit and bike hostile residents).

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#153

Post by devoutsalsa »

hammock wrote: post #38

The way “supermarkets” are in the US, I don’t WANT to be a 15 minute walk from one. They are usually surrounded by a mile of blacktop and concrete, for all the drive-in shoppers in the front and all the trucks offloading goods or picking up deliveries in the back. Would much rather be near a decent small or midsize grocery with no or limited off-street parking, and which receives its deliveries on the street in the e…

San Francisco & Washington DC are USA cities in which I’ve lived that I enjoyed walking to & from the supermarket. I’d be fine walking 20 minutes each way, carrying a couple bag on groceries home with me. Those cities are very walkable, and by walkable I mean interesting.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#154

Post by watermelon59 »

teucris wrote: post #114

Incredible analysis! As a Seattleite I can say the conclusions here are very close to accurate, with the key additional note being that distance is not the only thing that defines walkability. Seattle has some of the most confounding civil engineering I’ve ever seen, and I’ve lived in five cities and visited dozens more. Here are some things that make a pedestrian life near impossible in my neighborhood: - two high-t…

Seattle has so many intersections that are completely bonkers. They’re not only poorly walkable, they also make driving extremely stressful.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#155

Post by Rediscover »

WaxProlix wrote: post #129
mdorazio wrote: post #126

>Of the 89 neighborhoods considered, only nine are “15-minute neighborhoods” walkable for 90% or more of their residents. I'd love to see the median rent in those nine compared to elsewhere in the city. Can any Seattle residents here provide some insight?

Downtown (CBD): Expensive International District: Euphemism for Chinatown, not expensive Pioneer Square: It varies, but fairly expensive despite the rampant homelessness Pike Place Market: Very expensive Ballard: Expensive new buildings, more affordable older ones Capitol Hill: Expensive, generally South Lake Union: Expensive Madrona: Expensive

> Pike Place Market: Very exspensive.

And also extremely on the other side - Market housing can be very low-cost. A number of my friends are paying Cf: the apartments under the Market and Stewart House.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#156

Post by jimmaswell »

vel0city wrote: post #130
jimmaswell wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this fit your definition of the kind of grocery store that doesn't exist anymore? They have a few misc. items, but it's almost all just food, and a fairly small building. https://maps.app.goo.gl/KSnn5Fq37DQwiSpAA

That's definitely closer to my idea of a "grocery" versus a "supermarket". It seems like I see them in some small older towns but anything that had a lot of recent construction usually sees larger supermarkets with big parking lots even for small towns.

There's a Dollar General nearby but the parking lot isn't that big.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#157

Post by brewdad »

98codes wrote: post #104
tobiasdorge wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t imagine Seattle being more dense than San Francisco, though I can imagine it’s in the top 5

Seattle isn't remotely dense. Maybe a neighborhood here & there, but it's largely single family homes for most of the city. Seattle doesn't make the top 133 for densest census designated places in the US* * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

Seattle is a weird hybrid that probably could be a model for what is realistic in the US. There a tons of walkable neighborhoods all over the city to provide daily necessities but you really do need a car to make that trip across town or even from one neighborhood to the next in some cases.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#158

Post by solson4 »

jobs_throwaway wrote: post #128

Do any Seattle-ites not have a car? How do you get around? Asking as a NYer who would consider living there if the car-free life wouldn't be too painful

I lived in Seattle from 2016-2020 and didn't have a car for about half that time. If your house and work are near a link stop you certainly don't need it, everything you'll need is in walking distance or a train ride away. Other than link and the rapid buses, there's good bus coverage, but it's slow, wouldn't want to rely on it IMO.

Biking is not great. I did it a lot, but I'm comfortable riding through heavy traffic on steep hills, if you're not, probably would be hard to rely on.

Finally, I'm big into climbing/mountaineering and lack of a car was never a big problem. I'd rent one the few times I had too (way cheaper than parking and insurance), but otherwise could usually carpool with someone else who was going. Sorta' puts you on someone else's schedule, but if you need a belay partner anyway...

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#159

Post by ghaff »

Steltek wrote: post #152
ghaff wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing because NYC is not just Manhattan.

I feel Boston is similarly handicapped in ratings by West Roxbury (limited transit and bike hostile residents).

Discussions of urban density often require nuance because density/walkability/access to transit/etc. is very dependent on where political boundaries are drawn--often for fairly arbitrary historical reasons.

ADDED: For that matter, the other Boston neighborhoods out that way are not especially conducive to living without a car either although they're dense enough in spots to walking to some things.

Re: Is Seattle a 15-minute city? It depends on where you want to walk

#160

Post by trgn »

jdlyga wrote: post #132

Anyone else torn between wanting to live in a 15 minute city and in a log cabin in the woods?

Yes!

Both are not trashed up by cars. That's the relationship.

I think that's the main reason why the escape-to-the-woods fantasy is so strong in the US. It's an escape from car dependent drab. You don't have to flee to the woods for serenity; urban environments can feel spacious and verdant. But those will always be walkable, have calm traffic, or no cars at all.

Post reply on HN