The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press examines how the Route 66 town wants to transform its Old Town area into a growing, vibrant, “walkable” area.
It’s a laudable goal. But the key is to not abandon it if growth comes slowly. The United States — and especially Southern California — loves its cars, and it’s going to take a while for the walkable-downtown idea to be widely accepted.
Not necessarily; it’s already becoming a popular idea in the Midwest and parts of the east, not to mention the South. That said, what is just as important is patience is having a place for people to park said beloved cars, as not everyone who wants to visit or walk the town will live there.
My old neighborhood and haunts back in the Detroit suburbs were really good at this. Great shops and restaurants, fairs and art festivals, all combined with encouragement to walk – and plenty of inexpensive and sometimes free (IE, weekdays after 6PM) parking. Those areas are flourishing despite the miserable Michigan economy because of the draw and maybe nostalgia of a ‘walkable’ city.
I’ve also found that cities tend to be less walkable when they are primarily established in the automotive era.
Tulsa, which really started to grow in the 1920s, is a good example of a town that isn’t terribly walkable. There are many, many such cities west of the Mississippi River.