Walkability rankings – agree? disagree?

[WSB]

I may not get to this on the home page for a while because there’s other stuff waiting so I’m wondering what you guys think – a new website is snagging local publicity today by releasing its rankings of Seattle neighborhoods’ “walkability.”

http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Seattle

Admiral comes in the highest among West Seattle ‘hoods, at 31. Alki is way down at 63. Check out where your neighborhood comes in and see if you agree. (Our neighborhood, Fauntleroy, is close to the bottom, and by the site’s criteria, I’d say that’s accurate … there are many great places to “take a walk” but in terms of walking to do your daily business like shopping, no.) — TR

[JanS]

wow…there’s someone else up late besides me ! I live in the Adm. District, directly behind Adm. Safeway. And I gotta agree… I have access to 3 grocery stores, a park, restaurants (at least 6), a theater, a shoe store, a bagel shop, a drug store, theater,gas stations, pet store, 4 banks (3 plus BECU), bus stops…the 56 that heads downtown, and the 55 to the junction. It truly is a great neighborhood for walking to things…the only thing lacking is a clothing store or two in the immediate neighborhood. That’s easily remedied by going downtown or to the Alaska Junction (although, well…more is needed over here for the not so well-heeled amongst us)..

I love this neighborhood…

[Sue]

I think that if they’d broken up the large area that includes the Alaska Junction, that the Junction area would be equal to or exceed the Admiral area. It seems that the neighborhood they have included is way too large to judge altogether. I also wonder if they take into account the hills. I’m actually closer to the Rite Aid at Dawson/California, for example, than I am from the Junction in terms of mileage. But I can’t get up that hill on foot.

[kathy]

You can type in your own address to get your home’s walkability score. I live near the Junction and got a 77 out of 100 – which surprised me. Thought it would be higher.

[charlabob]

I typed in my address (very close to JanS) and it left out Cirque and Angelina’s and (the Indian restaurant) and … a bunch of things that are closer than the places it listed. I’m in walking distance of Square One books? Not hardly….I wonder if the weighting is somehow based on, oh, lesssee — advertisers? :-)

[Ken]

I am too far away from my monitor.

And too much blood in my coffee stream.

I read the title of this post as “Wankability ratings” several times before I was intrigued enough to click on it.

:)

On topic note, I have explored the walkability site several times over the last year and it still has a very poor listing of current businesses in my neighborhood and seems to include dozens of businesses and features that have not existed in nearly a decade.

Still a good idea in principle.

Of course google still shows several streets that no longer exist. I regularly see people clutching google maps printouts as they turn into the barricades.

[beachdrivegirl]

I definitly believe that the Junction is much more walkable than Admiral. The Junction has a much wider selections of not only restaurants but also stores that you need every day than Admiral. I think that this website is a bit off. But than again that is just my opinion.

[CMP]

I live by Rite Aid on California at the Alaska Junction and scored a 74. Bill Gates got an 11 for his home location which made me feel a little better. Based on Ken’s assessment that this is out-of-date, I’ll take the Junction score with a grain of salt. But maybe this will keep more people away if we’re not a walkable neighborhood :)

[miws]

I live in the Morgan Junction area, within “spitting” distance of Thriftway, and many other businesses, and got a big, fat ZERO!

.

Since I don’t have a car, I guess I’ll hafta move to a more convenient area, say, like Alki, about 1/2 way between Seacrest, and Alki Ave’s restaurant row!

.

Grocery StoresNone found

RestaurantsNone found

Coffee ShopsNone found

Bars1.03 Mi

Ama Ama Oyster Bar

3.15 Mi

Stellar Pizza & Ale4.6 Mi

88 Keys Dueling Pia5 Mi

Kells Irish Restaur5.3 Mi

Linda’s Cooking Woo5.6 Mi

Revolution Bar & Gr6.07 Mi

Charlie’s On Broadw6.47 Mi

LibertyMovie TheatersNone found

SchoolsNone found

ParksNone found

Libraries4.79 Mi

Alexis Hotel

5.14 Mi

Lane Powell PC5.19 Mi

Rendezvous5.33 Mi

Hotel Max5.45 Mi

Days Inn – Town Cen5.67 Mi

Universal Life Chur5.83 Mi

School of Visual Co7.91 Mi

Discovery Park VisiBookstores23.1 Mi

University Book StoFitnessNone found

Drug StoresNone found

Hardware StoresNone found

Clothing & Music26.68 Mi

Ardesson’s Shoe Rep

.

Mike

[inactive]

I saw this site a couple of weeks ago and decided that the info was not reliable enough to be useful to me.

For example, it had Standard Steel Manufacturing on 1st Avenue listed as a hardware store.

Also noted a business or two which use a residential address as a mailing address but are not actual business locations.

Also noted restaurants which are closed.

[Keith]

I think their methodology could use some work. Pioneer Square is ranked #1, but is there any sort of grocery store in that area? Not one that I know of.

I’m fine with West Seattle ranking lower than it should. Let everyone think it’s horrible over here!

[Jeffro]

I love Georgetown but no way is it more walkable than West Seattle. Ditto my old neighborhood off Aurora. It also looks like they greatly undervalue destination parks like Lincoln Park and Alki Beach, or Greenlake for that matter, places where people come from all over Seattle for the sole purpose of walking around.

[austin]

LOL @ Ken

Agree w/ Keith about methodology. Pretty sure the closest grocery to pioneer square is uwajimaya. I’m halfway between luna park, admiral junction and alaska junction but still only got 58/100.

[villagegreen]

The thing is, Uwagimaya is definitely walkable from anywhere in Pioneer Square (the area being so much smaller). West Seattle is so massive that unless you live in Admiral, the Junction, or Morgan (basically near California Ave) you don’t live in a walkable neighborhood. Sure, the methodolgy might be a little off and the info a little out of date, but in general West Seattle isn’t a very walkable area.

This seems party due to its size, but maybe there’s more to it than that. I’ve only lived here for 10 years, so I’m no expert, but it seems to have developed like a small town instead of a city neighborhood. Small towns have a ‘downtown’ (the Junction) where everyone DRIVES to do their weekly shopping/business. How else to explain the outrage many on this blog have expressed over the increased density (and less free parking) in the Junction. Maybe if there were more pockets of businesses strewn throughout WS we wouldn’t all be forced to head to California Ave for everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I love West Seattle – the friendly neighbors, community feel, and beautiful scenery, but sometimes I do miss the walkability of Capitol Hill.

[WSB]

Good point on the site’s spottiness, part of why I hesitated to give it a big fat home-page shoutout – I remember seeing it some time back, trying a search, and also concluding they still had tweaking to do. It’s a big issue in the neighborhood-news world too – aggregating information in an automated, imperfect way like “Walkscore’ does, vs. processing it with some knowledgeable human involvement (beyond the knowledge it takes for the tech, of course, and I have great respect for that, since we wouldn’t be out here on the Interwebs without the folks who found tech ways to make it accessible).

Walkability is a good topic in general, though. I agree with the “need more pockets of businesses.” Up here toward the main south end of California, for example, single-family zoning stretches for many blocks in all directions, and that may have seemed like a good thing in the days of 59-cent gas, but not any more. (At least we have a bus stop within a couple blocks.)

[Jeffro]

In my own personal walkability rankings, downtown wouldn’t be anywhere near the top. Granted, the draw of living there for most would be that your commute would be a walk of only a few blocks. Downtown is severely lacking in grocery stores, decent restaurant selection (I realize this is pretty subjective), green spaces that aren’t overtaken by junkies, and the list goes on.

My top neighborhoods based strictly on walkability would be ordered something like Capitol Hill, University District, Ballard/Fremont, Queen Anne, and I’d probably slot Admiral/Alaska Junctions in at #5. I’d score us points for our overabundance of grocery stores, our clustering of great restaurants of varying price ranges, and our open spaces. A big plus in our favor is that many kids can walk safely to school.

[swimcat]

This report was all over the local news this morning- as I sat there eating my breakfast, I was dumbfounded that Capital Hill was not ranked #1. I have lived in a few neighborhoods and CapHill is definitely the most walkable of all. How could the major news channels be promoting this website? If they had done any research (as previous WSB commenters have), they’d find the information pretty inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

I, supposedly, live very close to a restaurant called “Rudy’s”? On 34th? I’ve never heard of it.

[austin]

I’m right there too. I walk past that intersection almost daily and I have no idea. I’m going over there right now to see what the deal is.

[Anonymous]

Let me know what you find out! If there is a restaurant hidden there, I’d love to check it out!

[austin]

Rolled on over to find that not only is that address on a very residential street, there isn’t even a structure where that address should be. It’s a grove of trees. Upon further investigation I found that there is a Rudy’s at that address in Magnolia – on 34th ave West. The internet strikes again!

[Anonymous]

Guess I won’t be checking out any Rudy’s anytime soon. Thanks for the update!

[Sue]

My guess is that they’re referring to Rudy’s Place Restaurant in Magnolia – the address should end in W rather than SW – that’s why it’s hard to find in West Seattle. :)

[austin]

Yeah, I should have realized there wasn’t a restaurant twelve houses down before I got on my bike to go find out. :D

[Sue]

My first thought was maybe somebody was running a catering business out of their home, or something like that, and that it got categorized as a restaurant.

[Author]

Posts