Location, Location , Location

One part of sustainability is related to how the community you live in is set-up. One aspect of this is how easy it is to navigate around a community without needing a car. In the neighborhood we live in it is easy to get around without a car, but some important places are so far away that most people would not chose to use these alternate forms of transport.

Tempe has a very extensive public transit system, and because the neighborhood we live in is near downtown and the university, we are close to the central station. We are also near the light rail system that is opening at the end of the year. There is even a free shuttle that can pick us up just several yards from our house and take us to the central station or ASU. The street we live on and many of the streets in our neighborhood are also setup well for pedestrians and bikes.

Unfortunately, however, the closest grocery store is about 4 miles away. There used to be two small grocers in this neighborhood, but much to my chagrin, they were absorbed by development (ASU and condos). I would love to be able to walk, bike, or take the bus to a nearby grocery store everyday and get a bag of groceries, but with the stores being so far away, I instead drive once a week and get several bags in order to save time; I don’t want to spend an hour or more each day biking or bussing to the grocery store.

This interesting site I found can give potential buyers and renters an idea about how walkable a community is. Our neighborhood gets a good walkable score (83 out 100), but the site mistakenly thinks there is a Fry’s grocery store 0.34 miles from our house and also considers convenience stores grocery stores . Very misleading!