The Active Transportation Alliance has declared Sept. 22 Chicagoland Car-Free Day.
Residents are encouraged to use public transportation, bikes and their own two feet instead of cars.
Sept. 22 is a Tuesday. I'm thinking that's not going to work.
Don't rush to tell me that as a suburbanite I love my car too much.
It's not that at all. It's just that we've got sprawl and very little public transportation.
When public transportation is available, I embrace it. Buses in Switzerland, the tube in London, the subway in Boston, the El in Chicago, I love them all. (OK, I love them in that order, and the El is none too clean, but you get the idea.)
I'm lucky to live within 5 miles of my office. But I can't hop a bus.
I could conceivably bike to work. But seriously, what are the chances of me making it safely across the Route 59 construction zone? I could hoof it but I'd have to leave an hour and 15 minutes before work. Again, do-able BUT ...
My job is night news editor, emphasis on night. Plainfield is a safe community, but there is no way on earth I'm going to walk or bike home at 10:30 p.m. The visibility issue alone makes me a sure thing for roadkill. That's a big downer, even if I'd be doing Mother Earth a favor.
Until the burbs get less sprawly or more public transportation friendly, I'll be in my car ... stuck in Route 29 construction traffic.
I used to live in Chicago and it is 100% doable to live in all areas of the city and rely only on public transportation. I have done it.
However, I live in Joliet on the far west side so basically south Plainfield or north Shorewood. Take your pick. The closest bus to me is the 501 which is still at least 6 miles, maybe even 8 miles, from my house. I'm not biking or walking there and I don't even know if there would be any bike stand so I could lock up my bike even if I were to do it.
If public transportation were available to me I would love to take it instead of my car. The real solution though is to go back to a work-shop-live model that is sadly not found much anymore.
A community would ideally provide people with jobs and a variety of shops all within walking distance from home. If that could happen we would all walk more, be physically more fit, perhaps live longer and certainly our energy consumption would be far far lower than it is now. It's just a thought.
Oh and I grew up in a neighborhood mostly like this. My parents worked at the local factory, maybe 1/2 a mile away; my day care was another half mile in another direction; when I was in grade school, about a mile away; a corner grocery store that was run buy a local woman and her family; a laundromat on the corner of my block, run by a local woman; a butcher less than 2 blocks away; a health care clinic on the same block as the butcher, and tons of shops all along a 4-6 block length on the main streets nearest my house. Had I gone to the local High School, I could have walked there as well.
We didn't even have a car until I was 18. It just wasn't necessary.
If I lived in a city, I'd do public transportation, too. I embrace it on vacation, and when I go to Chicago, I take trains and then hoof it most of the time.
But, you're right, the burbs broke away from the work-shop-live model when cars became widely available. I grew up in Aurora and almost every other corner has a building that was obviously a neighborhood shop or grocery. My parents both would be sent to pick up groceries and do other errands on foot. You didn't need a car. Then, cars became more readily available and more affordable, and the stores started to close.
Obviously, I'm too young for a lot of "here's how it used to be," but I practically grew up in a time capsule. We had one black and white TV and one car. My dad would take the car to work, so we'd be home without one. We'd take our bikes or a wagon and go to a neighborhood grocery, drop mail at the mailbox, get sodas or candy at a corner barbershop that offered them, etc. We walked to school and walked home for lunch. I miss it. I really do.
Once the Route 59 construction is done, I'm going to try to walk more for errands. Within a few blocks, I can go to my doctor, a fast-food restaurant, a specialty grocery store and a few other spots. I just need to focus on doing it.