How easy or hard is it to get around your neighborhood without a car? The Eye spotted a handy little tool on the Web that tells you.
Walk Score ranks neighborhoods all over the US using an algorithmic formula that factors in the proximity of stores, restaurants, schools, parks and other amenities. Neighborhoods are scored on a scale of 1 to 100, with those scoring 90 and above rated as "Walker's Paradises" and those from 0 to 24 rated "Car-Dependent (Driving Only)," meaning there are "virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range."
The Wandering Eye's home neighborhood, on Bend's Eastside, ranked - not surprisingly - in the second-worst category, "Car Dependent," with a puny score of 32. But the home of the Source, near downtown, scored - also not surprisingly - a whopping 91, making it a "Walker's Paradise."
Among America's 40 largest cities, seven of the Top 10 walkable neighborhoods (scores of 90 or above) were in New York City, with two in San Francisco and one in Kansas City. Portland had seven neighborhoods scoring above 90, with the Pearl District topping them at 99.
Walk Score's website takes pains to point out that the rating "measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle - not how pretty the area is for walking."
To find your neighborhood's walkability score, just go to the Walk Score site and type in your address at the top of the page.
