Gas prices got you down? Take a walk!
High gas prices keeping you closer to home this summer? Well, if you're looking for a different kind of "stay-cation," why not do a little sightseeing on foot?
To help you get going, Baltimore ranks 12th for walkability among the 40 largest U.S. cities, according to new national ranking by Walk Score, a Web site aimed at helping people find walkable places to live. More than 2,500 neighborhoods nationwide were rated not on how scenic they are, but how close they are to stores, restaurants, schools and parks.
Three B'more neighborhoods - Federal Hill, Fells Point and the Inner Harbor - scored high enough to make the site's list of 138 "walkers' paradises." My older suburban neighborhood, Catonsville, doesn't quite measure up - 63 vs 90 or more for those city spots. Type in your address and zip code to see how your neighborhood ranks.
Walk Score's ranking mirrors one done last year by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. I blogged about it then for Bay & Environment. Some of the same people behind that ranking are advising Walk Score, too.
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
