Quote:
Originally Posted by Ned.B
Though this is why I have never lived more than 6 blocks from a grocery store since moving here. I have been walking/carting my groceries home for the last 2 years and counting. It works in the densest parts of the city, but I can understand that it wouldn't be so great in others.
|
Good for you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
I've lived right near one for 6 years and love it. Never have to take any transportation other than my legs for that.
The city should have more markets scattered throughout and this wouldn't happen as much (having to drive or carry them on the bus). NYC, Europe, Asia, etc do these things right IMO.
|
Also good for you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by msu2001la
Eh, ok.
I am married with a kid. I shop at the Whole Foods at Fullerton/Sheffield a few times a week since it's opened, and I've only driven/parked there 2-3 times. I buy 1-2 meals at a time, so that it's easy to carry home.
It's a 15 minute/1 mile walk for me. Sometimes I take the Fullerton bus if it's cold or rainy. Sometimes I ride a Divvy if I'm not buying too much.
I own a really nice car, but it's a pain in the ass to go home and get it, then drive out to a grocery store.
My experience may or may not be typical, but I do know that the Whole Foods at Sheffield/Fullerton only has a handful of parking spaces and most people shopping there seem to be on-foot, but I acknowledge that there are a lot of DePaul students in that area supporting it too, and don't assume every grocery store in every location of the city should be this way.
|
Your experience is probably typical of a large amount of Lincoln Park. Again though, life styles in Lincoln Park are very atypical for the city as a whole. Incidentally, I grew up (for most of my life) within walking distance of a grocery store. Both my mom and dad always lived (and still do) within a mile (or less of) a grocery store, and we would do the same: some minor shit on foot here and there, major shopping always via car. Funny though, as an adult I almost (as in 99.9%) never walk the .6 miles to the Jewel down the street; wasting gas is just so much easy and faster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias
It's not that people think cars are inherently evil, it's that large surface lots create a number of issues in an urban environment and make it harder for people without cars to live their lives by reducing density in all forms. If a full block is taken over by large grocery story + large surface lot, that means a number of things: 1) people without cars have to walk further for groceries, 2) people without cars have to walk further for other items because there is now 1 block fewer people and/or services available in a given area. The lower residential density supports fewer walkable businesses, and the physical distance created by the surface lot means greater walking times.
Cars are very useful, but creating an environment just for them does feed into more people needing them, even if they'd really rather not spend thousands of dollars a year for a hunk of metal. Smaller stores located more frequently with limited parking enables people to live without cars and reduces the advantage of a car.
|
Hardly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
I have never owned a car in Chicago - don't need one as I live within a block of a grocery store. And yes, it's called making a good fucking decision because you're smart. Why would I drive 3 miles to go to a grocery store when I could choose to live in an area close to one?
I love being able to go to the store and grab something to eat or something to make dinner with. And I love the fact that it won't be sitting in my fridge for 5 days getting old. I can pick up a cut of meat and have it in my mouth within a few hours after, instead of collecting dust in my fridge for a few days.
Regardless, most of the world lives like this and most of the world has lived like this for a long, long, long time. This whole "Drive to a big supermarket to do your shopping for the next 2 weeks" thing has existing for a very short time in human history. And I'm not saying it's bad in general because if you are living in a non urban place, it's totally good if you can't produce your own food (aka a farm). However, to support a walkable environment and a vital one that includes all classes of people, we need to create more opportunities for people to shop at markets the way they have for thousands of years.
|
Again, most of you guys aren't from Chicago. You've almost all seemingly moved here with this romanticized idea of what Chicago is, but it just isn't that way. This isn't Europe or New York City. The norm here is driving to Jewel (or Whole Foods nowadays if you're wealthy) and doing grocery shopping in the typical American fashion. The exception to the norm are those of you who walk a few blocks to Mariano's for a single meal. The Jewel over at Six Corner in Portage Park is typical Chicago grocery store. The Jewel over at Pulaski and Foster is a typical Chicago grocery store. The two Jewels I shop at (both in the very dense and walkable, Edgewater) over at Clark and Catalpa or Broadway and Berwyn are both typical Chicago grocery stores. Shit, I lived essentially
downtown in high school, and we shopped at the Jewel on Roosevelt and Wabash or the Dominick's (RIP) on Canal. We lived literally a few blocks away from the Jewel on Wabash, and even still would drive the <.25 miles if we were doing major shopping. Obviously living
that close to the store, you will often walk for many meals and minor shopping, but it doesn't completely eliminate the use of a car. That is, thinking that proximity to something dictates use of car is flawed. Most people in this city use their cars
all the time for various things regardless of how dense their neighborhood is or how close the train is to their house. Period. But that's really beside the point. My point is, the typical middle-class Chicago family
drives to the grocery store, and parking lots in front of them are no big deal. This idea that a grocery store's parking lot is
harmful to the urban fabric or whatever is stupid. Sure, it'd be nice if all the big grocery stores were like the Jewel on Broadway and Addison or the old Dominick's at Sheffield and Fullerton (what is that now a Mariano's or something?)... yeah, it'd make for a better pedestrian experience or something, but come on. It's such a silly complaint to have. Just look at the Jewel on Lincoln and Cullom. Does its parking lot somehow disrupt the
pedestrian experience or whatever you guys are all worried about? No. If you guys are looking for that idyllic, dense, parking lot-less urban area, then you picked the wrong city because that's New York or San Francisco.
Anyway, I read this forum often and never really comment, but you guys have some strange and rather trivial complaints about the
ubran-ness of the built environment, especially considering how low the aesthetic standard seems to be on this forum...
Prev
Linear Mode
