Comments on: A pedestrian pocket

By: Sister X

Sister X — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:37:21 +0000

I don’t know if you’re still keeping up with this blog, and my response is about two (almost three) years too late, but since I just found this post I’ll still respond….
I live in the neighborhood you highlighted, and I’ve found it to be very walk/bike-able, even in winter. Since I also work at the University, I walk every day even in winter. I’ve found a number of service places I use which are within walking/biking distance: restaurants, coffee shops, salon, post office, dentist, bookstore, etc. In the summer (and warmer winter days without other pressing tasks) I will even walk to the grocery store along the Geist/University route. My husband and I have talked about moving back to a cabin to save money, but we realized that with the cost of gas (and our current low rent for the area) we’d waste as much or more money in gas by having to drive more often.
In the summer, we almost exclusively ditch the car in favor of bikes. Many of our friends live within walking/biking distance, so it’s easy. All in all, in my opinion it’s the most walking and biking friendly (not to mention mass-transit friendly) area I’ve yet found in Fairbanks.

By: mpb

mpb — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:22:07 +0000

The part around College and University is an old neighborhood, actually a town itself and not part of Fairbanks– College, AK (see the state community database)

The College Woman’s Club (now the Greater Fairbanks Woman’s Club) set up one of the first playgrounds in Fbx and one of the first libraries.

You might check with Mardee Roth or Susie Swaim for more info.

One other advantage of that location (College) is that one can walk to ADEC or the university during ice fogs (and on good days) so much safer than driving.

By: Amy Goldman

Amy Goldman — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:35:01 +0000

I live across University from Old U-Park school, and work in the Wells Fargo building at Geist & University. I walk to and from work daily year-round, and from home, it’s a short and easy jaunt to Collegetown (University & College), where I have access to a convenience store, bookstore, coffee shop, nail & hair salons, several restaurants, and Beaver Sports. While there aren’t any particularly pedestrian-friendly features (aside from the new crosswalk controls at Geist & University – thanks, State of AK!), there are few enough cross-streets that I feel safe walking there any time, and I love all the things I can do in my neighborhood without ever getting into a motorized vehicle. I wish there were more areas in Fairbanks that were this easy to live in car-free!

By: Charles Bingham

Charles Bingham — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:01:14 +0000

Dan Burden, the founder of Walkable Communities Inc., will be the guest speaker at the Sitka Health Summit on May 14-16 (the community dinner on Wednesday and the community planning session on Thursday are the two biggest public events). For more information about the Sitka Health Summit, go to http://www.sitkahealthsummit.org. To learn more about keynote speaker Dan Burden and Walkable Communities Inc., go to http://www.walkable.org. Dan also was a founder of Bikecentennial Inc., which now is known as Adventure Cycling Association (the country’s largest touring bicycle organization), http://www.adventurecycling.org.

Also, another good resource for learning how to make a community more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, go to the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, http://www.bikewalk.org. The NCBW has a sister organization called Active Living Resources, http://www.activelivingresources.org, which has a lot of good information for city planners.

By: ben

ben — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:04:20 +0000

I live in this neighborhood and chose it for many of the reasons you list here. A very good coffee shop, 2 of my banks, the post office and a bar are all within easy walking distance. With the exception of the bar, I regularly walk to each. I never take my car to these places. If I really needed milk and didn’t want to go to Fred Meyer, I suppose I could go to the gas station on the corner across from the post office. The university frequently has worthwhile cultural events and is only 1 mile away because people not in cars get a bonus shortcut through what used to be the Fairbanks St. bridge. Work is about 4 miles away down the Johansen but it is the best car-less commute you can have while not living in the city. Did I mention that this neighborhood isn’t in the city? I don’t have to get the goverment’s stinking permission to add an outlet to my house: Bonus!

The dead ends you mention are kind of frustrating, but to the neighborhood’s credit, most of them are caused by a natural landscape feature: The slough. Those who have poked around the neighborhood enough know where the footpath-shortcuts are.

My analysis of the bus indicates the thing is nearly useless, however. I can ride my bike to downtown or that awful boxstore land and back faster on average than if I waited for the bus both ways. Yes, even in the winter.

By: marcus

marcus — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:20:25 +0000

^well said.

By: clark

clark — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:21:15 +0000

good discussion here about driving vs commuting by bike, the economics of oil and changing peoples’ opinions about driving. the commenter ‘chiggins’ was particularly astute:
“I just replied to a commenter on another blog who, in that same vein, said, ‘there’s no way we could live around here without a car’.

“I read an article the other day that stated, without noting the logical contradiction, that 1.) we can’t do anything about increasing production, and 2.) that worldwide consumption (not demand, mind you, consumption) was going to increase 35% by 2050. And I thought while reading this, ‘Now how’s that gonna work.’

“So I replied to said commenter that if it’s true that there’s no living where he does without a car, then he’d better either work out ways to change that with the other members of his community, or get the hell out of there, because pretty soon it’s not going to be his choice.

“That’s what drives me nuts about the ‘it could never work for me’ objections. Do these folks really think they’re going to have any say in it when we go from the inconvenience of high prices to the stark reality of shortages?”