I’m moving to Maryland in a little while, and I’m looking for a place to live. Since I have no car yet (saving up to get one ASAP) and public transportation is pretty much unheard of in the suburban area where I’ll be working, I was hoping to find a nice little apartment within walking distance of my job.
When I told my Dad’s wife that, tonight, she almost choked. Apparently, according to her, it’s just not safe to walk anywhere in the States, and nobody ever does it. She’s from Tennessee and has lived for a while in pretty much every Southern state, and from what she tells me, walking anywhere, especially after dark, is like wearing a “rape and murder me, please” sign.
Now, I’m not dumb. I don’t take unnecessary risks. I’m not going to walk through unlit areas in the middle of the night, and I know there are some areas of most cities that I’ll just plain want to avoid forever. But if it’s a residential street, well lit, and it’s a ten-minute walk in a quiet neighborhood between work and home, I don’t see what all the panic is about.
I know there’s more crime in the States, in general, than I’m used to in Montreal, but I can’t believe that there’s a rapist/mugger/murderer waiting behind every bush in all of suburbia. People must walk to work, walk their dogs, go jogging! I know what she’s saying is a little on the unreasonable side, but it makes me nervous. Is she completely paranoid, or should I be selling a kidney to buy a car as soon as possible?
I live in a not-so-great area of Los Angeles and I walk about 5 blocks everyday, rain or shine, night or day, to get to my subway stop for work. I’m an early 20s, petite female. Nothing has ever happened to me.
Bah. Your Dad’s wife has obviously bought into the notion that there’s danger lurking around every corner in life, even though people are living longer and longer every year. Sitting on your ass and wringing your hands while watching the latest scare on tv, never going outside for a walk, that’s dangerous. We’ve got enough sloth here, we don’t need any more. Tell your stephillbilly to grow a pair. You might also suggest she stop watching cable news (Natalie Holloway! JonBenet Ramsey! etc.)
However…
Where in Maryland are you moving? Some neighborhoods are more safe than others. And are you sure that walking to work is even practical? Why is public transportation out? I know Metro is mostly for DC commuters, but bus service often isn’t bad. What County are you moving to?
I bike the two miles to work two or three times a week, more when the weather’s good.
When I was in school, I walked everywhere, two to five miles a day (mile and a half each way to the grocery store, which I walked every couple days), in urban Berkeley, often at bizarre hours of night. The worst that ever happened would be I’d get hit up for change aggressively, which did get annoying but wasn’t anything to stop walking over.
Most of my friends consider me a little eccentric, but nobody thinks I have a particularly casual disregard for my own safety.
Well, often we get an inflated idea of how dangerous life is because of the media and such. I’m sure there are some places where people walk to work. Never lived in one of 'em myself, but there’s a branch of the library I work at where I could walk to work, if I were to get a job there, and I imagine I would in those circumstances - entirely residential except for one intersection.
Aw, it’s fine. I’m from a small town in Canada where you pretty much had to have a car to get anywhere, period, so walking to work was unheard of. I moved to Seattle, and I walk to work every single day. It’s 40 blocks, takes me about 45 minutes to get from my front door to the spot I stand to work. I’ll take the bus if it’s particularly nasty weather, but I try to avoid it, as I could really use the exercise.
Sure, fellow Seattlites may stick their heads in here and joke about the fact that I live in Ballard, inhabited mostly by Norwegians (and you know how horribly violent those folk are!), but really, it’s still the city, kooks live everywhere (hell, we had an attempted burglary by a naked man when we lived at the bottom of the hill), and chances of it happening are slim if you’re as observant and cautious as you are in, oh, say a mall. I’m a 28 year old female, if that makes a difference. I’m chunky but have useless T-Rex arms, so I’m sure I look pretty harmless/defenseless.
I carry pepper spray* for my own comfort, being a country girl in the big city, but really, other than that, what’re going to do? Hide out indoors the rest of your life because there might be a crazy out there? Bah. Bullsocks. Get out there.
I wish, however, I had a taser. Don’t even look at me the wrong way and you’ll get it, b’y!
Hmmm, generally no problem, crime-wise AFAIK. There’s another issue, though: some sections are pretty rural and spread out; even the more crowded areas aren’t all that dense. Still sure walking is practical? I’m not trying to talk you out of it, I favor it, but you gotta be sure you can make it work.
Well, a quick scouting mission when I was there last, for the job interview, turned up a whole bunch of small, nice-looking, well-managed apartment buildings within about a 10 to 15 minute walk from where I’d be working. I suppose that when I’m there looking at places and evaluating their suitability, I can try and ask some of the folks already living there what the area is like, walking-wise. I will be doing evening and night shifts, so I’m also going to do a trial run with my boyfriend, walking the distance from work to home at night, to see what it’s like.
Because I already know where I’m working (I have to work there, it’s now I’m managing the work visa), the trick is to find a suitable place within walking distance. I’m sure I’ll find something decent.
You guys are making me feel much better about everything. Thanks.
I used to walk to work once a week or so when I lived in NJ, about a mile and a half, one way.
Now I try to bike to work at least 3 times a week from about April to October. (12 miles one way.)
My son walks to work (and pretty much everywhere) every day and night. He lives about a mile from where he works. He has to walk through some rough stuff and he’s never had a problem (other than the usual drug and prostitute offers, but they’re more an annoyance than a threat.)
Unfortunately, you’re smack between Baltimore and DC, and as such, it’s a wasteland for public transit, since neither reaches too extensively into the county (I think DC Metro none, and maybe a few MTA bus routes).
That being said, we’d have to ask where in Anne Arundel specifically to say how viable walking is. Working and living in Annapolis, you’re gonna be fine. Glen Burnie is going to have some MTA bus coverage, but it’s a little too sprawled (unless you’re in the downtown area by the State Courthouse) to really walk, and not the nicest area to do so. Most other cities/towns in the county (I’m posting from Hanover), and you’re going to want a car. I have to drive three miles to get out of residential back areas to a major road (and with it, Arundel Mills Mall).
Maybe a cheap bike might be good? I don’t drive, but LIVE on my bike I mean why not? You’re getting exercise, you’re not using gas or scarce resources.
One of my elementary school teachers used to walk to work every day.
My teenaged co-worker lives in downtown Cleveland and walks (8 minutes!) to work every day. When she’s on the closing shift, she’s walking the two blocks in the dark (at 7:30 pm, or over Christmas, 10 pm). She feels very safe. If she gets nervous, she calls her dad and has him walk over and meet her.
Well, since I’m specifically going to choose a place of residence right next to my place of employment, it’s not really a question of “viability” – it’s more a question of whether I’d be reasonably safe doing it. I know that in order to get to any malls, grocery stores, or anything else halfway interesting, I will need a car. I’ve visited the area a few times, and it’s definitely “sprawled”. Until I manage to afford a car, my boyfriend will be my chauffeur, helping me get groceries and such, so I’m not necessarily worried about being far from civilization, at least for a little while. All the walking I’d need to do, I hope, would be to work and back. Trust me, the car is very high on my list of priorities, but even so it’s going to be a few months before I can afford a decent vehicle, even used.
Where can I go to find out about bus coverage in the county? I’ve tried to find a map online that shows all the MTA bus routes in one shot, but I’m having no luck. I can only manage to pull up one route at a time, which is useless as I don’t know where each route goes.
I tried looking at MTA’s website, too. And I agree, it really is damned useless if you don’t already know the area, and moreso if you want to see more than one route at a time.
I find Hanover to feel quite safe, Annapolis safe from the limited experience I’ve had, the area around Ft Meade to be very sprawled, but safe enough. As I said above, Glen Burnie is hit and miss.
Of course people walk to work. I used to always walk when I lived anywhere near my workplace–mostly in Berkeley, I suppose. I did once get accosted by a clearly mentally disabled man who said he was going to beat me up or something–it was scary because he was twice my size and it was 7.30am and the neighborhood was empty. I got away OK. Otherwise I never had any trouble at all, in 6+ years.
To answer the question in general, in the vast majority of the U.S. by land area, you can’t walk to work. You dad’s wife is from Tennessee so I can see why she says that. Even many larger cities aren’t safe to walk around in, not because of crime, but because there is only the vaguest nod towards pedestrians in their design if there is any at all. I have tried to take just a long leisure walk in cities such as Austin, TX and Louisville, KY among others and that didn’t work out worth a damn. I was the only walking and the overgrown sidewalks would stop and start as traffic whizzed by mere inches away it seemed. Of course, you can find places that are walkable. Maryland has some and Boston is a very walkable city in its own way. However, it does sound a little naive hearing a person from another country boldly proclaim that plan. Most people simply wouldn’t hear of it although you can do it if that is a specific goal. I am sure there is some crime risk. Parts of Maryland certainly aren’t crime free and you will probably stand out because we aren’t exactly a pedestrian nation.
My first job at 17 had me walking a mile and a half to a sports bar and resteraunt pretty much every workday. This was in Rockledge Flordia, which was pretty ghetto compared to the rest of our county. Can’t say I ever had any problems with crime. Granted I’m a guy, but I don’t think my mom ever felt herself to be in any grave danger when she took her strolls either.
