Cities or towns where you don't need a car

Truthfully, I miss being able to jump in my car and go anytime I want. I accept that my vision is limited and I refuse to endanger others. I still can drive but will only do so if the weather conditions are acceptable and I know it’s not a busy time of day. So many areas are too busy, I just don’t go there.

There’s reasonable public transit and I walk most places. I’m actually addicted to walking now.
 

StarSong said:
What do you suppose is attracting them?
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It seems to be "white flight" out of Ann Arbor, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. At least based on the discussions and concerns expressed in a local "Community" FB group they seem to hang out in.

My guess is that this area is cheap by comparison with where they come from. By historical accident it is also relatively geographically isolated from the capital city (only two direct roads and until very recently they were narrow) which probably isolates them from "riff-raff."

The local zoning board is also entirely captured by developers now. So older businesses are taxed out of business, wetlands are drained and filled, village centers razed for new construction, etc.
 
Aunt Bea said:
We’re seeing two of those high density low rise self contained villages planned for this area.

The one pictured has 500 housing units, shopping, offices, restaurants, etc… on eighty acres of land.

K52BFGQQQVFTRDSPZ53Y5RYYZU.jpg


They are both high end communities geared towards singles and dinks of all ages but definitely not for the people that will be building and working in them.
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Those are springing up here, as well, and are not necessarily marketed toward retirees.

They're generally built near existing shopping in this area, so not self-contained. Yes, they're definitely priced beyond the means of those building them or working in them.
 

Aunt Bea said:
We’re seeing two of those high density low rise self contained villages planned for this area.

The one pictured has 500 housing units, shopping, offices, restaurants, etc… on eighty acres of land.



They are both high end communities geared towards singles and dinks of all ages but definitely not for the people that will be building and working in them.
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Yeah, we're seeing concept art for finishing demolition of existing buildings and intersections and then replacing them with roadblock architecture like:
Okemos C.jpg
Okemos H.jpg
 
Jules said:
Truthfully, I miss being able to jump in my car and go anytime I want. I accept that my vision is limited and I refuse to endanger others. I still can drive but will only do so if the weather conditions are acceptable and I know it’s not a busy time of day. So many areas are too busy, I just don’t go there.

There’s reasonable public transit and I walk most places. I’m actually addicted to walking now.
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Congratulations on being careful about driving, and knowing your own physical limitations while behind the wheel. I see too many seniors driving who should not be driving, for a number of reasons. For a couple of years, I kept a news paper and TV report file, about accidents where seniors drove into buildings, because they mistakenly pushed the gas pedal, instead of the brake pedal, or ran over somebody and kept on driving, not realizing that they had hit something or some body.

One of the worst cases was an 89 year old woman in Hamilton Ontario, who drove over a woman and dragged her body for over 3 miles, before somebody forced her to stop her car. The woman under the car died of her massive injuries. At trial the 89 year old woman pled guilty to a charge of "Criminal negligence causing death" She was sentenced to a year of house arrest, and her D.L. was taken away, and her family sold her car. JIM.
 
Jules said:
Truthfully, I miss being able to jump in my car and go anytime I want. I accept that my vision is limited and I refuse to endanger others. I still can drive but will only do so if the weather conditions are acceptable and I know it’s not a busy time of day. So many areas are too busy, I just don’t go there.

There’s reasonable public transit and I walk most places. I’m actually addicted to walking now.
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I agree except i hated driving ugh. (I guess i grew up watching too many movies and tv shows that showed happy people doing just fine in the big city using the subway, cabs, buses and trains, going anywhere they wanted anytime they wanted and not having to be saddled with a stupid, expensive, pain in the butt car.)
 
dilettante said:
The community that I live in was once a much smaller village surrounded by farms.

It was on a major railway and had a station primarily used to load cattle and hogs, apples and onions and potatoes, corn and beans and wheat and rye and flax to ship them onward to Chicago, or the other direction through Port Huron/Sarnia to Toronto. These trains also brought in shelf stock, clothing, notions, non-local foods, and such for retail. There was also a passenger train several times each week.

In addition there was a parallel inter-urban light railroad that connected the village with the capital city in one direction and the next two villages "up the line" in the other. In the capital there were horses and wagons, but also horse-drawn (and later electric) streetcars.

People got around within the village on foot or by horse and wagon.

The days of a compact walkable village and connectors to other communities are long gone here.

I was able to still do that until almost three decades back when we lost the last two grocery stores in the old village when Walmart came in. At least I can still walk to our last pharmacy and hardware store and a Mexican food truck and small Chinese take-out food place. Speculators are buying everything up. Once they have enough land together in one place they build 4 story luxury retiree housing locals can't afford.
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What you're describing was the result of the creation of the Interstate Highway System and the rise of trucking that followed. Rail could have hung on a bit longer, but the RR just don't care about low volume customers and actively pushed them away.
 
Well today the paper reports that one of the old downtown main corners that got bought up then razed is being left for dead. It has a low-ball price tag and post demolition runoff is now an environmental hazard which is why plans stopped. My guess is that it won't sell, it'll revert to the township for non-payment of taxes, and we'll be asked to approve a cleanup millage. What was a number of old small-scale businesses is now an eyesore with a couple of fenced deep pits.
 
StarSong said:
My dearest friend has serious macular degeneration. She was practically born behind a steering wheel and always loved driving, but safety demanded she give it up. She's adapted admirably to her new circumstances: walks to a nearby, large shopping center almost daily, learned and fully utilizes her local public transportation system, makes use of Uber and Lyft when the need arises, and takes a plane, train or bus when traveling long distances.

She says when figuring in the cost of a car, insurance, registration, fuel, maintenance, parking fees, and so forth., her overall transportation costs are far cheaper than owning a car.

I'm so inspired with how well she's managing this, and without a word of complaint. She saw it as a new life challenge and has risen to meet it.
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I am with her all the way!
 
Our daughter lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. She has not owned a car for probably 10 years. She seems able to function o.k. without one as their is good public transportation. She owns a condo that includes an indoor parking spot. I don't know whether she rents it out but I think she could get a nice monthly rental if she did.

I could never live in a large city so need a car. When I can no longer drive a car I might still be able to get everywhere I need to go in my golf cart.
 
officerripley said:
Last time I checked was about 5 years ago, but around here it's illegal to ride in golf carts on public sidewalks, streets, etc.
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Around here I can legally drive my golf cart to many Dr offices and clinics, the local hospital, over 100 restaurants, many gas stations, multiple grocery stores, hardware stores, Hobby Lobby, Lowes, Walmart, Target, etc. Starting next year I can drive the golf cart to the new Costco. I can also drive the golf cart to over 50 golf courses, over 100 pools, and over 50 recreation centers and country clubs.

Did I mention there are an estimated 80,000 golf carts in my home town? We don't drive on sidewalks, we drive in dedicated golf cart lanes and on dedicated multi model paths. We even have dedicated golf cart roundabouts.
 
officerripley said:
Last time I checked was about 5 years ago, but around here it's illegal to ride in golf carts on public sidewalks, streets, etc.
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What with bike lanes being carved out of public streets, and motorized bicycles, scooters, and the like proliferating, I wondered why the heck golf carts aren't street legal in CA. Turns out some are!

True golf carts, meaning they're meant for golf-course use rather than general transportation and have top speeds of 15 MPH, are not.

However, they are street legal according to the DMV if they've been registered, titled, can exceed 20 MPH, and have:
  • A minimum of one headlamp
  • A minimum of one tail lamp
  • A minimum of one stop lamp
  • Front and rear turn signals
  • Front and side reflectors
  • A rear reflector
  • A rear-view mirror that shows 200 feet to the rear
  • A horn
  • Fenders
  • A windshield made of safety glass
  • Windshield wipers
Are Golf Carts Street Legal in California? | Sally Morin Law
 
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Tom52 said:
Around here I can legally drive my golf cart to many Dr offices and clinics, the local hospital, over 100 restaurants, many gas stations, multiple grocery stores, hardware stores, Hobby Lobby, Lowes, Walmart, Target, etc. Starting next year I can drive the golf cart to the new Costco. I can also drive the golf cart to over 50 golf courses, over 100 pools, and over 50 recreation centers and country clubs.

Did I mention there are an estimated 80,000 golf carts in my home town? We don't drive on sidewalks, we drive in dedicated golf cart lanes and on dedicated multi model paths. We even have dedicated golf cart roundabouts.
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Oh, okay; I didn't realize you lived in The Villages, that explains it. For those of us who could never afford a place like that (or could handle the weather, hurricanes, etc.), most places we live the golf carts are illegal in public. It isn't 100 percent enforced, but I sure wouldn't want to rely on only one for transportation.
 
I don't need to commute and I don't shop as a hobby, so my car doesn't get much use. Mainly occasional visiting, medical appointments, and grocery shopping. Sometimes to the hardware store.

To avoid letting the tires rot, battery to go dead, etc. I take it out on road trips a couple of times a week. Nothing fancy, just getting out of town. Often doing my grocery shopping in a small town I stop in.

I found one that has an "old town" wrapping its main drag with older and smaller homes. There are newer and much larger homes further out. However in the older section there is still a walkable grocery store, a little "downtown" with second hand junk shops, a bank, etc. Even an ice cream place not too much further out, though it isn't open year 'round. In the other direction there is a gas station, a truck stop, a couple of fast food chain stores, and two sit-down restaurants. There was a Rite-Aid but it has closed down like all of them around here.

I'd bet walking could work for most things, and maybe for larger grocery runs one of those adult pedaled trikes with a big basket in the rear might suffice.

Most of the small towns are too small now though and don't offer as much. Those living there need cars to reach most things.

All of those are served by a county "dial a ride" service:
provides Seniors with FREE rides Monday through Friday from 9:00am-6:00pm. To schedule a pickup time you must contact us the day prior to needing the service.
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That county also has a small city which operates a local bus service.


So I suppose there are options out there. I don't know anyone living in them though.
 
Peachtree City is a town in Georgia where golf carts are legal. It is south of the Atlanta (Hartsfield /Jackson) airport. I was once told that a lot of Delta Airline employees live there. I have never had any reason to go there but I always thought it was a little strange.
 
My older brother used to go around his neighborhood and small town shopping area on his John Deere garden tractor, sometimes with a small trailer in tow.

He also maintained a large umbrella type liability insurance policy.

It was legal in New York State as long as it had a slow moving vehicle sign prominently displayed.

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As the price of vehicles continue to rise I’m sure that we will see more and more people getting creative. 🚜🛵🏎️
 
If one lives long enough, they'll find out that the difference between 60 and 90 is enormous for most of us that last that long. "I love to walk is a popular comment." I loved to walk as well and my wife and I would do so on a regular basis. Now, pushing 91, I struggle to get down the back stairs and over to my car. I would have never thought that this could happen - -but it has.
In the last 2 weeks, one of our daughters and her husband took me to the doctor's for visits and another daughter is taking my wife to Boston (about 60 miles) for a visit next week. I could drive to my local doctor's offices but can't safely walk from the car to the office whereas the kids will pull up to the door and help me into the office.

Not a "one way street" though, as we were retired when their kids (our grandkids) were in school and we provided their transportation while their folks worked. Close families are a Godsend.
 
DaveA said:
I would have never thought that this could happen
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Not being contentious, but just truly curious: why did you never think that could happen? It seems to me that I've been thinking since I was in my late teens about the day it and other age-related difficulties would (if I lived long enough) happen to me, whereas my Huzz, even though he's even more elderly than I, seems to think as you did, that it'll never happen to him.

I wonder, is it because I grew up around more than a few elderly and he didn't? (The oldest anyone in his family was when they died was 74.) Plus, the elderly I grew up around were not the skydiving, water-skiing, getting a college degree at the age of 85 kind you see on the news; rather they were the physically and mentally unhealthy, hated-being-old, financially-strapped, feuding-for-years-with-family kind of elderly.

As I said above, I'm really not being contentious; I guess I keep trying to understand and learn to live with his denial about this.
 
DaveA said:
If one lives long enough, they'll find out that the difference between 60 and 90 is enormous for most of us that last that long. "I love to walk is a popular comment." I loved to walk as well and my wife and I would do so on a regular basis. Now, pushing 91, I struggle to get down the back stairs and over to my car. I would have never thought that this could happen - -but it has.
In the last 2 weeks, one of our daughters and her husband took me to the doctor's for visits and another daughter is taking my wife to Boston (about 60 miles) for a visit next week. I could drive to my local doctor's offices but can't safely walk from the car to the office whereas the kids will pull up to the door and help me into the office.

Not a "one way street" though, as we were retired when their kids (our grandkids) were in school and we provided their transportation while their folks worked. Close families are a Godsend.
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DH & I, now in our early 70s, are starting to see this very thing. Our children living fairly close by is already a godsend for certain chores, especially those requiring ladders or heavy lifting. We're a godsend for them with childcare, knowhow on household fixits, and hosting parties where their friends are also welcome.

We help each other as we can. Much like that old Nigerian proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child", it takes a village to take care of everybody, young, old and in-between. My "village" is DH, our children and our closest neighbors.
 
DaveA said:
If one lives long enough, they'll find out that the difference between 60 and 90 is enormous for most of us that last that long. "I love to walk is a popular comment." I loved to walk as well and my wife and I would do so on a regular basis. Now, pushing 91, I struggle to get down the back stairs and over to my car. I would have never thought that this could happen - -but it has.
In the last 2 weeks, one of our daughters and her husband took me to the doctor's for visits and another daughter is taking my wife to Boston (about 60 miles) for a visit next week. I could drive to my local doctor's offices but can't safely walk from the car to the office whereas the kids will pull up to the door and help me into the office.

Not a "one way street" though, as we were retired when their kids (our grandkids) were in school and we provided their transportation while their folks worked. Close families are a Godsend.
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I have the same problem with being able to drive to an appointment and then having difficulty getting from the parking lot to the office. I now have a Rollator walker that I used successfully when I went to early vote. So maybe I will try that next time if the terrain is flat enough.
 

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