What’s your own ‘Walk Score’?

Some of you already know this, but at the end of this week I’ll have to close down The Naked City for a year, while I take part in a fellowship program for midcareer journalists at Harvard, called a Nieman Fellowship.

It’s a wonderful opportunity for me and my family: I can take any courses I want to at Harvard. But I’m not allowed to do any professional work. (Throw me into that briar patch!) That means no Naked City. Sorry, folks. Maybe you can convince Ed Williams to start a blog or something. (And for you conspiracy theorists, I applied for the fellowship last winter, long before I had ever heard of Lizardking or Edd Hauser … )

My last posting will be tomorrow or Friday. Until then, here’s a cool link my buddy Joe Sovacool showed me. This site rates the “Walk Score” of your neighborhood.

Example: “90-100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.” Or, “0-25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!” My neighborhood rated a 35.

Warning: The site is slow, and earlier today it was having a spasm. Seems to work better on Firefox than IE. It isn’t up-to-date. Told me I was only half a mile from Providence Hardware — which closed in 2003. And I don’t think it measures threatening dogs or places where poison ivy is growing too close to the sidewalk. Still, it’s fun. Check out your own area’s walk score.

The site’s principles are based in part on those of Dan Burden, a consultant who’s been to Charlotte several times to try to infuse the city DOT with info on pedestrian and bicycling needs.