March 12, 2004 -- Americans don't walk. That may be one of the reasons why we're so fat. And it's a pity -- walking is not only healthy, it's a great way to see a place and experience the world around you, stripped of the steel bubbles that so often separate us from the brilliant randomness of daily life. It's time to reconnect.
Concerned with Americans' health, the American Podiatric Medical Association and Prevention m
agazine recently ranked the nation's best walking cities based on a slew of criteria yanked from census reports and other statistical data. Some of their results make sense, but others show what can go bizarrely wrong when you put your nose down to statistics and forget common sense.
The APMA's top 15 walkers' cities are as follows:
1. New York City2. San Diego
3. Jersey City, NJ
4. Honolulu
5. Madison, WI
6. Philadelphia
7. Boston
8. San Francisco
9. Tucson
10. Scranton, PA
11. Bergen, NJ
12. St. Louis
13. Nassau, NY
14. Bridgeport, CT
15. San Antonio
(For the full list, head to www.apma.org/citywalks2004/top125.html.)
Much of this list is predictable. Of course you walk in New York City -- ever try to get across town in a cab at 4 pm? It's meshuggah, as they say around here. Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco are other well -- known places to break out the walking shoes.
Some of the winners are surprising, and the results can shape your travel views. San Diego is a surprisingly good city for walkers; 15 of the city's museums are in Balboa Park, much of the nightlife is concentrated in the very pedestrian -- friendly Gaslamp Quarter, and the weather is lovely. While you may want a car to shuttle between SD's various districts, you're likely to park your car and walk around each district.
Honolulu and Madison are also pleasant surprises. A combination state capital and university town sandwiched between four lakes, Madison is full of museums, bookstores, and eclectic shops. Honolulu, meanwhile, is recommended for great views, great weather, and a surprisingly excellent bus system that "goes almost everywhere, almost all the time," according to Frommer's.
Then there are the half-baked ideas. Take Jersey City, for instance. Frommer's is based in Hoboken, next door to Jersey City, and we can tell you, there's very little to see in that depressed, struggling working-class town. Sure, there's a waterfront with great views of lower Manhattan and a swell science museum, but that's about it. The APMA told us JC got its top rating because of "population density" and the "high percentage of residents who walk to work." We'll tell you why -- the city is crowded and impoverished. Scranton is another town without much to offer, and the former "Park City" of Bridgeport has been a byword for miserable urban decay for decades.
"Bergen, NJ" and "Nassau, NY" aren't even cities; they're suburban counties. We're not quite sure where one would walk in either of those counties, given that they're collections of sleepy bedroom communities tied together by highways and commuter rail lines. We guess people walk to the commuter rail.
The inclusion of the nonexistent cities of "Bergen" and "Nassau" hints at one of the things that went wrong with this study. The podiatrists seem to be confusing census metropolitan statistical areas with cities. The Jersey City MSA, for instance, includes not only the city of Jersey City but neighboring Hoboken -- a very different place.
(Even the MSA mistake doesn't explain the inclusion of Bridgeport, Bergen or Nassau, all commuter suburbs of New York with few destinations to walk to.)
In fact, while we give a thumbs-down to JC, we agree that our hometown of Hoboken is a terrific place to walk. Sandwiched between Jersey City and Bergen County, just across the river from New York City, it's a friendly, walkable square mile of upscale restaurants and tree-lined streets, the mass transit links are excellent and the waterfront has terrific views of Manhattan. Wave hello to us as you stroll past 111 River Street. We'll be inside.
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