Archive for the 'Enjoying Home' Category

What Is Your Community Walkability Score?

walking in Montclair neighborhood

I’m a big fan of the rating website, www.walkscore.com, but its algorithm relies mostly on the proximity of a house to stores and community resources.  But to find walkability rating, it’s not just about distance — it’s also about the quality and ease of the walk.  Factors like wide sidewalks, shade trees, good lighting and flat topography matter a great deal in determining a walkability rating.  I downloaded this walkability checklist from www.walkinginfo.org and walked through my own Watchung Plaza neighborhood in Montclair.

Here’s what I found, both good and bad.

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We have a saying among real estate agents that  “Kitchens sell houses.” At the mere mention of the words “granite” or “stainless steel,” buyers flock to a new listing, imagining themselves preparing home-cooked meals for the family or having friends gather around the “island” while the host prepares a gourmet meal and offers a little kitchen theater.

So powerful is the pull of the granite kitchen that it can compensate for other defects in the house such as small bedrooms or too few bathrooms.  For many, the granite kitchen has become a symbol of the good life and of good times.  There’s just something about family, friends, home, and kitchen that is inextricably tied together – despite our love of take-out.

Check out some of these Montclair homes for sale, and see if these kitchens match your ideals.

Do all of us have a strong interest or skill in cooking? No.  But even those among us who have never flambéed or sautéed love a great kitchen. Friend and fellow Montclair resident, Alma Schneider has even built a business around the incongruity between having a fab kitchen but not knowing how to use it.  “Overcoming Obstacles to Cooking” is the theme of her blog “Take Back The Kitchen.” Here she offers tips, coaching packages, and classes.

Me, I’m still living with butcher block counters in my circa 1925 kitchen, albeit with new appliances, hoping that my friends and family will forgive my sin of missing granite.  What does your kitchen look like?

When I walk to Watchung Plaza from my Montclair home, I take a short route  through an interconnected grid of streets and through a small park.  I wave to my neighbor on the way.  I stop for a brief minute in the park to chat with a friend who’s on her way home from work (she’s just gotten off the 5:31 train from Manhattan).  It’s social.  It’s interactive.  It’s exercise.  It’s green.

On the other hand, it’s very difficult to walk to the train station, or the corner store to get milk in a town that is laid out in a branching street pattern with a series of dead-ends -aka cul-de-sacs- feeding in to a main artery. In these configurations, you can be a stone’s throw from your destination, but have to travel a mile to get there.  This may be a satisfactory layout for the car but not for the pedestrian or bike rider.

Watch this very clever video from the Congress for New Urbanism and you’ll see what I mean…

1. The train station (any one of the six)

2. Watchung Plaza for a dozen bagels on Sunday morning

3. The farmer’s market on a Saturday in June for local rhubarb and asparagus

4. Tierney’s Tavern on the way home from work for a retro burger and beer (no phone, no credit cards!)

5. The Wellmont Theater on a Saturday night to see David Byrne, Kathy Griffith or Rosie O’Donnell

6. Tinga Tacqueria on Monday and Tuesday nights when kids eat for $2

7. The “all children” playground in Edgemont Park on a weekday afternoon in spring

8. Anderson Park on the way to work for early morning Tai Chi

9. American Royal Hardware (aka Mr. Charlie’s) for that whatchamadoohickey that you’ll never find at Home Depot

10. Van Vleck House and Garden for a leafy respite