Soaking Up The View, Pedestrian Commuting Style

I’ve graduated to the rank of urban pedestrian commuter. Sure, I know some people have been living the pedestrian life since time immemorial, but I’m in a self-congratulatory mood this morning and want to give myself a carbon-friendly pat on the back.

It all started when my mother asked to borrow my car to run an errand as she had temporarily lost the use of hers. The “problem” was that it made more sense just to give her the car for the whole week than to bother trying to get it back the next day. My wife and I decided we would simply make do with one car.

Easier said than done, sort of. Turns out some childcare time constraints on my wife popped up that was making picking me up and dropping me off at work a bit inconvenient. No sweat, I thought. I’ll just hoof it from home to the office and back again.

And why not? I did it everyday for a year in DC, walking from the depths of Dupont Circle (closer to Adams Morgan, really) all the way up to my job at the Department of the Interior some three or so blocks from the White House. Then in New York I’d have to do the trek from my apartment in Brooklyn to the Carroll Gardens subway, then from the Bryant Park F train stop in Manhattan all the way to the corner of 42nd and 2nd, one block from the U.N.

Anyway, it made more sense for me to walk the 1.6 miles to and from the front door of my house to the east elevators of the Modis building than for my wife to stress about getting the kids dressed, out the door and packed into the car just so we could travel the three minutes between home and office to get me to work.

Words can’t describe the refreshing sense of life these walks have had. Again, I know this isn’t novel. I know people are walking, or more likely riding their bikes, to work every day. But the point of writing this is to express the continued appreciation I have for Springfield and downtown Jacksonville as I was able to observe slowly and close up the uniqueness and architectural beauty that are most of the downtown structures.

Trying to catch a glimpse of the city around me is impossible from the window of my car. I’ve become caught up in the culture of talking about urban renewal and revival without truly appreciating what these concepts and philosophies mean. It’s not always about stimulating economic growth or complaining about government ineptitude. It’s about seeing the actual structures up close (and personal).

As the weather gets warmer, I don’t want to lose this intense interest of exploring the cityscape on foot, even if it is just for a few moments in the mornings and evenings.

Sure, there will be some perspiration. It might take me a few minutes of cooling and wiping down once I’ve reached my office. But that’s all a small sacrifice compared to the benefit the walk will have given me. And anyways, the heat of the Florida sun doesn’t even begin to compare to the boiler room humidity of a New York subway station in the summer. If I could do the pasty subway commute in New York for four years, in suit and all, then the short jaunt up Laura Street each day will be like, yeah, okay, a walk in the park.