Let’s face facts:  People like to live in places where it is possible to walk to the ice cream stand, library and barber shop.  As a former resident of downtowns in Manchester, Tecumseh and Ann Arbor, I can’t say enough about how great it is to wake up in the morning and just go for a stroll.

And as a former resident of the Chicagoland community of Aurora, I can’t say enough about how great it is to be able to walk to a train station and ride to interesting places.  On weekends, I’d buy a pass for a couple of bucks at the local Metra station and have the run of Chicago.  It was beautiful.  When I wanted to visit my family in Michigan, I could walk to the train station, transfer to Amtrak at Union Station and a few hours later hop off in Ann Arbor.

This was my preferred route.  It was actually quicker than trying to fly through that nightmare of an airport called O’Hare.  It was often cheaper than driving if I purchased one of Amtrak’s frequent sale tickets.  And it was just more pleasant than either alternative option.

Derek Melot at the Lansing State Journal has a nice blog post pointing out that we actually can make a choice in Michigan to lessen our reliance on the automobile.  And I don’t mean that as a dig on the car industry.  I love my Buick and need it.  But why can’t we also have good rail and bus service and efficient pedestrian systems?  I’d wager that it would improve our region’s economy and quality of life.

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