Quote Originally Posted by Just the facts View Post
That's great and you should be able to live that way, but you should also have a neighborhood urban cluster you can walk to that supports all your daily living essentials. Having a yard shouldn't also require you to own a car.
This is kind of ideal, for me. One of the things I really liked about the part of Portland I visited(east-ish, I think) is that there were little "small town mainstreets" dotted along the main road that fed the area. Every few miles, you'd have some street side parking, a cafe or a sandwich shop, a few small retail places and frequently a grocery store.

Honestly, if we had some sidewalks, where I live would be pretty close to that. At the corner of May and Hefner, there's that shopping center with a few restaurants and some retail. Admittedly, the retail is kind of lame, but at least it's there. 122nd and May you have that Homeland and some more retail. The Homeland is one of the really bad ones, but at least it's there. If there was a convenient way to get there, I might shop at it a bit more. As is, I do wander over to the Hefner shopping center for bagels or the occasional game of laser tag with the kids.