New Blog Expounds Joy, and Practicality, of Walking

Writer, Streetsblog reader and contributor Dan Icolari has started a new blog, simply titled “Walking Is Transportation.”

A lifelong New Yorker and former motorist, Icolari “hung up his car keys” some time ago. He recounts the experience like a recovering addict describing his moment of clarity.

Like most American drivers, I was convinced my personal mobility–my Freedom, for heaven’s sake–depended on the pathetic hunk of steel, plastic and rubber parked outside my door.

I don’t recall the specific event that made me decide to pack it in and go carless. What I do recall is the feeling of unease I experienced more and more often behind the wheel–a combination of vulnerability and simmering anger. Finally, owning and driving a car no longer felt like freedom; it felt more and more like a burden.

In the short amount of time since starting the blog (the first post is dated August 6), Icolari has reflected on what it means to be free in a city where so many choose to shackle themselves to the automobile, and what it means to be an “intentional” pedestrian in a society that views walking as a useful means of exercising and meditating, but an eccentric way of getting from one place to another.

Speaking of, about that title — would the Secretary agree?

Photo: Susan NYC/Flickr