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
