Keeping the picket fence, but losing the car

June 7, 2012 — People shouldn’t have to choose between a single-family house and a walkable neighborhood. Both are found in neighborhoods all over the United States, and there’s no reason why they can’t be built today.

Unfortunately, many people simple assume they are no longer possible, including the National Association of Realtors, which should know better. Its community preference survey, as cited in your “Leaving the Picket Fence Behind” story, didn’t even offer the option of single-family houses in a walkable neighborhood.

Given a choice between townhouses and apartment houses or single-family houses, Americans would overwhelmingly chose single-family houses. Given a choice between single-family houses on large lots in a drive-every where neighborhood and a similar single-family house in a walkable neighborhood, Americans would choose the walkable neighborhood.

— Joel Whitaker, Silver Spring, Md.