Hi, I'm Andrew and I recently moved to Iowa from Los Angeles. I've been looking in to moving to Keene for a couple of months now and thought that I would sign up for the forums.
I've done a good deal of reading on the Free State Project and Keene, and am pretty convinced that Keene is the place I would like to move. I do have one burning question though.
I do not drive a car. Thanks to some no insurance tickets in the late 90s and early 00s that I did not pay I am now not able to drive. The interest placed monthly on the fees has made them so high that I will more than likely never be able to pay them off in my lifetime. So my question is, how car-free friendly is Keene?. I generally ride a bike anywhere I need to go over a few miles, and ride buses anywhere else.
Are there cab services (you'd be surprised how many towns don't have cabs), public transit, etc? Since there is a college there I assume it is pretty friendly, but wanted to ask some people just to make sure.
Thanks ahead for any replies!
I don't know about Keene, but lots of folks in Manchester get by without cars. We have more than one cab company, and a bus system. It's not the LA bus system, but with a little planning it's better than no bus system.
Wherever you end up, it's usually easy to find a ride thanks to the community.
As mentioned on our 130+ Reasons to Move to Keene, Keene was named most-walkable by Walkable.org.
Keene is very small and compressed - it's easy to get around if you live downtown. Welcome.
Distance-wise, if you live downtown or in a close neighborhood, you can get around downtown and the surrounding drug/grocery stores fine. Deathweather makes it worse, but I guess it makes driving worse, too.
You're probably already used to this dilemma, but getting a job is limited, since you're either walking or arranging rides with coworkers, if you don't live next to your job.
I relied on the bus systems in Orange county and the IE…those things are non-existent out here. One bus that loops around, during college school days, infrequent from about 8am to 430 or so.
[quote author=FTL_Ian link=topic=4325.msg47923#msg47923 date=1291180930]
As mentioned on our 130+ Reasons to Move to Keene, Keene was named most-walkable by Walkable.org.
Keene is very small and compressed - it's easy to get around if you live downtown. Welcome.
[/quote]
That reminds me: walkscore.com is a great resource for evaluating different locations.
http://walkscore.com
Keene was described as "A Walker's Paradise" in some magazine for walkers or some website. I forget which. I think Ian knows.
Thanks for all the info folks. I somehow missed the walkable part of the 130+ reasons. After looking at maps of Keene it does seem pretty well compressed compared to towns I've lived in the Mid West of about the same size. I think I could get most anywhere by foot or bike.
The huge bulk of Keene proper is also really flat so biking anywhere is cake, unless there's snow &/or ice, which there is for several months (coming up).
[quote author=Bizurke link=topic=4325.msg47919#msg47919 date=1291178640]
how car-free friendly is Keene?.
[/quote]
Its plenty car friendly. There are roads, and gas stations, and service stations, and tire stores, and even car washes!
[quote author=Sovereign Curtis link=topic=4325.msg48041#msg48041 date=1291353809]
[quote author=Bizurke link=topic=4325.msg47919#msg47919 date=1291178640]
how car-free friendly is Keene?.
[/quote]
Its plenty car friendly. There are roads, and gas stations, and service stations, and tire stores, and even car washes!
[/quote]
I could be wrong, but I see "car-free"… i.e., how convenient will it be to walk/bike around town?
Many times on a bike you will get places faster than in a car.
A car feels burdensome when it's not actually needed.
[quote author=Dalebert link=topic=4325.msg48051#msg48051 date=1291392825]
A car feels burdensome when it's not actually needed.
[/quote]
Not having a car will eliminate 99% of all your government interactions (unless you're going out of your way, through C.D. for example).
[quote author=mackler link=topic=4325.msg48085#msg48085 date=1291431825]
Not having a car will eliminate 99% of all your government interactions (unless you're going out of your way, through C.D. for example).
[/quote]
Absolutely. Driving, cars, the roads, they are the #1 excuse for the government to be extra intrusive into our personal space. That's where the police state really gets obnoxious.