You may think of the City of Tampa generally as a death trap for anyone who has the gall to attempt to get from point A to point B without the aid of a car or truck.
And, while the city is trying to address this, you'd be right. The group Smart Growth America ranked the metro area the seventh most dangerous city for pedestrians in January.
But according to the website Care.com, there is a bright spot, especially if you have loved ones of the canine persuasion.
They measured pupper/doggo walkability in U.S. cities by calculating the average number of minutes dog walkers hired through the site have logged as well as the number of dog parks per 10,000 residents.
Tampa came in fourth.
The cities with the best scores were, as you may imagine, on the Pacific coast: San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, which came in first, second and third, respectively. Washington, DC ranked fifth.
While the stats (which you'll find here) show a refreshing side of life in the Tampa Bay area amid all of the studies suggesting the region is a traffic-strangled hellhole, the numbers also show that even the top-ranked cities have a ways to go in getting those yogs their much-needed running/playing/socializing/ball-chasing time. Experts suggest the duration of walkies should range between 30 and 60 minutes daily. Yet the only city to average more than half an hour per day was San Fran.
Portland averaged 29, Seattle averaged 26, Tampa averaged 23 and DC averaged 26.
Tampa did well in in the number-of-dog-parks department.
But just in case, perhaps Tampa and surrounding areas should make space for more dog parks.
