Where We Live: Communities for All Ages Live
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WHERE COMMUNITIES FOR WE ALL AGES 100+ INSPIRINGINSPIRING IDEAS FROMFROM AMERICA’S MAYORS LIVE EXECUTIVEEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY,, BYBY NANNANCYCY LEAMLEAMONDOND STATESTATE AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS,AFFAIRS, AARP CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 2 ENVIRONMENT FRESH AIR, CLEAN WATER AND OPEN SPACES 30 AARP TOOL KIT FOR CREATING Spotlight on Atlanta, Georgia 35 GREAT COMMUNITIES 5 Berkeley, California 36 Bridgeport, Connecticut 36 HOUSING SAFE, AFFORDABLE, Cheyenne, Wyoming 37 ACCESSIBLE 6 Des Moines, Iowa 37 Spotlight on Boston, Massachusetts 11 Evansville, Indiana 38 New York City 12 Laredo, Texas 38 Oakland, California 13 Madison, Wisconsin 38 Salt Lake City, Utah 13 Minneapolis, Minnesota 39 San Diego, California 14 New Bedford, Massachusetts 39 Schenectady, New York 14 New Orleans, Louisiana 40 Washington, DC 14 Raleigh, North Carolina 40 Salt Lake County, Utah 40 TRANSPORTATION CONVENIENT San Diego, California 40 AND SAFE OPTIONS 16 St. Louis, Missouri 41 Spotlight on Omaha, Nebraska 21 Yonkers, New York 41 Altamonte Springs, Florida 22 Atlanta, Georgia 22 HEALTH FROM FOOD TO FITNESS 42 Birmingham, Alabama 23 Spotlight on Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 47 Burlington, Vermont 23 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 48 Chattanooga, Tennessee 24 Charleston, West Virginia 49 Clarksville, Tennessee 24 Eugene, Oregon 49 Jersey City, New Jersey 25 Fort Worth, Texas 49 Los Angeles, California 25 Hernando, Mississippi 50 Macon-Bibb, Georgia 26 Houston, Texas 50 New York City, New York 26 Lansing, Michigan 50 Phoenix, Arizona 27 Louisville, Kentucky 50 San Diego, California 27 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 50 San Francisco, California 28 Phoenix, Arizona 51 Seattle, Washington 28 Portland, Maine 51 Utica, New York 29 Spencer, Iowa 52 West Hartford, Connecticut 29 St. Paul, Minnesota 52 St. Petersburg, Florida 52 Seattle, Washington 53 York, Pennsylvania 53 TOC 0608.indd 2 6/8/16 2:44 PM ENGAGEMENT CONNECTING CULTURE ELEVATE THE ARTS PEOPLE TO THEIR NEIGHBORS TO ELEVATE THE COMMUNITY 76 AND LEADERS 54 Spotlight on Salem, Massachusetts 81 Spotlight on Louisville, Kentucky 59 Carmel, Indiana 82 Fayetteville, Arkansas 60 Columbus, Ohio 82 Fort Worth, Texas 60 Gary, Indiana 83 Holyoke, Massachusetts 61 Loveland, Colorado 83 Indianapolis, Indiana 61 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 83 Las Vegas, Nevada 62 Suwanee, Georgia 83 Miramar, Florida 62 New Orleans, Louisiana 62 NEIGHBORHOOD A PLACE TO Portland, Oregon 63 LIVE, WORK AND PLAY 84 Topeka, Kansas 63 Spotlight on Dallas, Texas 89 Wilmington, Delaware 63 Albany, New York 90 Baltimore, Maryland 90 OPPORTUNITY EMBRACING Charleston, South Carolina 91 DIVERSITY AND PURSUING Concord, New Hampshire 91 POSSIBILITIES 64 Detroit, Michigan 91 Spotlight on Chattanooga, Tennessee 69 Las Vegas, Nevada 91 Albuquerque, New Mexico 70 Miami, Florida 92 Buffalo, New York 70 Pembroke Pines, Florida 92 Cheyenne, Wyoming 71 Providence, Rhode Island 92 Denver, Colorado 71 Santa Ana, California 92 Detroit, Michigan 71 Tampa, Florida 93 Grand Forks, North Dakota 72 West Sacramento, California 93 Kansas City, Missouri 72 Wichita, Kansas 93 Los Angeles, California 73 Miami, Florida 73 LEGACY RECOGNITION 94 Minneapolis, Minnesota 73 Providence, Rhode Island 74 INDEX 96 Rochester, New York 74 Sioux Falls, South Dakota 75 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 97 Tulsa, Oklahoma 75 Virginia Beach, Virginia 75 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 97 NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AARP | ENVIRONMENT people’s interests and energies are more likely focused INTRODUCTION close to home. 2. There’s strong belief in the collective good at WHERE WE LIVE influences who we become. So the community level. let me tell you a bit about where I have lived and how This fact was revealed when AARP asked its mem- it has influenced me and inspired me to write this book. bers whether they had supported or would support I grew up in a northern New Jersey suburb where increased funding for public schools even if they had cities were places to go for special occasions. To me, no children in the schools. The majority answered New York City was magical—diverse, noisy, energetic. “yes.” That’s a powerful sense of legacy. I remember taking my first trip to Yankee Stadium and 3. Community efforts are almost always inter- thinking it was so green and beautiful. I enjoyed musi- generational and can be apolitical. cals and plays on Broadway, and I visited museums I discovered this through a series of visits I made where I could see things I had dreamed or read about. to some of AARP’s state offices, where I met with vol- Also nearby was Newark, New Jersey, where my unteers and members. We talked about Medicare and mother worked for an insurance company. To me, an Social Security, but we also talked about local transpor- avid reader, that city’s grandeur was its outstanding tation and parks and volunteering. Their attention was public library that placed no limit on the number of on where they lived. They were generally optimistic books you could check out. that whatever community improvements were needed These experiences provide the backdrop for my could and would be done, and that solutions would be lifelong interest in cities. good for all generations. Then in the summer of 1969, two years after the nationally reported devastating riots in Newark, I COMMUNITIES FOR ALL AGES interned at the Greater Newark Urban Coalition. As I began looking at demographic trends, I realized There I saw mayors and other elected officials solving that one of the compelling challenges for mayors and real problems—vexing though they were—and seeking other leaders throughout the country—particularly ideas and solutions. My summer of researching, those in cities and towns—would be to construct com- fact-checking, and observing cemented my interest in munities that are livable for residents young, old, and cities. I returned to college and constructed my under- in between. At AARP, we call these places “communi- graduate and graduate degrees around urban studies. ties for all ages” or “livable communities.” I was set on a path as a city planner—a discipline We recognize that work on “livability” will grow in that combines policy with practicality and politics. importance as the nation’s population continues to age, Alas, a recession occurred on my way to that career thanks to the boomer population (people born from goal and planning jobs were tough to find. I ended up 1946 to 1964) and the enormous millennial generation in Washington, DC, where I worked for the federal gov- (born between the early 1980s and early 2000s). ernment in a series of jobs focused on legislation and The U.S. population numbers almost 46 million regulatory policy on Capitol Hill and in government people age 65 and older today, with 73 million pro- agencies. In 2000, after a long federal career, I took a jected by 2030. By then, fully one out of every five job at AARP. There, I was struck by three factors about people will be 65 and older. According to U.S. Census people and their communities: projections, all 50 states will see an increase in the 1. People place a deep importance on the com- percentage of their 65-plus population. munity they call home. This reality is borne out in our cities. Today, the The Silent Generation (people born between the 20 largest metro areas are home to almost 17 million mid 1920s and early 1940s) focuses on the country and people 65 and older. From 2010 to 2020, Los Angeles’s the world, according to AARP research. By contrast, 65-and-older population is projected to increase 38 later generations of Americans center on “me, my percent, Houston’s by 69 percent and New York’s family, and my community.” While it doesn’t mean by 32 percent. Some cities that already have older national issues aren’t important, it does mean that populations such as Prescott, Arizona, will grow 35 2 AARP | ENVIRONMENT percent, with 30 percent of the city’s population 65 from our members and the success of the work, we and older. Similarly, Asheville, North Carolina, will made livable communities a key part of our social see a 37-percent increase, with 23 percent of resi- mission agenda. dents 65 and older. Over the years, the work has grown as our staff and The demographics within that older population volunteers have engaged more and more. We have all are also changing. From 2010 to 2050 the percent of been struck by the compelling and the obvious: Volun- Hispanics, African Americans or Asian Americans teers might eschew getting involved in a big national and Pacific Islanders age 65 and older will increase issue, but they don’t hesitate to pitch in to clean up a 597 percent, to more than 57 million, compared to local playground or collect cans of food for the home- just a 96 percent increase in the white population age less in their neighborhood. 65 and older. At the same time, the total population age 85 or older will increase 231 percent to more than LOCAL LEADERS AS THE CATALYSTS 19 million. FOR CHANGE While we know the demographic trends, the people While many people have very little trust and faith in in these generations will also reshape the world of the leaders they send to Washington, DC, most have aging. For instance, boomers are more active than their abiding confidence in their local elected officials. parents were at the same ages and they have different According to Gallup, 70 percent of people trust their demands for their communities. The millennials will local government to make decisions versus 32 percent likely live longer than their parents and are already who trust Congress. This is because people want changing the country. With the boomers, millennials results—and town and city mayors just get things done. and Gen Xers (born from the early 1960s to the early One AARP member said to me that if Congress was 1980s), there will be more people who came of age in in charge of snow removal, it would never happen.