Boomers San Diego

Lack of public transit could trap aging boomers

In four years, nearly 40 percent of the San Diego region’s senior citizens, including the first wave of Baby Boomers, could find themselves living in areas where access to public transportation is “poor to nonexistent” at the time in their lives when they might need it the most, according to a national report.

The report, “Aging in Place: Stuck Without Options,” from transportation advocacy group Transportation for America, raises concern over the future mobility of the first generation to grow up in, and raise their families in, communities designed on the assumption that most everyone can drive to get where they want to go. As Boomers age and their ability to drive diminishes, the authors say, more and more suburban senior citizens will find themselves grounded.

The report’s authors consider any senior citizen living more than a half-mile from a train or ferry and more than a quarter-mile from a bus stop as being isolated.

The report ranks 241 of America’s cities on their ability to provide their senior population with public transportation four years from now. Atlanta comes off as the most senior-unfriendly: Ninety percent of its residents, 65-and older, will have poor access to public transit by 2015, the report claims.

Of the 46 metro areas with a population between 1 million and 3 million, those which serve their seniors best with the fewest “left behind,” are San Francisco (12%), San Jose (15%), Miami (17%), Oakland (18%) and Salt Lake City (26%). San Diego will have 39 percent — a projected 142,315 senior citizens — living beyond the reach of public transit in 2015.

“Like many regions, San Diego has historically under-invested in this network,” said Ryan Wiggins of Transportation for America.

Regional planners in San Diego cite the growing needs of Baby Boomers in the draft 2050 Regional Transportation Plan, a huge document that projects regional growth and transportation needs for the next 40 years. San Diego Association of Governments planners say that between 2008 and 2050, residents over the age of 65 will grow by 143 percent. Residents over 85 will increase by 214 percent.

The 2050 plan anticipates future growth to be clustered on the major transit corridors, primarily the interstates, according to SANDAG principal planner Coleen Clementson.

Baby Boomers in Clearwater Beach versus San Diego

Clearwater Beach Florida , Clearwater Florida

Today we have a guest post for on Roberta Murphy, a top Realtor who specializes in San Diego relocation . We’ve known Roberta for over five years and she is who we consult with and refer our clients to when they decide to relocate to the San Diego area. I hope you enjoy her insightful observations about one of the fastest growing segments of our real estate market - the Baby Boomers. This is a topic near and dear to our heart because in the early 90′s Jack and I volunteered and helped start the Area Agency on Aging for Pinellas and Pasco County . We learned about the issues and challenges people face at this stage of life.  Almost universally people when asked, will tell you they want to age in place – which means planning ahead now when choosing where to live.  Thanks Roberta for sharing…

Baby Boomers have always kind of been the noisy sort, and more and more we are hearing their wishes in unison.  And for some reason, I doubt that boomers seeking homes in Clearwater Beach are very different from those seeking a coastal home in San Diego, perhaps a local farmers market  ethnic bakery, museums, shopping and dry cleaners. They would happily go days without driving a car–unless it’s a golf cart.

Though home prices in San Diego are still higher than those in Clearwater, the ones that hold their values best in both cities would be those near the beach, sand and other amenities.  And that is the lifestyle so many retiring Baby Boomers are seeking.

We work with a number of baby boomers who are either moving to or within the San Diego area, and know that the Haydon team works with similar homebuyers moving to Clearwater. These folks are seeking to downsize and move away from soccer fields, elementary school crossings, cul de sacs, lawns that need mowing and windshields that need de-icing in winter.

Peter Pan will not live here anymore. A multi-approach study of the relation between neighborhood design and the ability to age in place

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