How Do You Make a City Livable for All Age Groups?

A residential area in Minneapolis, Minnesota

A residential area in Minneapolis, Minnesota Shutterstock

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

At a National League of Cities event, Mayors Betsy Hodges of Minneapolis, Acquanetta Warren of Fontana, Calif., and C. Kim Bracey of York, Pa., discussed what’s working in their communities.

PITTSBURGH — Housing was a topic Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges emphasized here Thursday as she discussed what it takes to create urban communities where people of all ages, including those getting on in years, can live and thrive.    

“If people can stay in their homes longer,” she said, “it means we have more older folks in our neighborhoods, next to the young couple who just moved in who had a kid.”

A number of initiatives are underway in Minneapolis with this in mind, Hodges said.

She described efforts to enable seniors to get minor health care services at home, delaying the need for assisted living. Hodges also pointed to zoning policies designed so people can convert carriage houses or garages into “accessory dwelling units”—spaces that can be rented for extra income, or that a senior could move into while passing their home on to other family.

“My biggest goal is to make sure that we have more people in the city,” Hodges said. Minneapolis now has about 410,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The mayor made her remarks during a panel discussion at the National League of Cities annual City Summit, which is taking place here this week. Joining her on the panel was Mayor Acquanetta Warren of Fontana, California and Mayor C. Kim Bracey of York, Pennsylvania.

During the conversation, the group of city leaders shared their ideas about how to make urban communities livable for people in a wide range of age groups.

Warren highlighted Healthy Fontana, a program that involves support from health care giant Kaiser Permanente. The mayor noted health statistics she saw after getting elected in 2010 that showed troubling rates of heart disease and diabetes among local residents.

Specific activities that are part of Healthy Fontana include exercise boot camps, free cooking classes, walking clubs and “wellness programs” for local businesses.

Warren said Healthy Fontana is meant to improve health outcomes for people of all ages.

“From cradle, all the way until when you think you’re putting that foot on the grave,” she said, “you’re going to be healthy.”

Warren said she is sometimes called the “Pied Piper” because walks she leads on weekends can attract dozens of kids who follow along. “We walk,” she said, “then I’m responsible for making sure they and their animals get back . . . kids are big on: ‘I’m bringing my dog.’”

Bracey said her eyes were opened to some of the difficulties that residents who are disabled might face getting around York after she injured her ankle in a motorcycle safety class. (A Harley-Davidson assembly and manufacturing facility in the city spurred the mayor’s interest in motorcycles.) “If I couldn’t get in and out of City Hall,” she said, “neither could others.”

An awareness of these kinds of issues, Bracey said, is now reflected in York’s “complete streets” policy.

Bracey also mentioned York’s City Hall For a Day program, which involves offering services and outreach normally available at City Hall in places such as parks, or elsewhere in the city.

The program, which Bracey said emerged from San Antonio, Texas, aims to provide wider access to services like permits and garbage bin distribution—especially for those who have limited transportation options. Many citizens, she said, are “not going to come to city hall.”

“You can’t do a lot,” Bracey added, “most anything in your community, without the engagement of residents.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.