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By Steve Levy
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About this blog: I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the area in 1963 when I started graduate school at Stanford. Nancy and I were married in 1977 and we lived for nearly 30 years in the Duveneck school area. Our children went to Paly. We moved ...
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About this blog: I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the area in 1963 when I started graduate school at Stanford. Nancy and I were married in 1977 and we lived for nearly 30 years in the Duveneck school area. Our children went to Paly. We moved downtown in 2006 and enjoy being able to walk to activities. I do not drive and being downtown where I work and close to the CalTrain station and downtown amenities makes my life more independent. I have worked all my life as an economist focusing on the California economy. My work centers around two main activities. The first is helping regional planning agencies such as ABAG understand their long-term growth outlook. I do this for several regional planning agencies in northern, southern and central coast California. My other main activity is studying workforce trends and policy implications both as a professional and as a volunteer member of the NOVA (Silicon Valley) and state workforce boards. The title of the blog is Invest and Innovate and that is what I believe is the imperative for our local area, region, state and nation. That includes investing in people, in infrastructure and in making our communities great places to live and work. I served on the recent Palo Alto Infrastructure Commission. I also believe that our local and state economy benefits from being a welcoming community, which mostly we are a leader in, for people of all religions, sexual preferences and places of birth.
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Do you support more housing choices for older residents
Uploaded: Oct 17, 2015
Thank you all for participating in the last blog. At this point we have 133 comments and over 5,000 views.
My next question is "Do you want to provide more choices for older residents to continue living in Palo Alto as they age?.
I do.
And so do the large number of speakers at the council meeting who were older residents or spoke about their needs.
I am not an expert in this area, just one of Palo Alto's older residents so I hope people more knowledgeable than I can fill in some of the choices.
Nancy and I are one group of older residentsthose who want to downsize and stay in Palo Alto. In our case in a more services, shopping and dining accessible area. So we sold our house (we could have rented it) and moved downtown to a condo. I am sure there are others like us and the number will grow as Palo Altans age.
In 2013 about 17% of residents were over 65 and they will all be 80 or older in 2030. Plus more will join the ranks of 65+.
Not all older residents will want to change their existing living arrangements but some will out of choice or necessity.
What are some options?
One is more places like where Nancy and I live close to services, shopping, dining and the like.
Another is more places like Channing House where active older residents can get a good location, some services and a broader community.
Probably there will be growing demand for places with higher levels of assistance.
And some older residents will choose to move.
Council will soon consider supporting more accessory dwelling units that could allow caregivers or elderly parents to live there. And there is discussion of shuttle options that could serve older residents.
My goal and I hope the council's goal is to acknowledge the aging of our population, consult with experts and residents, and develop choices for residents who want to remain in the community near family and friends, but not remain in their existing single family home.
How would you answer my question?
Community.
What is it worth to you?
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