Grading Quality of Kids' Lives

By JOHN L. MITCHELL

Aug. 21, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles ranked below most other major cities in a new study that examined the quality of children’s lives in U.S. cities, a national environmental group said Tuesday.

A relatively high rate of teenage pregnancy, poor air quality and below-average library use were among the factors cited as reasons that Los Angeles received a C on the Kid-Friendly Report Card issued by Washington-based Zero Population Growth, a nonprofit organization that lobbies against rapid population growth.

That mark ranked Los Angeles 19th among 25 major cities. Portland, Ore., New York City and San Francisco, among others, ranked higher. Two years ago, the group gave Los Angeles a C-minus and placed it 17th out of 25 cities.

“We hope that people will take pride in areas where cities are doing well and focus on the areas where their cities are not doing well,” said Peter H. Kostmayer, a former congressman who heads Zero Population Growth.

Orange County cities fared well, ranging from Irvine and Huntington Beach, both with A-minus grades, to Santa Ana with a B-minus. Costa Mesa was rated B-plus; Fullerton, Garden Grove and Orange each earned a B.

Kostmayer said the report card grades cities for the quality of community life, economics, education, environment, health, population change and public safety. Under the grading system, cities with large population spurts, for example, lost points because they generally were unable to keep pace with the demand for education, public works and social services, he said.

Los Angeles received good marks for having a relatively stable population and crime rate in the two years since the last survey, but was hit hard for its poor air quality. The city also was hurt by data showing that children borrow fewer books from the library than in many other cities. “But that may be because Los Angeles has so many children who speak languages other than English [and] these books are not available in other languages,” Kostmayer said. “Libraries and parents have to develop programs that draw children into reading.”

The results for other Southern California cities varied. Huntington Beach, Irvine and Thousand Oaks were among the highest rated, but others, including San Bernardino, El Monte and Inglewood, were in the bottom ranks of the 239 cities surveyed.

Apart from the listing of 25 major cities, the study also ranked 140 smaller cities, with Burlington, Vt., ranking first and San Bernardino last. In a third list of 74 suburban cities, Moreno Valley placed last, a ranking that didn’t please its mayor.

“How did they choose their cities?” said Bonnie Flickinger. “We are proud of our record. Moreno Valley is definitely known as a family-oriented city. Drive through here on the weekend and all our parks are full of kids and families.”

Pasadena, which two years ago got a D and finished 66th among suburban cities, showed a remarkable turnaround in the Zero Population Growth assessment, chalking up an A-minus.

Thousand Oaks, an affluent, white-collar city in Ventura County, scored the highest possible grade--an A-plus--for its stable population, minuscule violent crime rate, sprawling parkland and high participation in child-focused programs. It ranked eighth among 74 similar-sized cities across the country, according to the survey.

Oxnard ranked 66th on the list and received a C in child-friendliness--the same grade as urban Los Angeles. Contributing to the low score, according to the survey, was the working-class city’s high unemployment rate, shortage of parks and low library-book circulation among children.

Huntington Beach and Irvine stood out in the areas of health, safety and economics, said Rebecca Harris, a spokeswoman for Zero Population Growth. “They have fairly low infant mortality rates and a small percentage of low birth weights,” she said. “They are also very safe cities with low crime and unemployment rates.”

Santa Ana’s lower grade was partly a factor of the city’s relatively small amount of park acreage--about 1.3 acres for each 1,000 residents. The city also has a rapidly growing population, registering an annual increase of 10.5%, and that raises questions about the community’s stability, Harris said.

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KID-FRIENDLY CITIES

In a survey of kid-friendly cities, Los Angeles ranked near the bottom of a list of 25 major American cities:

Rank City Grade

1 Portland, Ore. A+

2 Seattle A+

3 Minneapolis A

4 New York A

5 San Francisco A-

6 Boston A-

7 Denver A-

8 Fort Worth B+