Census shows aging population
Data from the 2010 U.S. Census released this week reflect an aging population in Burbank and Glendale, a trend that officials in both cities have been anticipating as they work to strengthen social services for baby boomers.
The median age of Glendale residents jumped to 41 in 2010, up from 37.3 in 2000 and 34.3 in 1990, according to the census. In Burbank, the median age in 2010 was 38.9, compared with 36.4 in 2000 and 34 in 1990.
As more baby boomers retire and get older, demand for public services is expected increase significantly, prompting city officials to prepare by updating facilities and plan for more programs.
“We’ve known that the service needs of seniors have been increasing during the last few years,” said Moises Carrillo, senior community development supervisor for Glendale. “We’ve been surveying more of the senior population and trying to reflect the needs in our priorities.”
Glendale recently completed a new multimillion-dollar Adult Recreation Center that hosts many of the city’s senior services programs, and many of those have seen enrollment more than double since last year, officials said.
“We’ve had a huge demand and even more foot traffic since we opened the center,” said Community Services Supervisor Maggie Kavarian.
Glendale also serves 150 to 200 meals each day to seniors at three sites in the city, Kavarian said, an increase of about 20% in recent years.
Burbank, meanwhile, has initiated a community survey of seniors to help guide future program priorities.
During the ongoing budget talks this week, the Burbank City Council quashed a cost-cutting proposal to eliminate the senior meal service at McCambridge Park Recreation Center.
“I will not accept any cutback to the senior nutrition program, and that is not going to happen with my support,” said Councilman David Gordon. “It’s not as simple as putting them on a bus and taking them on the other side of town.”
The McCambridge site provides an average of 30 meals each day for seniors, Joslyn Adult Center serves 105, and Don Tuttle Senior Center serves 43, according to the city.
But while both cities have rapidly aging populations, there were disparities in the number of residents. Glendale’s population dropped by 2% to 191,719 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But in Burbank, the population grew 3% to 103,340.
Glendale City Planner Jeff Hamilton — who also headed up Glendale’s Complete Count committee — said city officials still had issues with the tally, which was released as part of a preliminary count in March.
“We at the city are not yet certain that we accept that,” Hamilton said. “I still expected Glendale’s population to rise somewhat comparably to Burbank and Pasadena.”
The census counts are important because most federal grant allocations are based on population.
Burbank attributed the results to successful outreach.
“Our outreach was targeted at those folks who normally might not participate in an official survey or census,” said Gaby Flores, deputy director for Burbank Park, Recreation and Community Services.
“I think we did a lot of hand holding, and that helped out a lot,” she added.
Race demographics, also released this week, will be hard to compare to previous years since federal officials changed the way people could count themselves as Hispanic or Latino on the census form.
In Glendale, the number of people who said they were Caucasian jumped 8%, but that may not necessarily reflect the city’s ethnic makeup.
“I think either people got confused by the choices or, because there was less publicity about the ‘Two or More Races’ category, that they simply reverted to simpler patterns of declaring what racial group they belonged to,” Hamilton said.
City officials said they would be closely looking at the figures for potential impacts to social services, such as bilingual outreach.
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GLENDALE CENSUS RESULTS
2010
Median age: 41
Breakdown by race:
White: 136,226
Black: 2,573
Native American: 531
Asian: 31,434
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 122
Other: 12,146
Two or more races: 8,687
Latino: 33,414
Not Latino: 158,305
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2000
Median age: 37.3
Breakdown by race:
White: 123,960
Black: 2,468
Native American: 629
Asian: 31,424
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 163
Other: 16,715
Two or more races: 19,614
Latino: 38,452
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BURBANK CENSUS RESULTS
2010
Median age: 38.9
Breakdown by race:
White: 75,167
Black: 2,600
Native American: 486
Asian: 12,007
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 89
Other: 7,999
Two or more races: 4,992
Latino: 25,310
Not Latino: 78,030
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2000
Median age: 36.4
Breakdown by race:
White: 59,590
Black: 1,915
Native American: 314
Asian: 9,045
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 121
Other: 177
Two or more races: 4,201
Latino: 24,953
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LA CRESENTA/MONTROSE CENSUS RESULTS
2010
Median age: 41.6
Breakdown by race:
White: 12,807
Black: 142
Native American: 70
Asian: 5,375
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 12
Other: 533
Two or more races: 714
Latino: 2,232
Not Latino: 17,421