1.
5/21/2012
UrbP 278/ EnvS 179, Kos | Jessica Setiawan and Kenneth Rosales
Spring 2012
SENIOR
SERVICES
DESERT:
SENIORSERVICES DESERT:LACK OF
ACCESSIBLE SERVICES FOR SENIOR SERVICES IN
EAST SAN JOSÉ

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SENIORSERVICESDESERT: LACK OF ACCESSIBLESERVICESFORSENIOR SERVICESIN EAST SAN JOSÉ Setiawan and Rosales
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PROJECT SUMMARY
Nationwide, the United States will be experiencing a demographic phenomenon in the
next few decades due to the aging population of Baby Boomers and Generation X babies.
Between the year 2000 and 2010, the US Census Bureau 2010 found that the 65 and over
population increased at a quicker rate of 15.1% than the entire population comprised at a rate
of 9.7% (Werner 2011). In the year 2000, the senior population of ages 65 and beyond was 35
million and inclined to 40.3 million in 2010, an increase of 5.3 million seniors (Werner 2011). In 2010,
the senior population made up 13% of the entire population, while in 2000, it was 12.4% (Werner
2011). TransForm California and Transportation for America, both progressive public transit
advocate nonprofit organizations released a newsletter in 2011 detailing that more than 15.5
million Americans ages 65 and up who are unable to drive will reside in areas with poor
transportation options (i.e. suburban settings). Therefore, services such as hospitals, clinics,
supermarkets, parks, community centers, and theatres will be far of reach from this population
group. Moreover, most Americans who turn 55 do not move from their respective areas and in
fact, just about 2% move from state to state while only 5% change their residence (Bullok and
Cohen 2011). As a consequence, the aging populations of 65 and beyond who are unable to
drive make 59% fewer trips to local shops and restaurants, 15% fewer trips to medical
professionals, and 65% fewer trips to close acquaintances and relatives (Bullok and Cohen 2011).
Within the Bay Area, the population size of seniors will escalate to 35% from the year 2010
to 2020 (US Census Bureau and Metropolitan Transportation Commission 2002). In the Santa
Clara County, the population of adults over 65 will nearly double, reaching close to 300,000 in
2020 (Weden 2008). In other words, 25% of the population, or 1 of 4 people in the County of
Santa Clara will be ages 65 and beyond (Weden 2008). Between 2000 and 2015, San Jose’s
percent of seniors with poor access to public transportation increases by 66%, thus a total of 15%
or approximately 35,316 San Jose’s seniors will have poor public transportation connectivity by
2015 (Bullok and Cohen 2011). By the year 2040, San Jose’s aging population will increase at an
even more substantial level and is equally projected to have inadequate transit services (Weden
2008).
When compared to the rest of the country, the Bay Area’s figures do not look as
catastrophic. For example, in Kansas City, Missouri, about 88% of their senior population is
predicted to have less than sufficient transit services by 2015 (Bullok and Cohen 2011).
Furthermore, the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that 90% of Atlanta Georgia
seniors will be in the same situation (Transportation for America 2011). Furthermore, Houston and
Dallas, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma will face analogous
circumstances of “aging in place, and being stuck without options” for their senior populations
(Transportation for America 2011).
This project only concentrates in East San Jose since it is commonly known to be
underserved. According to the United States Census Bureau, _______ seniors reside in East San
Jose out of a total of _____ seniors in the entire city (GIS US Census 2010 data). The main
objective of this dual map is to depict how far the most concentrated senior citizen populations
lie from recreational and necessary services, how far they reside from projected dense
developments such as the “Urban Villages” detailed in San Jose’s General Plan, Envision 2040,
and how necessary it is to improve such amenities in the planning areas of Berryessa, Alum Rock,
and Evergreen that make up East San Jose.

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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
On Monday March 26th of the year 2012, our group entered a discussion group for our
internship with the Sierra Club. Since the Sierra Club has been centered on their Building Climate-
Friendly Communities (BCFC) campaign, we have been focusing on smart land use planning to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, these efforts have been successful with the
leveraging of our Cool Cities teams who are residential environmental advocacy groups. The
most current discussion group we attended was titled “Aging Population and Urban Planning,”
which spawned the purpose of our project.
In the “Aging Population and Urban Planning” discussion group the attendees and hosts,
young and old, stressed the lack of sufficient planning for the current and future older residents
in San Jose. The discussion group decided to take action by submitting informational pages to
San Jose City Council Members with the support of partnerships (at least 10) that will outline the
problems of current circumstances, effects of projected developments, and alternatives
associated with aging populations and city planning. Towards the end of the meeting, our
group initially came up with the great idea of including a map that shows current conditions,
projected developments, and with the inclusion of senior population consultation, an alternative
project since we both were registered in the same GIS course. In essence, three maps were
going to be created for a single project. However, we were too ambitious and the time
constraints our GIS course had embarked on us forced us to re-arrange our project to a dual
map that shows recreational and necessary services in the vicinity of senior dwelling areas.
Our group felt that creating a map with the support of a plethora of organizations can
create a great impact on San Jose’s decision makers. Not only do we believe that providing
adequate services to the current senior population is just, but we are also concerned for our
own generation and others down the line. Moreover, our group has read through the City of San
Jose’s General Plan, Envision 2040 and it unfortunately does not make its senior citizens a priority.
The plan describes the projection of 70 urban villages and its consequent increase in walkability
and bikability of the city. However, it does not specify the locations of the predominant areas of
current and future senior populations in relation to the urban villages. This issue is rather vital to us
because not only do we believe that creating denser planning in our cities can have a wide
range of benefits as outlined in Envision 2040, but it can provide even more. They include
maintenance services such as sewage, electrical lines, and streets, and enhanced medical and
police responses provided to seniors while achieving urban sustainability and significant
greenhouse gas reduction (Henning, 2008).
On the other hand, Envision 2040 does ascertain that the population of people ages 65
and up will grow significantly and will be considered. “Focusing new job and housing growth to
build attractive, compact, walkable, urban districts or ‘Urban Villages’ will enable location of
commercial and public services in close proximity to residential and employee populations,
allowing people to walk to services while also providing greater mobility for the expanding senior
and youth segments of the population” (City of san Jose and Planning division 2011). It is an
absolute relief that the topic of our aging population is brought up in the General Plan, however,
it is imperative that citizens take proactive measures to include their own inputs in the
development of their city. The energy of the community in engaging on issues of inequity is the
primary reason why our group is extremely adamant on this topic of our senior populace.
Fortunately, we can achieve prodigious advancements since the concept of Smart Growth and
the needs of the aging population are similar to the needs of younger generations. Envision 2040
already addresses Smart Growth and with a great number of taxpayers that will soon be senior

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citizens, incorporating the needs of the elderly in planning the future of San Jose should be
mandatory.
GIS DATA SOURCES
The following is a list of GIS data sources utilized in creation of the final dual map:
 U.S. Census Bureau, 2010
 CommUniverCity
 ESRI US Topographic Basemap
 Yellowpages.com
 City of San Jose, Housing Department
 City of San Jose, Planning Division
 City of San Jose, Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services
 San Jose State University, Urban Planning & Regional Department, Community Planning
(URBP 2011) Spring 2011
The following listings are all the data sets used to create the final dual map:
 Hospitals (addresses geocoded from the City of San Jose website)
 Clinics (addresses geocoded from yellowpages.com)
 Grocery stores (feature class obtained from the City of San Jose)
 Public libraries (______________)
 Community/Senior Centers (_______________)
 Movie Theatres (_____________)
 Senior Housing (_____________)
 Envision 2040 Planned Urban Villages ( Shapefile retrieved from City of San Jose Planning
Division)
 Freeways (Shapefile retrieved from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning Department,
Mountain View Project)
 Creeks (Shapefile retrieved from from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning Department,
CommUniverCity)
 VTA Light Rail Line (Shapefile retrieved from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning Department,
Mountain View Project)
 VTA Bus Route (Shapefile retrieved from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning Department,
Mountain View Project)
 Roads (________________)
 Planning Areas (_______________)
 Lakes and Reservoirs (Shapefile retrieved from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning
Department, CommUniverCity)
 Parks (Shapefile retrieved from from SJSU Urban & Regional Planning Department,
CommUniverCity)
List of data considered to be used, but did not:
 San Jose Police Department locations
 San Jose Fire Department locations

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Works Cited
"Aging in Place, Stuck Without Options." Transportation for America. N.p., 2011. Web. 19
May 2012. <http://t4america.org/resources/seniorsmobilitycrisis2011/>.
City of San Jose and Planning. (2011). Envision san jose 2040 general plan draft.
Retrieved from website:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/gp_update/DraftPlan/FinalDraft/Draft_EnvisionSaJo
se2040GeneralPlan.pdf
Bullok,C.,Moler,K.,&Cohen,S.(2011, June 14). New report:Most aging baby boomers will
face poormobility options.Retrieved from
http://transformamerica.org/files/transform_sacramento_aging_press_release_6.13.pdf
Metropolitan Transportation Commission and US Census Bureau 2000. San Francisco Bay Area
Older Adults Transportation Study. San Francisco : nelson/ngyaard Consulting Associates,
2002. Web. <http://www.mtc.ca.gov/library/oats/OATS_FINAL_Report.pdf>.
Weden, D. (2010, June). Land use planning and our aging population. City of palo alto
pallning and communitenvironment speaker series forum. Retrieved from
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/pln/news/details.asp?NewsID=1472&TargetI
D=85
Werner, Carrie. United States Government. US Census Bureau 2010. Older Population:
2010 (2010 Census Briefs). 2011. Web.
<http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-09.pdf>.
Henning, T. (Producer) (2008). Jan gehl:3 qualities of sustainable city [Web]. Retrieved
from http://vimeo.com/1677412a