San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/2009/01/)
Changes in cities over the next two decades will be driven by the "longevity revolution" as the ranks of US adults over 60 soar and many more lifespans stretch past the century mark. While these changes present challenges to cities that are ill-equipped or unprepared, they also serve as a wake-up call to tap into the skill and expertise of older adults. » Read more
By Cecily O’Connor, RedwoodAge.com
Stella Gerson rides a Whistlestop shuttle to a senior center in San Rafael, Calif. (RedwoodAge.com)
It’s no problem for Stella Gerson to walk down to the bus stop. Getting home is the hard part. "I have to go up a hill to my house," said the 89-year-old San Anselmo, Calif., resident, who suffers from macular degeneration, a disease that blurs her vision. In Northern California where Gerson lives, transportation is one of several pressing needs for a rapidly graying population.
By Cecily O’Connor, RedwoodAge.com
For almost a year, boomer Tricia Webb has enjoyed an automatic door at the front entrance of her San Francisco apartment building. She fought hard for that door. Webb, who sits in a wheelchair, lobbied her landlord for the door for five years, but her requests were denied due to cost. Tricia Webb led an effort to get an electric door that helps her neighbors, too. (CLC)
The effort finally gained momentum over a year ago when she became part of the Community Living Campaign (CLC), a group that support seniors and adults with disabilities. The CLC-sponsored a bake-sale that was attended by district supervisors and other civic leaders. The event "embarrassed (the landlord) so bad," that he eventually green-lighted the door, Webb said.
And that automatic entry has not only made Webb’s life easier, but also helped her neighbors, including parents with strollers.
By Cecily O’Connor, RedwoodAge.com
As life spans lengthen, cities are trying to be all things to all age groups. But they’re just scratching the surface.
Committees, studies and action plans are baby steps on a long road toward coordinating services and resources before a crisis sets in. The down U.S. economy is adding to the mess. If you took a tour of Northern California, you’d see a microcosm of what’s happening elsewhere. Big cities like Sacramento are better prepared, thanks, in part, to a downtown ripe for redevelopment. Others like San Rafael, the county seat of the nation’s richest county, are watching new housing proposals dry up as the economy contracts.
I could see the temblors everywhere. Bankruptcies, layoffs and a poisonous economy have thinned newspapers to the core, both in physical size and in substance. But I still felt reasonably insulated, since my little hometown newspaper dodged the bullet every time a new round of company-wide layoffs slashed through newsrooms. That’s the newspaper I used to work for full-time, and I still pop in now and again on a per-needed basis. Up until now, I felt like I would always have a role to play there, like they would always want — and even need — me, and there would usually be some way to make it happen during my breaks from school and from my Public Press internship. But Jan. 14 was the first day I felt everything crack.
With few visible signs, effects of pollution may be long-lasting underwater
A community-funded report originally published on Spot.us
By Aaron Crowe
A"dirty bathtub ring" and a some oil under a few rocks are about all that remain from the Cosco Busan oil spill more than a year ago in the San Francisco Bay. The spill of nearly 54,000 gallons of heavy fuel when the container ship hit the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge on the foggy morning of Nov. 7, 2007, was the largest spill in the bay in 20 years. It killed nearly 3,000 birds, fouled 69 miles of beaches and spurred hundreds of volunteers to help with the cleanup around the bay. Cleanup and compensation costs are estimated at $90 million.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian printed an interesting piece this week on the need to encourage more independent local voices. The article, which cites The Public Press as a hopeful example of media innovation, points to the source of the crisis in journalism: economic sustainability. While there’s no shortage of good coverage ideas, there are few tested business models that can fill the void left by the contraction of traditional publishing enterprises. The piece didn’t go into detail to present The Public Press’ provisional (i.e., untested) answer: a membership model blending aspects of local public broadcasters and nonprofit magazines such as Consumer Reports. We hope to roll out a membership structure in a year or so.