Bay Area Census and Rankings

[Animo]

Contra Costa County grows the fastest, while Oakland shrinks and San Francisco becomes more Asian

Updated March 8, 2011 at 1:56 p.m.

New Census figures released Tuesday show dramatic changes in the Bay Area over the last decade, with rapid population growth in Contra Costa County, an African-American exodus from Oakland, and a surge in the number of Asians living in Silicon Valley.

The nine-county region reached a population of 7.15 million people, the Census showed.

Contra Costa County Grows the Fastest

Contra Costa County grew by more than 100,000 people over the past decade, making it the fastest-growing in the Bay Area on both an absolute and percentage basis.

Observers say most of that growth occurred in the eastern parts of the county, like Antioch and Brentwood, where acres of cherry orchards and corn fields were bulldozed to make room for new subdivisions.

Unlike most of the Bay Area, where the African-American population dropped, the black population in Contra Costa County grew.

"A lot of people moved out from Oakland, including members of my family," said Paul Cobb, publisher of the African-American weekly, the Oakland Post.

"Single mothers with latchkey kids moved out there because they didn't want to have to worry about drugs and crime," Cobb said.

Steve Spiker, research director for the Oakland-based Urban Strategies Council, said Contra Costa County's population growth would have appeared even greater if it was measured before the real estate bubble burst and the foreclosure crisis began.

"A lot of these folks were foreclosed on while the census was being conducted," Spiker said. "It's unclear how many of them were missed."

Oakland Shrinks

Among California's 20 largest cities, Oakland was one of only two to shrink between 2000 and 2010 (Santa Ana was the other). Census figures show the East Bay city lost 8,760 residents over the past decade.

During the course of the decade, nearly 33,000 African-Americans left Oakland, the data shows, while the numbers of white, Asian and Hispanic residents increased.

The population loss came despite the building of thousands of new condo units, part of former Mayor Jerry Brown's much-ballyhooed "10K Plan" to reinvigorate downtown Oakland.

"A lot of people came, but a lot of people also left," Cobb said.

San Francisco Becomes More Asian

Like Oakland, San Francisco also saw an exodus of African-Americans, but this was more than offset by growth in the city's the city's Asian population — which rose by more than 30,000 even as the numbers of blacks dropped.

Overall, the city's population grew by 3.7 percent to 805,235 residents between 2000 and 2010.

"The Asian community is growing everywhere [in San Francisco] — the Excelsior, Portola, Visitacion Valley," said Max Kirkeberg, a professor emeritus of geography at San Francisco State University.

Ling-chi Wang, a professor emeritus in the ethnic studies department at the University of California, Berkeley, predicted the numbers would continue to grow as the visibility of San Francisco's Asian community increased after the appointment of Edwin M. Lee as its first Chinese-American mayor.

Many Asian Americans are also moving into newly built condos in the South Beach and Mission Bay neighborhoods, he said, fueled by the biotech campus of the University of California, San Francisco, which is still under construction.

The number of whites in the city rose by a modest 5,000.

San Jose Nears 1 Million Residents

San Jose remained the Bay Area's largest city, growing to 945,942 residents in 2010. Unlike San Francisco and Oakland, where the white population grew, San Jose saw its number of Caucasian residents drop.

In the meantime, the number of Asian residents skyrocketed, buoyed, observers say, by new immigrants from China and India who are moving to Silicon Valley for jobs in the tech sector.

"The Silicon Valley industries have used the H-1B visa to create its new economy and so new bridges have been built between San Jose and Bangalore," said Raj Jayadev, director of Silicon Valley Debug.

According to the census, San Jose had 303,138 Asian residents in 2010 — approximately 35,000 more than San Francisco.

"These are folks in technology jobs, they're engineers, they're scientists, they're entrepreneurs" said Russell Hancock, the president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a public-private collaborative that brings together government and business leaders in the South Bay.

"The census proves San Jose is among the most cosmopolitan cities in the country, more so than San Francisco," Hancock said.

With more than 1.7 million residents, Santa Clara County remained the region's most populous as it added 99,057 residents.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported 40,000 African Americans had left Oakland over the past decade. The correct number is approximately 33,000.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/129cO)

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by Animo

[B]
Oakland Shrinks

Among California's 20 largest cities, Oakland was one of only two to shrink between 2000 and 2010 (Santa Ana was the other). Census figures show the East Bay city lost 8,760 residents over the past decade.

During the course of the decade, nearly 33,000 African-Americans left Oakland, the data shows, while the numbers of white, Asian and Hispanic residents increased.

The population loss came despite the building of thousands of new condo units, part of former Mayor Jerry Brown's much-ballyhooed "10K Plan" to reinvigorate downtown Oakland.

"A lot of people came, but a lot of people also left," Cobb said.

Decline has been the long-term trend in Oakland, the 1990s being the significant exception. The exodus of African Americans from Oakland has accelerated. As for the 10-k plan, what we've seen in NYC & especially Chicago is that rampant gentirification reduces population, owing to smaller household sizes. So not surprising that Oakland's declined with the uptick of gentrification.

[Animo]

Hoofing it to shops and services is easy in San Francisco and Oakland, according to a survey being released today that ranks the two among the top 10 most walkable big cities in the country.

Among the nation's 50 largest cities, San Francisco was the second most walkable, after New York, and Oakland ranked 10th, said Seattle's Walk Score, which assigns numerical ratings on a scale of 1 to 100 that quantify how close any address is to amenities like grocery stores, restaurants, schools and parks. Being within one-quarter mile of destinations garners the highest ratings.


Top 10 walkable cities

Walk Score ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities by how easily residents can walk to amenities like shops, restaurants and parks, on a scale of 1 to 100.

1. New York (85.3)

2. San Francisco (84.9)

3. Boston (79.2)

4. Chicago (74.3)

5. Philadelphia (74.1)

6. Seattle (73.7)

7. Washington, D.C. (73.2)

8. Miami (72.5)

9. Minneapolis (69.3)

10. Oakland (68.2)

Source: Walk Score

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1TCikc2NH

[Animo]

SAN JOSE (CBS 5) — San Jose has topped a list of U.S. cities where residents enjoy the longest life spans.

A study by The Daily Beast and the Centers for Disease Control looked at decades worth lifespan data to find out in which cities people lived the longest.

In San Jose, the average life expectancy was 79.2 years for men, 82.9 years for women.

Following San Jose on the list, San Francisco came in 6th. Men there live an average of 75.9 years, while women live 82.52 years. Oakland also made the list, coming in 15th. There, men live 76.4 years on average, women 81.2 years.

Even tourists like Mack Gillen of Ireland could be found basking in San Jose's youthful glow. "I'm not surprised people live longer because it's laid back, it's relaxed," he said.

It seems as if the farther west you go, the better the longevity. Only two cities in the northeast made the cut.

The west coast had the majority of the spots on the list of 20 cities, with California having the most out of all the states.

The study did not specify why people in the top cities listed were living longer.

The full list can be found at this link.

[Animo]

Turns out the Tooth Fairy plays favorites.

She (or is it he?) leaves more cash for West Coast kids than their toothless Central, Southern or East Coast peers, according to a new survey by Visa.

For each bicuspid, molar or incisor stuffed under a California (or other West Coast) pillow at night, the Tooth Fairy leaves an average of $2.80, up a dime from last year despite the tough economy.

All told, that's a whopping $56 for a mouthful of 20 Bay Area baby teeth.

Those on the East Coast, by comparison, get ripped off, earning just $2.10 per tooth, down from $3.40 in 2010. That's just $42 for a New Yorker's mouthful.

Southern state kids also saw a dramatic drop in Tooth Fairy love, getting $2.60 per tooth, down from $3.30.

The Midwest was apparently on par with the West, getting $2.80 per tooth as well, but that was down 10 cents from the year before.

In short, the Tooth Fairy likes us better -- at least this year.

The survey, which included responses from 1,006 adults nationwide, also found that 10 percent of kids got nothing their teeth while 18 percent got a whopping $5 each.

Visa conducted the survey to help promote its San Francisco-based financial literacy programs.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...#ixzz1TJds0xQa