For my neighborhood age-friendliness assessment, I reviewed my hometown in the North East portion of the San Francisco Bay: Benicia, California. It's been interesting to reflect on my experience as a child growing up in this tiny town and to consider what makes Benicia a desirable place for older adults. While the quietness made the town seem boring when I was a child, that's one of the major assets for retirees seeking peace. Every summer, I attended camp in downtown Benicia, running from the park to the pool to the tennis courts. In the same part of town, older adults moseyed from the library to the bocce courts to the many quaint restaurants. Although our paths crossed many times, it certainly felt like my childhood was removed entirely from the older-adult sphere. I rarely considered the pros and cons of life in downtown Benicia for elders. Surely, people with limited physical mobility or access to private transportation struggled to navigate their way between the many shops of downtown's lengthy First Street. Fortunately, in more recent years, the city has invested in ramps, benches, and wide public walkways along the bay to enhance accessibility for pedestrians of all ages.
Although the Mixed Use Master Plan doesn't specifically target older adults, the plan does emphasize many of the same criteria from the World Health Organization's Age Friendly Cities guide, including: increasing access to high quality public spaces, improving public transportation options, and encouraging restoration of historical and cultural sites. This project showed me how many organizations DO exist to support older adults in Benicia, and made me regret not collaborating with those groups during community service events in high school. For example, I hosted weekly "blanket-making" events for Foster A Dream, and our club could've easily partnered with the Senior Center to mingle with crafty elders and produce double the blankets. The opportunities for intergeneration connections in Benicia are immense, and I hope future leaders recognize those possibilities and benefit from them.
Although the Mixed Use Master Plan doesn't specifically target older adults, the plan does emphasize many of the same criteria from the World Health Organization's Age Friendly Cities guide, including: increasing access to high quality public spaces, improving public transportation options, and encouraging restoration of historical and cultural sites. This project showed me how many organizations DO exist to support older adults in Benicia, and made me regret not collaborating with those groups during community service events in high school. For example, I hosted weekly "blanket-making" events for Foster A Dream, and our club could've easily partnered with the Senior Center to mingle with crafty elders and produce double the blankets. The opportunities for intergeneration connections in Benicia are immense, and I hope future leaders recognize those possibilities and benefit from them.