10-28-1992 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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NCOAphoto transportation is certain to receive more attention than elsewhere. Daniel T. Murphy, Director of the County Department of Human Services, explains that Oakland's suburbs are next door to Detroit, once automobile capital of the world. "Everyone here is attuned to the auto," he says. This makes the job of finding alternatives all the more challenging. In Milwaukee County, Wiscon- sin, more than 15 or even 20 per- cent of the population in several municipalities is already 65 +, and big increases are anticipated. Chris Dunning, Associate Pro- fessor in the Department of Gov- ernmental Affairs at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, is a member of a local Task Force con- sulting with USCM/NACo on issues raised in the survey. Dun- ning believes that insufficient attention is being paid to the over- all impact of an aging suburbia on basic municipal services. Traffic lights, for example, have to be re- programmed to give older persons more time to cross wide streets. And, says Dunning, it's all right to talk about a "single -entry" agency, but she's noticed that family members tend to call the police or fire department when they need home care or other services for an older family member. The Fire De- partment may indeed help once or twice, before trying to persuade the family that help should be more appropriately sought else- where. How much self -help? There's a school of thought that suburbanites of the future, at least those with high incomes, may attempt to meet their own needs. George Maddox of Duke University, for example, foresees the possibility that well-to -do sub- urban dwellers will, for example. pool resources to meet transporta- tion needs. Jack Hansan of The Futures Group and publisher of Aging Network News, thinks that mutual action can indeed help on transportation and even in the de- velopment of long -term care ser- vices. But on housing, he's not so sure. Zoning variances are only part of the challenge, in Hansan's view. He wants more imagination and aggressiveness in making new use of existing housing stock to house greater numbers more satisfactorily. Patrick Hare, a Washington, D.C., planning and housing con- sultant and leading advocate of the "accessory apartment" approach, agrees. He also foresees big breakthroughs within the next few years as more people, includ- ing municipal leaders, get the message on changing housing needs of aging suburbia. To AAA Director Sue Ward In Prince George's County, Maryland, such speculation is interesting. But meanwhile, she faces im- mediate challenges. Her county now houses 69,000 60+ persons and expects 110,000 by the turn Sandra Markwood: "You've got to have a_focal point." Page 47 Small supplies of the 66::, eGraying of Suburbia I1cv1 ipIteations for Local` Otl3clils"'are available at two Boris the National.' ' Associatnon" of Counties oven- r .... ; :- I•Irst'StreefiNW Washington 0001 :and the U:S'r I� c .nfexrenca of Mayors ;1620 r Street' Washington DCR 20006 The cost Is SO, plus l S2 four shPPg y.:tx to of the century; 488 - square -mile Prince George's borders Washing- ton, D.C., and reaches out through suburbs to sparsely pop- ulated farmland. Ward's most im- mediate priority is transportation because most of the available pub- lic transit is for the capital city's commuters. She is having some success in expanding and coordinating special- purpose vehi- cle service. But she sees a clearcut need for more now and for much, much more in years to come. As for long -term care needs, "It's scary," she says. One of her con- cerns: the great number of older persons whose incomes are just above Medicaid eligibility levels, but inadequate to meet costs that go only in one direction, up. 0 Jonathan D. Linkous: We have that network out there. MARCH/APRIL 1989 13