In creating my previous post of current Downtown - centric blogs and websites, I mentioned Ginny Here and There's post entitled Where Are All the Bloggiests? She revealed most of bloggers have left Downtown. Via Twitter (from @PantlessAlley to @ginnycase) I asked what she believed were the reasons for the exodus. She promptly and kindly responding with a post Where'd they go?
There are the obvious reasons @ginnycase listed, such as moving for a job, ending a relationship, moving back home, etc. And I can sympathize with the desire for a yard with a picket fence and the so-called American dream. What I wonder is whether the exodus and movement is standard for Los Angeles as a whole. Is Los Angeles and its 88 cities transient in nature since people move into the area from elsewhere? How does Downtown compare to other Los Angeles areas in its retention of its residents?
To give you a better idea of the Downtown population we are discussing, here is a fun and informative graphic about who is living in Downtown from the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID).
There appears to be a thriving community of young singles and couples in their late twenties and early thirties, who have money to spend on local businesses. What happens when these affluent individuals want to start a family and raise children? I could be wrong, but from my observations it seems very few of these individuals stay in Downtown to raise a family.
For this city and community to thrive, Downtown Los Angeles has to provide resources for these affluent thirty-somethings to keep them (and their money) in Downtown to invest in property and to raise a family.
I only briefly looked into the resources and community support for families living in Downtown. From what I know, I would consider individuals like @Ginnycase and the author of DnA, who are raising their families in Downtown, to be trailblazers. There are also several other trendsetting mothers featured in the Mom Zone feature of the Downtown Daily News (@downtownnews).
As someone who would likely be starting a family within the next several years, I would love to raise my child/children in Downtown Los Angeles. But as I have seen echoed by the awesome Moms of Downtown, I am concerned by the lack of parks, playgrounds, childcare and schooling options. I would like to know what the planning and development committees of Downtown Los Angeles are doing to address these concerns so that Downtown can be transformed into a long-term destination rather than a place that people pass through.
There are the obvious reasons @ginnycase listed, such as moving for a job, ending a relationship, moving back home, etc. And I can sympathize with the desire for a yard with a picket fence and the so-called American dream. What I wonder is whether the exodus and movement is standard for Los Angeles as a whole. Is Los Angeles and its 88 cities transient in nature since people move into the area from elsewhere? How does Downtown compare to other Los Angeles areas in its retention of its residents?
To give you a better idea of the Downtown population we are discussing, here is a fun and informative graphic about who is living in Downtown from the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID).
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| Via the now defunct DTLABuzz |
For this city and community to thrive, Downtown Los Angeles has to provide resources for these affluent thirty-somethings to keep them (and their money) in Downtown to invest in property and to raise a family.
I only briefly looked into the resources and community support for families living in Downtown. From what I know, I would consider individuals like @Ginnycase and the author of DnA, who are raising their families in Downtown, to be trailblazers. There are also several other trendsetting mothers featured in the Mom Zone feature of the Downtown Daily News (@downtownnews).
As someone who would likely be starting a family within the next several years, I would love to raise my child/children in Downtown Los Angeles. But as I have seen echoed by the awesome Moms of Downtown, I am concerned by the lack of parks, playgrounds, childcare and schooling options. I would like to know what the planning and development committees of Downtown Los Angeles are doing to address these concerns so that Downtown can be transformed into a long-term destination rather than a place that people pass through.
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