Children, or the Lack Thereof, as an Urban Problem
Having grown up in S.F. during an era of Catholic school closings and consolidation, it doesn’t surprise me that the city is the paragon of growing trend of great American cities bleeding children:
the lowest percentage of people under 18 of any large city in the
nation, 14.5 percent, compared with 25.7 percent nationwide, the 2000
census reported.
….
Mr. Longman said a decline in children not only takes away “human
capital” needed to sustain an aging population, but “having fewer
children really diminishes the quality of life in a city.”
Most
city leaders seem to agree. Even in San Francisco, where officials are
preparing for another round of school closings amid a projected decline
of 4,000 students in the next five years, city officials are
aggressively marketing the city and its schools to young families.
Despite the fact that I abandoned stroller country (Laurel Heights /
the Richmond) and don’t like kids (yet?), I must admit that living
among affluent retirees and DINKs does make the environment a bit more
desolate — self-centeredness in the aggregate is akin to something
weird in the water. This article seems to affirm an earlier discussion that it takes a God-awful amount of money to have a family in this place.