Graying New Jerseyans Rarely Live in “Aging-Friendly” Communities
More than a quarter of New Jerseyans are in their AARP years, but comparatively few live in communities that are amenable to older people, a report by New Jersey Future found.
Creating Places to Age in New Jersey, released earlier this month by the organization that promotes smart growth, indicated that many of the places with large concentrations of people age 55 and older are not “aging-friendly” and those that are better designed for older people have smaller numbers of retirees and near-retirees. Places considered better for older adults contain a lot of services in a small area, have a mixed-use downtown, walkable street networks, and access to buses and other mass transit. (O’Dea/NJSpotlight)
Very true. Once driving becomes an issue it is easy to become isolated. My mother made the decision to move to a senior community after 55 years in one home. It was great because she had the privacy of a beautiful apartment with the advantage of socialization. Even if it was just going to the community’s library or morning brunch. Never had to worry about bad weather!
Ridgewood is nice because of the sidewalks and downtown but once you reach a certain age even that cannot keep a person connected (and the crazy taxes). I hope that I recognize when moving would be advantageous.
The more empty nesters that move out, the more families with children will move in to crowd up the schools.
That is another part of it. I may downsize and stay in Ridgewood, i am sure that a new family would want my 5 bedroom home. Once I sell, I can move anywhere. I would like to stay the taxes are high for a couple who do not use the schools. I lived here before I had children so I more than paid my dues to the schools.
I am not bitter, it is a big world out there and I can move anywhere I want.