From Our Mayor: Adult Playgrounds

By George “Bud” Scholl, Mayor

(Tuesday, January 3, 2017) – I recently read an article about adult friendly playgrounds that are starting to pop up in the US which are already popular in China, Japan and parts of Europe and Latin America. These are especially suited for the south, where warmer temperatures beckon people outdoors most of the year. The playgrounds feature low-impact, joint-friendly equipment. I have asked our City staff to research and consider some additional equipment for this purpose to be installed in some of our park locations.

This discussion led me on a search for some facts about our senior residents. As one might suspect, we have an impressive number of senior residents living within our City. Outside of the US census, the best information that we have is our own resident identification card program. Per the US census, 21.4% of our residents are over 65, yet overall 39% of our resident ID cardholders are over 60. This breaks down to 1,266 between 60 and 69 years of age, 992 between the ages of 70 and 79, 371 between the ages of 80 and 89, and 72 residents over the age of 90.

In the past three decades, per the US census, the number of centenarians (people living to or beyond 100 years of age) in the US has increased by 65%. We know of at least one centenarian within our City  through our resident ID program. One can only surmise that our climate, proximity to the ocean and myriad of senior oriented programs is what keeps our City teeming with senior residents with such great health and longevity.

I want to give a special hello to two of our senior residents. Sylvia Shabsels is 99 and will turn 100 in March, and Leticia Daste Cueva just turned 97. It would be great to hear from more of our residents who are already or approaching 100 so we can recognize them for their achievement (write to me at bud@sibfl.net). In the meantime, we will keep working toward more senior friendly initiatives within our City and look forward to the next wave of centenarians!