ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610070043
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
THEY'RE affluent, they're healthy, they don't demand much in the way of government services, and they stay off the roads during rush hour.
But they harbinger the arrival of "elder peril," an advancing demographic wave of the young old, coveted for their disposable income, but feared by some communities for the impact their numbers may have on local government - especially school bond issues.
Localities need to be planning now how they can smoothly integrate into the life of their communities a larger proportion of retirees whose wishes do not always run parallel with those of younger families.
The first wave of aging baby boomers is expected to hit around 2010, washing over the nation much as migrating retirees already have flooded Florida. Some states, and many localities, are actively trying to attract large numbers of the young old to retirement communities.
Blacksburg is among them. Governing magazine cites the town's work on new zoning codes - which will facilitate retirement housing development - plus plans for a new senior center and special events and recreation programs as pieces of an economic development strategy to attract retirees.
Virginia Tech provides the ribbon around the package: University towns, with classes and cultural and sports events that many seniors seek out, have a built-in advantage in these courtships.
The payoff is in the mail, in the form of pension and dividend and Social Security checks, most of which get pumped into the local economy. The magazine reports that 90 percent of retirees' income is spent in the region where they settle.
The price is conflicting priorities. So-called "elder peril" lies in drawing large numbers of retirees who do not perceive their own interests in school bond issues, for example, and vote as a bloc to defeat them. Or are far more interested in their quality of life than in job opportunities, and therefore oppose new industry or other economic development efforts.
The issues are especially relevant to the Roanoke Valley, whose population is considerably older than the national average.
There is no statistical evidence that "elder peril" is a widespread threat, Governing magazine concedes. But the experience of the Peoria Unified School District in Arizona illustrates what can happen if different age groups don't establish common interests and work together.
A Sun City retirement complex there contributed to the defeat of 18 school bonds in a row in the 1970s, leaving the schools so crowded that classes were being held in church basements and even a janitor's closet. Peoria finally let Sun City secede from the school district, taking with it 75 percent of the district's assessed valuation.
Other localities are creating ties, rather than severing them, between older residents and their public schools. Senior citizens are invited to audit classes, tour science labs and computer rooms, go over school budgets line by line, tutor students, become mentors - become part of the school system.
In every society, the young have need of the old - and, eventually, the old need the young, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB