The key to making a community more livable for seniors may rest with the young.
When Marion native and NBA player Zach Randolph was in town for the Fourth of July, Marion mayor Wayne Seybold asked him to consider coming back to his hometown after his retirement.
Director of Indiana University’s Center on Aging and Community Phillip Stafford said a growing trend in small towns and in the West is for development to offer “livability factors” appealing to both young and old.
“Towns are giving less effort into bringing more factories, but more into creating a renaissance of facilities,” he said. “That includes rich and meaningful social connections, ‘walk-able’ communities and local establishments and coffee shops.”
Stafford said gated retirement communities and assisted living facilities can keep the elderly segregated from the social, commercial and cultural centers of towns and cities.
“When you build things on the margins, you have to supply things … that would be provided if they were at the heart of the community,” he said. “They’re (also) not typically available to people who have a lower income.”
Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold said much of keeping or attracting younger generations came down to “common sense.”
“It’s not a major focus, but we think about that all the time,” he said, pointing out the Splash House, Community School for the Arts and the Marion Sports Authority add quality of life improvements to the city.
“Beyond that we’re trying to attract the best companies and offer more workforce opportunities,” Seybold said. “We decided not to spend money on comprehensive plans and just get to work.”
Stafford said the key to drawing people back may lay with a strong local economy.
“Some young people want to leave town for their own sake. That’s all well and good but there comes a point where they might want to come back,” he said. “It’s wonderful to have economic opportunities to draw them back.”
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