ATTRACT SENIORS BY FOCUSING ON LIVABILITY

According to an April 19th USAToday column, "Even in the best of times, when local governments talk economic development, advocates for quality-of-life amenities such as hiking trails and the local library rarely get a seat at the table. The hard-core business types like to remind tree-huggers and the arts crowd that jobs trump 'frills' every time. But what if there were a powerful economic development argument for investing in frills first? What if there were an industry with dependable access to billions of dollars, which -- instead of demanding a break on taxes or relaxed environmental regulations -- most wanted communities to be good places to live?

"Well, that's pretty much the deal with the oldster industry. In areas with the potential to attract affluent seniors, conventional wisdom about economic development is turned on its head. Many of these places, especially rural communities and college towns without the urban infrastructure favored by traditional industries, have a chance to compete for migrating retirees the way others compete for relocating companies. With retirees, however, you don't sacrifice clean air and parks for the sake of jobs. In order to get the jobs and other financial benefits seniors bring, you save the environment, nurture the arts and enhance the walk-around appeal of your downtown..."

Source:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=679&ncid=742&e=14&u=/usatoday/20040419/cm_usatoday/retireesprovideattractivetargetforcommunities
Title: "Retirees provide attractive target for communities"
Author: Ben Brown