Merced is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, and as of 2002 the city had 68,048 people as their population and has increased to 82,594 residents as of 2018(1). This shows how many people the University of California has brought in since its opening. Since 2005, Merced has been home to University of California and this was the year of its first graduating class (2). There are not many recreational areas in Merced itself. Current recreational areas in the city include Applegate Park (which has the largest homeless infestation in town) and Bear Creek. Bear creek and Applegate both have many factors that make them central focus with the town community. The parks themselves are not very large and not kept well. The lack of upkeep adds to Merced’s …show more content…
large population of overweight people, and obesity. There are many other factors that lead to this, although the lack of recreational areas is one of the main reasons of obesity Bear Creek seems to have its very own with some bike trails, and then Applegate has a skate park located at the parks heart. These park’s physical appeal do not attract many which leads to the high obesity rates.
Other than the lack of physical appeal there even is a small person to park ratio which assists in Merced’s high overweight rates (3). Merced also has the highest rates of tobacco and substance use. This has the city being placed as one of the worst cities in terms of health. Some health issues that Merced has to deal with are obesity, diabetes, cardiac issues, lung issues, high rates of asthma, and more. On the upper hand, there are small attractions that make Merced somewhat entertaining. There is a live-stage theater downtown called Playhouse Merced, two first-run movie theaters belonging to regal. Not to mention The Mainzer Theater, known for its historic and architectural value here in Merced. Lastly, but not least being the County Courthouse Museum circa 1889 and the County Library. Though still growing and noticeably quickly because of the University, Merced has had the same shopping mall center for years since 1969(4). The mall itself is in need of renovation because many of the stores are closed and it is advertised that the mall has everything one needs, but there are some sparse …show more content…
items. Although there are not many stores for in our small mall, in comparison, to other malls in near areas such as Turlock, and Modesto, and Atwater, their malls and plazas are much more appealing and noteworthy.
The Merced mall leans towards more the negative side of the city and is quite noticeable since the sign of the mall seems to have never been changed since its establishment in 1969. This is interesting enough in itself because looking back at this previous election for mayor Mike Murphy (5) who promised to improve the Merced mall by remodeling and bringing in better stores, but we are still living with shopping areas that are all brought together by the main stores Target, Sears, JCPenney and Kohl's. It is more of strip mall rather than a real on like the Vintage Faire mall located in Modesto a larger neighboring city. The Merced Mall is located on the city's northwest side of the city near the 99 which includes Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and several restaurants that are not located in the same facility, but within a relative walking distance that noted in my mental maps. Speaking of storefronts and restaurants it seems Merced Main Street contains several restaurants, a movie theater, and other assorted shops such as Cold Stone creamery and even Billiards another communal space in
Merced. Downtown Merced has many shopping and dining areas that are more attractive in comparison to the rest of the city. There are more attractions and is kept much cleaner and livelier than the Merced Mall. Also, within a short distance from the city limits are the Castle Air Museum, Lake Yosemite, and Merced Falls. The Castle Air Museum is actually located in Atwater, the neighboring city, but is considered an attraction among Merced residents as there is not much in the city itself.
Beautiful scenery, delicious foods, and desirable accessories at your fingertips along with other enticements and wishes the mall offers as described by Carolyn Merchant as the modern Garden of Eden in her writing of “Eden Commodified.” Merchant is an award winning writer and professor at the University of California covering the subjects of environmental history and philosophy, making her an expert in the subject of human nature and our connection to the environment. She characterizes the combination of gardens, goods, and ornate architecture as heaven on earth a peaceful, clean, and orderly destination for rich and poor, old and young; however, is this really all she is saying?
This housing affordability crisis is stripping away it’s diversity at increasing rates and I feel that not enough is being done to restore it. Liz Pfeffer article “Is the Bay Area in a Housing Bubble or a Crisis?” describes the situation as, “San Francisco’s chronic problem is a lack of housing for middle and lower-income people. It’s not that they can’t afford it, it’s that it doesn’t exist”. Officials should collaborate on creating solutions to the root causes and offer alternatives that would release some of the pressure. I would suggest promoting micro-homes or smaller scaled homes, limiting foreign investors’s purchases of single-family homes, or expanding campuses of employers to areas that are not heavily populated. It is not too late to restore the balance but it will take collaboration and team work. I am urging these officials and activists to try and save the beloved culture of this area and help retain it as a place where social justice is recognized and
Kern County is located in the central valley of California. Bakersfield is the largest city in this county. According to the U.S. census in 2010, Kern County’s population contains 839,631 residents. The health of the county has been an alarming concern because Kern County is the least healthy county in California with more than 60% of its population considered obese. Kern County’s obesity rate, and the number of physically inactive residents are higher than both the state and national averages. Kern County has many health issues in their community, but they are slowly combatting their problems by establishing farmers’ markets, creating more walkways instead of having to drive everywhere, and also bringing community leaders and local organizations together to come up with the county Call-to-Action plan.
Catalina is a unique place since it has developed infrastructure and have resources to exploit that enable people to live in it. This unique characteristic attracts many people every year to enjoy different ranges of activities. Tourism is the only industry that Catalina has to the economy to fluctuate (“Visit Catalina Island.” 2014). Since the only income for Catalina Island has historically been tourism, the market has been exploited to be able to sustain the towns and enable further development. Both of the towns depend on tourism to survive, however this does not mean that they are similar. According to 2010 Census of Bureau the approximate population of Catalina was 4,096. Avalon had a population of 3,569 and the rest of the population is, Two Harbors and the Catalina Island Conservancy (337.37 km2), 527 (U.S. Census, 2011; “Visit Catalina Island,” 2014). As it can be observe, the amount of resident from each town is significantly different, and the major concentration is in Avalon. This points out that Avalon is a larger city not only demographically but also in population that may drive more people to visit.
From reading the author’s book “Ecology of Fear,” Mike Davis’ main thesis for writing this book was to make readers become aware of the underlying problems and threats which have existed or currently exist in Southern California and how these problems shape the way we live today and in the imminent future as well. Although Davis did not really provide us with any remedies for the problems facing Southern California, this book made it very clear to the readers that problems do still exist, although at times they may sound subtle in nature. Of the numerous problems which do exist in Southern California, I will discuss only a handful of the problems that Davis provided us insight to. In the following paragraphs, the main problems of Southern California that I will discuss about are suburbanization and how it made Southern California lose its natural beauty and the effects of overdevelopment, the wild fires which occur and similarities and differences the rich and poor communities faced in terms of adversity, how suburbanization brought people closer to the wildlife, and how numerous books and movies portrayed Los Angeles as the center for calamities. The culmination of all these problems clearly shows that there are many glaring weaknesses of Southern California that need to be closely examined.
California’s economy drops more and more every year, which causes there to be a rise in the homeless population. Homeless are impossible to avoid, especially in California, they have become people we see every day on the streets. Many factors increase the homeless population in California every year. Some of these factors include unemployment, mental illness/drug abuse, and prisoner release. With the homeless population rising there could be a huge health alert rising as well. As a community, we can decrease the population of homelessness.
General indicators from the survey reflect a preference to the Springdale Mall for shoppers, even when evaluating the smallest demographic group in the sample population. The West Mall continues to rate on the lowest end of the survey with shoppers, below the Downtown Area. Using a 95% confidence interval helps ensure the maximum likely error a random shopper will differ in opinion from the point estimate results of the Springdale Shopping Survey.
Four years ago the good citizens of this city voted to allow city funds to be allocated toward a new civic center located in the heart of Irvine. Four years ago the good citizens of this great city had no idea that a terrible pandemic would threaten their very lives and the lives of their loved ones. When signs of the flu season came around in late October this year, no one would have imaged that a disease, often with symptoms like a common cold, would have by the end of the year killed almost half of those killed in the Great War itself. Places all across the nation have had to deal with the sick and dying and Irvine is no exception.
The city of Tempe is one that has continued to exhibit a vibrant and thriving community atmosphere that allows people to live with peace and in safety. It is a very populated area with many of the citizens being students, due to the very large and highly populated Tempe campus of Arizona State University. Because of this, the city of Tempe allows many people to use public transportation as a means to navigate throughout the area, allowing students whom live off campus to travel to and from school with ease. Its community atmosphere, many landmarks and districts, and transit systems allow people to travel throughout the city with ease and get nearly everything they need at many available locations. “The city of Tempe’s General Plan is organized and broken down into various elements of conservation, design, development, economics, history, land use, open space, public facilities, and transportation” (City of Tempe General Plan). All of the various elements of the city’s plan were organized and individually analyzed in...
Goss argues that developers and designers of the built environment, specifically shopping centers and malls, use the power of place and understanding the structural layout of the space to boost consumption of the retail profits. Shopping centers are separated from the downtown area of shopping, either by distance and/or design. These establishments emerge for many to be the new heart and location for public and social life. In his article The "Magic of the Mall": An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment, Goss also argues that the regulation of the spaces within the mall creates an atmosphere of "community" rather than one that is "public". This article’s main argument is that developers manufacture an illusion of doing more than just shopping when designing malls and shopping centers.
Glenn, Stacia. "Youths Push for New Park." Student Research Center. N.p., 22 Aug. 2006. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
On September 9th, 2017 at approximately 7 p.m., I went to Gracedale Public Park to carefully conduct my observation on the individuals, who were at the park and their specific activities in the one hour of time. When I got there, the weather was beautiful with soft winds, a clear sky and with some dim sunlight. The park was full of people of all ages. Though, there were more kids than adults and some teenagers. There were many bicycles and strollers parked beside the tree I sat under. After a couple of minutes, the park filled up with more and more individuals and everyone seemed busy doing their own actions.
This gigantic project is important because there are concerns that the new USC Village will displace local community members, many of which are Hispanic, low-income families, and raise the price of housing in the area, making it unaffordable for local residents (Saillant 2012). This would contribute to the idea that USC is slowly gentrifying the surrounding neighborhood, which would force less wealthy local residents out of their homes into less desirable neighborhoods, while bringing in relatively wealthy college students.
Growing up in a massive neighborhood magnificent. My neighborhood flooded with kids around my age to hang out with. Occupying the edge of this neighborhood was a large park where the neighborhood’s kids and I would spend most of our time eliminating their boredom. When this park would not satisfy our needs, there were
Variety is another advantage of the mall. There are specialty stores, such as candle stores, bath and beauty stores and music and video stores. These are the anchors of the mall, and the mall provides "odd stores" for those eccentric shoppers who are looking for different items.