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March 26, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Valencia is dying, SCV is still white bread, and more from the 2010 Census

Bless the New York Times for taking one of the most complex statistical sets known to man and overlaying it on an easy-to-use map of the US, including our beloved Santa Clarita Valley. Checkitout:

Population Growth 2000-2010

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Okay, so maybe “Valencia is Dying” is a tad dramatic, but, as you can see in the map above (which highlights population growth from 2000-2010, darker areas have grown more) classic Valencia (or Valencia Valley as it’s called) lost 4.0% of its population from 2000. Saugus, plus areas to the west of Seco, also lost between 1-5% in the same time period.

Is there any wonder traditionally big schools like Hart High are shrinking? When I went to Hart in the mid 90s, there were over 2,400 students there. Now there’s less than 2000.  Valencia -once the gem that attracted families to this valley- is old, tired, and shriveled like many of its residents (too mean?), the empty nest for the entire SCV.

The new hotness is in other parts of town. Like the west side of the 5 and North of Newhall Ranch. The percentage growth in these census tracts sounds huge until you realize that in 2000, much of this land was undeveloped. For instance, Laurie Ender’s hood, the North Valencia communities, posted gains of 300%+ in those ten years; that’s of course because much of that area was developed during that decade.

My neighborhood -Newhall south of Lyons- showed only about 6% growth in those ten years, making it one of the more stable parts of the SCV, at least as far as population growth is concerned. That’s because we’re all built out and we’re grumpy and protective of what we got. Get off our damn lawn and go SoLy!

Moving on, some more interesting highlights:

Population Density

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I’m not just an advocate of the High Density Lifestyle™ club, I’m also a member, living as I do in my High Density Condo Complex in the 91321. But I recognize the HD Lifestyle™ is not for everyone. So for those of you who fear being too close to other people, study this map and learn about the parts of town that have become OMG SO DENSE!!!11! in the last ten years. Areas to avoid? Obviously parts of Canyon Country near Jake’s Way, which clock in with a population density of nearly 20,000 people per square mile (it’s not quite a square mile, so don’t panic), classic Newhall (little TJ as we called it growing up) with 11,404 souls per square mile, and, if you’re really phobic, classic Valencia, which believe it or not has a population density north of 6,000 people per square mile.

So you have a sense of scale, the benchmark for population density in the USA is Manhattan, where humans are packed like sardines with densities of 50,000-100,000 per square mile.

And here’s some food for thought for wealthy SCVers who might be debating a home purchase in un-dense nouveau riche West Ridge vs Sand Canyon. In Sand Canyon, census figures show the population density of horses and other barnyard animals easily outpaces that of humans (only 478 bi-peds per square mile!), so if you’re rich and anti-density, Sand Canyon remains the place to be.

North Korea and West South Korea

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Now the big story of the last 11 years has to be the Asian Migration to the Santa Clarita valley by primarily Korean families. As expected, the Census figures bear this out. Stevenson Ranch and other west-side neighborhoods saw huge numbers of Asians moving in; the census tract highlighted above showed a 180% increase in the number of Asians from 2000 to 2010. It’s to the point where Asians represent about a quarter of all west side residents in all the Stevenson Ranch/West Ridge census tracts listed.

On the north side of town, Asians represent more than 1/4 of the population, but since the area is so new, comparisons with 2000 don’t exist. This echoes a trend across the state of California, where the Asian population increased by 31% from 2000-2010.

Even on the floor of the valley in otherwise whitebread Valencia and Newhall, Asians are now between 5 and 10% of the population (a 20-50% increase over 2000), meaning they, like Latinos, have zero representation on our City Council.

White Bread

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So there’s really no other way to put this than to say that the SCV was very white in 2000 and remains very white in 2010. All census tracts in Santa Clarita showed a population of less than 10% of African Americans in 2010, save for the one highlighted above, which includes (I think) Pitchess Detention Center where blacks make up nearly 30% of the tract.

Everywhere else, blacks make up only 2 or 3 or 12% (one tract in Canyon Country) of Santa Clarita’s population. Overall, the black population of California decreased by 1% in California during this time period.

Race Overall

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Green = White, Blue = Black, Yellow = Hispanic, Red = Asian

The Times data includes a handy plotter map of race distribution overall in the SCV. It’s not news that Latinos make up about 1/3rd of the City of Santa Clarita’s population, but as you can see here, they are largely located in two specific areas in Newhall and Canyon Country. However, the Hispanic population increased throughout the SCV in the last ten years (quite large in some areas) and, I suspect, is much more widely distributed now than it was in 2000.

Notice the little pocket of dots east of I-5 and north of Newhall Ranch Road? I suspect that’s the Pitchess Detention Center

There’s other maps on the Times’ site including vacant vs occupied housing so be sure to check it out!

Valencia is dying, SCV is still white bread, and more from the 2010 Census

Comments (33)

  1. momtwiceMarch 26, 2011 at 6:53 am
    Cool, thank you for finding and posting this. Much of the info is not at all surprising. As much as I hear people talk about the huge rise in minorities in the SCV, my eyes have told me otherwise.
  2. Lori RivasMarch 26, 2011 at 7:03 am
    One of my early criticisms of CPLAC was its lack of racial, educational and economic reflection of our community. Of the 37 members, I think that 2 are Latino, and 1 is Asian. No African-Americans. How can a non-representative committee select library services for the whole valley? Of course, the City/LSSI has their survey (anonymous) and their focus groups (secret selection, private meetings), but the votng power of CPLAC rests squarely with the upper to middle class white committee. http://savesantaclaritalibraries.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/lori-rivas-comments-on-the-citizens-public-library-advisory-committee/
  3. Leon WordenMarch 26, 2011 at 7:22 pm
    Hi Lori — While I have long wanted to see greater Latino participation in mainstream civic affairs in Santa Clarita because I believe it makes for a healthier community, I shudder to think there could be people who automatically assume something is doomed to failure just because it lacks a racial test or quota system. After all, didn’t California voters reject affirmative action and quota systems in government (which this is)? A quota such as you seem to deem necessary could very well be illegal. Now then, if you had said “language groups” rather than race, I might be more inclined to agree with you. I hope our libraries will be offering materials and services in languages other than English, if there is sufficient justification (i.e., demand) to do so.
  4. Lori RivasMarch 27, 2011 at 11:19 am
    I don’t necessarily believe that something is doomed to failure because it does not meet a perceived racial quota. However, from what I have seen, read, and heard about the selection of members on the CPLAC, minority groups (whether by ethnicity or economic status or other standard) were not actively pursued and invited to become members. Exactly your point about language groups is one of many holes that I fear for our libraries. Another hole that I fear is how people use the libraries: a predominantly white, middle to upper class committee will prioritize library services much differently than a racially or language or economically mixed committee would. A case in point would be that our CPLAC committee rated job search-related materials near the bottom of a list of priorities, while a comfortable, pretty library space rated near the very top. I think that this disparity in community representation on CPLAC could be balanced if current, local librarians were allowed to speak and lobby for current usage patterns. In other words, the current librarians could speak to the need and frequently used, say, job search materials, or the lack of Spanish books, or any other such highly used service, or obviously neglected need. To appoint a largely homogeneous committee, and then to purposefully block out the input of our current professionals, will result in over-looked communities of residents. I do hope for the best, but, I am sorry to say, this system looks like a recipe for failure.
  5. Leon WordenMarch 27, 2011 at 12:17 pm
    Thanks for the clarification, Lori. When you inject “race” into it, it gets politically charged & thrown off track. Your other points are well taken.
  6. Lori RivasMarch 27, 2011 at 4:05 pm
    I should clarify that my comments are not a criticism of the members of CPLAC, who are absolutely representing their individual communities. The example I gave above, that of a comfortable library space ranking much higher than the availability of job search materials, has more to do with how the rankngs were presented, and limited, rather than the CPLAC members over-looking community needs, intentionally or otherwise.
  7. LindaMarch 26, 2011 at 8:32 am
    On the “Asian invasion” I offer up a funny kid story. A Korean family moved in across the street from us a number of years ago. They had two young daughters with whom my daughter became very friendly. She particularly loved the food, which was different (and no doubt better!) than what she got at home. One weekend, after spending the night, she came home and announced, “Mom, I think I’m turning Korean.”
  8. Gang FangMarch 26, 2011 at 8:33 am
    This just in, sunscreen sales in the SCV continue to rise……
  9. spineflower2March 26, 2011 at 8:34 am
    It can be very misleading to plot population density for an area that includes large expanses of undeveloped land. To the human eye, it is the density of the area that IS developed that sets the tone, not the unrelated areas behind it that are not yet developed. The blocks look to be far too large on the map to reflect this. For example, a high rise on a 100 acre lot will plot out as less dense than that same area in condos. But the solid paved area of condos woud appear more dense.
  10. Leon WordenMarch 26, 2011 at 10:12 am
    My kid is half Anglo and half Asian. Does he get two dots?
  11. LarMccMarch 26, 2011 at 4:14 pm
    Mine is Anglo, Mexican and Asian. Seriously. He must get 3.
  12. Leon WordenMarch 26, 2011 at 11:26 am
    Jeff – don’t quite understand the posting system, so I apologize for posting this in the wrong place — but you say education & literacy “can’t be addressed by the private sector”? Transportation? Now I think we’re getting to the root of your politics. Never mind libraries; I assume you oppose the use of private military contractors in Iraq & Afghanistan, too? If we can outsource our military, we can outsource pretty much anything. I’m only be party facetious. Back to the point, you oppose church schools??
  13. JeffMarch 26, 2011 at 12:20 pm
    Leon show me a private school that teaches children for free with no subsidies and takes any children? I don’t oppose church schools. How did you get that out of my statement? I went to a “church school” myself; my parents paid money and that option was available. As for the other things- look, outsourcing is a different topic altogether. I’m talking about what happens when the free market fails, and why it fails. Ever ask yourself why it came down to Mulholland and the City of LA having to build the LA Aqueduct? The private sector failed to, that’s why. The same is true of the California Water Project; government backed and funded. No one was stopping individual businessmen from building a water conveyance system from the bay area to here, but they didn’t do it because it wasn’t profitable. The market failed in that instance and the government had to step in and fund it, build it, and operate it. The same goes for the interstate highway system.
  14. spineflower2March 26, 2011 at 3:58 pm
    Funny side note to the LA Aqueduct story… if private business pulled the crooked and illegal shenaigans the City of LA did in getting land and rights as they did, they would have landed in jail! But back then, the City of LA had that “City of Santa Clarita” legal theory that if the City does it, it’s not illegal!
  15. Lori RivasMarch 27, 2011 at 12:13 pm
    Cadillac Desert should be required reading (or viewing) for every resident of SoCal. It is available through COLA, and I think it will be available through the Inland Library system.
  16. Capt. GeneMarch 26, 2011 at 8:22 pm
    “show me a private school that teaches children for free” Show me a public school that does that. “The same is true of the California Water Project; government backed and funded. No one was stopping individual businessmen from building a water conveyance system from the bay area to here, but they didn’t do it because it wasn’t profitable.” Are you comparing that to mail delivery? Really? There are several companies out there making a tidy profit doing the same thing the USPS is losing money doing. And those other companies don’t have the unfair advantage that USPS has. If what your saying is that there are some things we have to turn to government to do, fine, but if you are trying to say the government could do any of it better than anyone else, all I can say is, are you serious?
  17. Serendipity631March 27, 2011 at 3:02 pm
    “Are you comparing that to mail delivery? Really? There are several companies out there making a tidy profit doing the same thing the USPS is losing money doing.” Funny – I’ve never had regular everyday mail delivered to my mailbox from UPS, FedEx, etc. Let’s give them all the flyers and junkmail that the USPS has to deliver to our homes everyday, and I doubt very much that they would have huge profits – you can’t compare until each are doing the same work.
  18. JamesHMarch 27, 2011 at 5:23 pm
    That’s because they’re all prevented by law from delivering that type of mail and using your mailbox. The USPS has a legally protected monopoly on that type of mail.
  19. JamesHMarch 27, 2011 at 5:26 pm
    Jeff, Are you sure the failure of the private sector to build the LA Aqueduct was a market failure? Perhaps it’s just an economically inefficient project? Especially when you factor in all the environmental costs that are not being borne by the users of the water. From an economist’s perspective, just because the market doesn’t do something that some people want doesn’t actually mean a market failure has occurred.
  20. JeffMarch 28, 2011 at 12:14 pm
    James, Yes you’re right. But insofar as the expectation was that the private water concerns would deliver affordable water to help the city grow, then private groups’ inability to deliver water could be seen as a market failure, couldn’t it? Much of the west wouldn’t be settled if it wasn’t for the government funding large public works projects that followed numerous failed private attempts.
  21. Leon WordenMarch 28, 2011 at 2:50 pm
    Huh? Aqueduct not private sector? Getting the public to pay for the importation of water in 1913 was a clever ruse of the Chandler family (L.A. Times), which owned the San Fernando Valley. Chandlers’ property wouldn’t have been worth much without water. It was all about private enterprise — not the failure thereof, but the political machinations thereof.
  22. Leon WordenMarch 26, 2011 at 11:31 am
    “I’m only be” – LOL
  23. KellyMarch 26, 2011 at 11:57 am
    Thanks for the statistics, Jeff. Gosh, this makes me crave some good Indian, Filipino, Korean and Mexican food. That is one benefit to more cultural diversity. I was told the nickname for OTN is “Baja Newhall”. Hmm.
  24. Coastal SageMarch 26, 2011 at 4:32 pm
    Jeff, wonderful job evaluating all these census statistics. I had to take a course in college to learn how to do it, but you just churned it out without a blink. True brainpower!
  25. Leon WordenMarch 26, 2011 at 5:37 pm
    Jeff – no question that there are proper roles for government. Take redevelopment, for instance — government stepping in to fix a problem the private sector couldn’t fix on its own. But the notion can be taken to extremes when you start to make broad generalizations, such as the notion that only the government can be responsible for education and literacy. Or for running libraries. Stanford University does a pretty good job with all three. As for a “free” education, I can’t say I’m truly familiar with the Vatican’s policies, but I’d be surprised to learn that our local Catholic schools limit enrollment to the elite.
  26. cashMarch 27, 2011 at 10:56 am
    Of course by the term government you mean the taxpayers. My next door neighbor is a long time owner property on Main Street. They are very much opposed to what the city has done in OTN. They claim the city has imposed land use restriction on their property and that they are compelled to follow the city redevelopment plan. One more fact, the property owners in downtown Newhall long ago took advantage of the depression benefit offered by the tax law. The fact that they have allowed their property to fall in disrepair it their responsibility, not the other taxpayers. This is another example of rest of the taxpayers paying twice to support downtown Newhall business, not unlike the library.
  27. cashMarch 27, 2011 at 3:34 pm
    Meant to type depreciation benefit not depression benefit! Not reinvesting in their property has led to its depressed state however.
  28. CCMarch 26, 2011 at 5:40 pm
    I didn’t submit my race to the Census bureau as it is none of their business.
  29. PetzMarch 27, 2011 at 6:25 am
    Will you tell Petz?
  30. LindaMarch 28, 2011 at 9:20 pm
    CC = Caucasian Chick
  31. CCMarch 27, 2011 at 4:20 pm
    I live in Awesometown….do the math.
  32. LarMccMarch 26, 2011 at 7:53 pm
    I have an idea. With the huge asian migration, why not make old town Main Street into AsianTown. We see the business struggling to attract us yuppies from the west side of town. Asians are many times has to commute outside of the valley for ethnic items or quality ethnic food. Picture a street lined with Pho stands, udon houses, teppan, Korean BBQ, etc. It would be great. It might attract some round eyes as well who will be surprised to learn there is more to asian food than Chinese. I love Asian food and culture, I think we all should start a movement.
  33. spineflower2March 27, 2011 at 10:05 am
    This is sounding like Disneyland! Exaggerated stereotypes of various “worlds” in an amusement park. We have LatinoLand in Newhall, a growing AsianLand in Valencia, and of course we already have AngloLand in the phony “main street” of the Valencia mall. Count back a few decades and we have AfroLand in Val Verde. All we need is a Disney Monorail to take us from one Land to another! And the City Council can be the Five Dwarfs, with their wet dream new City Hall as the castle.

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