5A Public Hearings 2021 0719 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. Introduction San Leandro 2021 Climate Action Plan Page 5 Over the past 30 years, San Leandro has developed a reputation as a diverse, innovative, business- friendly city. Much of the City’s identity dates from the mid-20th century when the community was at the leading edge of the Bay Area’s development. Many of the City’s residents arrived during this era. While some of these residents continue to make San Leandro their home today, tens of thousands of new residents have arrived in the last few decades. Much of the City’s growth was fueled by an increase in people of color and young families, who transformed many of the City’s shopping areas and cultural institutions and increased school enrollment. This influx of new residents has brought new energy to the City and enriched its perspectives on issues such as growth, transportation, and the environment. The City has found strength in its growing diversity and is emerging as a center for creative problem-solving and new ideas. The City’s industrial areas have also evolved. In 2011, San Leandro launched a public-private partnership to develop an 11-mile fiber optics loop (Lit San Leandro). This investment has put the City on the leading edge of the Bay Area economy and has repositioned the City’s businesses to be more technology and innovation focused. At the same time, San Leandro has promoted higher-density development around its two BART stations, creating a development pattern that is oriented toward walking, bicycling, and transit use rather than driving. As of 2019, San Leandro was home to 90,025 people, an increase of 13 percent since 2000 and 6 percent since 2010. This is a slightly slower growth rate than Alameda County as a whole, which grew by 15 percent since 2000 and 10 percent since 2010. Most of San Leandro’s growth since the year 2000 has been the result of increasing household size rather than new construction. The average number of persons in a San Leandro household grew from 2.6 in 2000 to 2.7 in 2010, continuing a trend underway since 1990, when average household size was just 2.33. Average household size has approximately leveled off since 2010, but population growth continues to outpace the establishment of new households. Since 2010, San Leandro has added approximately 5,000 new residents but only 700 new households. San Leandro has become much more ethnically diverse over the past two decades. The percentage of non-Hispanic White residents in the City declined from 79 percent of the City’s population in 1980 to 21 percent in 2019. Based on the 2019 American Community Survey, San Leandro’s population is 34 percent Asian, 28 percent Hispanic (14 percent Hispanic white and 13 percent Hispanic nonwhite), 21 percent non-Hispanic White, 12 percent African American, and 7 percent other races San Leandro’s vibrant community. 49