Speech and Testimony
County Executive's Leggett's Remarks -- Welcome to the County Executive’s Summit on Aging
As prepared
Good morning.
I’m pleased to welcome you to this Summit on Aging.
If you are a senior, our discussions today are, to a certain degree, about you – and me.
We will talk about what we think we’re doing right, and hear from you about what we can do better. At the same time, today’s proceedings are not about you and me.
They are about the quality of life your children and grandchildren will have here in Montgomery County.
In 2013, there were 194-thousand people age 60 and over in Montgomery County. That the largest number in the state and it represents about 20 percent of our population.
In just 15 years, the percentage of our population age 60 and over will be just over 25 percent – over 315-thousand people – one third of the 60+ crowd for the entire state. That’s a remarkable evolution in our population.
It’s one we have to work with on several levels.
First, we have to make sure that programs specifically aimed at seniors are serving their needs.
Second, and just as important, we have to make certain that other programs and services that serve everyone are sufficiently adaptable so that they will be useful to our growing population of seniors.
We will have to make certain that our transit programs serve seniors, through bus schedules and vehicles that allow seniors to get on and off easily.
We will have to make certain our libraries adapt to serve the needs of a greater percentage of seniors than ever before.
We will have to make certain our health programs have sufficient services and resources for our growing senior population.
We can start our discussion of the future with a look at our present.
We surveyed about 2,000 people age 55 and over to gauge what people think about living in Montgomery County.
When asked how they viewed the overall quality of life, 34 percent said it was excellent and other 55 percent rated it good.
At the same time, 21 percent of those responding said Montgomery is an excellent place to retire, and another 37 percent said it is a good place to retire.
There is much more information in the survey that we have already collected.
We are keeping the survey open, and you can register your views by following the links to the survey on the home page for the senior summit.
There are separate links for those speaking English, Spanish, Chinese or Farsi.
Those results show that we are doing many things right for our seniors.
As you saw on the video, we are devoting considerable resources to help seniors, whether in areas of transportation, housing, recreation and safety. We are here today because we can’t be complacent.
That survey I mentioned, while it contains good news, also points the way to areas in which we must improve.
The data shows that while people rated availability and health services as excellent or good, a much lower percentage gave those same high marks to areas such as employment opportunities, accessibility for those with disabilities and availability of housing.
We want to hear your ideas on things we are doing well, and particularly on things in which we can improve.
I look forward to today’s discussions.
Release ID: 15-065
Thursday, December 3, 2015; 9 a.m.
Silver Spring Civic Building, One Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring