City surveys: not a lot of walking, transit use, or workers who live in Pasadena

The city did a study on the "Central District" of Pasadena, which it defines by the above map. Apparently, people who live there are better-educated, younger, and make better money than the city as a whole. Additionally, they are more likely to bike places.

But more significantly, the city also found that 62 percent of people in the survey work outside Pasadena. They compared this with a AQMD study that showed that 85 percent of people who work in Pasadena don't live in Pasadena. That study does come with a major proviso though: the AQMD only surveyed people who work at businesses that employ 250 people or more.

Surveys also found that 78 percent of downtown people use cars to commute to work, and even amongst those that work in the same area they live, 58 percent use cars.

So most workers are commuting far to get to downtown Pasadena and those that live close are generally set on using their cars to drive short distances.

The point of all these studies is to direct how to plan for the city's future. But, also, as Sid Tyler pointed out in Monday's meetings, they perhaps show that the city's vision for developing itself to become a biking/walking/public transportation mecca has not happened.

There is a counterpoint to be made, which Margaret McAustin touched on Monday, that just because people take their cars to work does not mean they use them to run errands and go to lunch..... once you are parked downtown, you are more likely to move around by foot.

More complete data:

*83 percent in the central district have a college degree or higher compared to 42 percent citywide

*6 percent in central district have kids compared to 28 percent citywide

*71 percent have a household income of higher than $50,000 compared with 47 percent citywide.