In California, L.A. region trails the Bay area, San Diego and Sacramento in health, wealth, education

The Golden Gate Bridge in the Bay of San Francisco remains one of the world's engineering marvels. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

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When it comes to "well-being," San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego have it over Los Angeles, according to a new study.

The L.A. region lagged behind other major metros in California in terms of wealth, health and education, with the exception of the Inland Empire.

"Those cities have more well-being and access to opportunity as a whole," said Sarah Burd-Sharps, co-director of the American Human Development Project, which authored the report.

"We're not talking about happiness. What we're talking about whether people have the tools to live to their full potential."

The 172-page "A Portrait of California," released in Los Angeles on Wednesday, shies away from traditional economic calculus to track 233 communities across the state.

Rather, it created a "human development index" to measure three basic building blocks to a good life - health, education and income.

Using U.S. Census data, it crunched life expectancy at birth, education levels and median earnings, among various racial, ethnic and geographic lines.

What it found were vast differences in wellness across the Golden State - from a "Shangri-La" of high-tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to a "Forsaken Five Percent" bypassed by the digital economy left behind in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles

and the Central Valley.

Ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 down to two decimal points, California rated a 5.46, about half a point ahead of the nation as a whole.

The difference across the Los Angeles and Orange County region, which rated a 5.52, is equally profound.

Among its key findings for the Golden State:

Residents live longer, at 80.1 years, compared to 78.6 years for the nation. In Los Angeles, residents of Bel-Air, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades live nearly 85 years, compared to 79 years in Pacoima-Arleta.

Nearly half the state's dropouts stem from just 100 of nearly 2,500 high schools. Nearly 44 percent of Latino adults lack a high school diploma, almost triple the state average.

Income gaps between rich and poor swing from an average $73,000 for workers in Silicon Valley to $15,000 in L.A.'s Adams and Exposition Park districts.

Rated in terms of education, health and income, Los Angeles metro showed similarly wide gaps.

In the Bel-Air area, two out of three adults have a bachelor's degree or higher. That said, the L.A. region harbors more high school drop-outs than any metro region in the state.

An Asian-American baby born in L.A. can expect to outlive an African-American baby by 12 years.

Meanwhile, residents of the Manhattan Beach area out-earn those of Watts by an average $58,000 to $19,000. Watts ranked 1.19 on the well-being index, on a par with 1960s America.

In the San Fernando Valley, a Burbank worker earned an average $39,000 in 2009 compared to $21,000 in Pacoima.

"Parts of L.A. are experiencing well-being levels of top-ranked Connecticut," said Burd-Sharps, author of recent human development reports on the nation and for the United Nations. "Other parts are experiencing health-education-income levels below bottom-ranked West Virginia.

"We have a series of recommendations, including investing in people. The only hope of staying

The state capitol is in Sacramento, Calif. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

competitive in a global world is to draw on everybody's talents," she said. "Leaving large groups behind is not in everyone's interest."

The $200,000 study, an initiative of the New York-based Social Science Research Council, was funded by the California Community Foundation and other groups and was intended to assist public policy makers.

Brianne Gilbert, a senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, at Loyola Marymount University, said the human development study is useful in gauging quality of life.

A recent center study on leadership in Los Angeles also employed education and health criteria.

"My heart goes out to the people in the areas on the lowest end of the spectrum," Gilbert said. "What can we do to make their lives better? How do we allow people better access to education, healthcare and jobs?"

Steve Graves, a professor of geography at Cal State, Northridge, said the study will be especially useful in stimulating discussion among students.

"This is pretty cool stuff," said Graves. "It's just a measure of how well people live, and these things are important."

But while a human development index might make more sense in such nations as Sudan, he said that in Los Angeles - where residents frequently cross neighborhood lines to attend college or check in to a hospital - the quality-of-life criteria can become blurred.

Not everyone, however, was pleased with the"well-being" rating. Pacoima-Arleta, for instance, got a score of 3.45 - on a par with downtown Los Angeles - ranking among the bottom 20 neighborhoods in the state.

Bill Steward moved to Pacoima in 1959, before many of its streets were paved. He started the annual Pacoima Christmas Parade in the 1960s to draw the community together. He campaigned for better services from the city, such as sidewalks.

But while he managed to land a solid job at the state unemployment office, many other residents had to leave Pacoima to find work.

"It wasn't 'well-being,' at the time," said Steward, 81, who now lives in Sherman Oaks. "For years, we tried hard to build it up.

"The well-being of Pacoima is better than people think," he said. "Pacoima is no worse than any place else. They have their problems, hoodlums.

"And a lot of good people."

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For the American Human Development Project well-being study on California neighborhoods, go to measureofamerica.org.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18092166?source=rss

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