What Trick or Treating Taught Me about Livable Communities

By Jeff Johnson

AARP Florida State Director

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about our focused work in the Tampa Bay area is being a part of “listening posts” at St. Petersburg’s Saturday Morning Market. It’s fun, it’s friendly, and I gain a better sense of what local people celebrate in their community and what they want to improve.

Since Halloween fell on a Saturday, our listening post captain (my 12-year old) and I decided on some Halloween-themed questions to augment our usual question about what would make the community even better. Some questions were just for fun (Reese’s topped Snickers as the favorite Halloween candy, for instance). But as our team of volunteers and I engaged market-goers, I found the question of “what makes a place good for trick-or-treating” surprisingly telling.

Physical community design matters. Houses that are close together are important for little feet. If your child uses a wheelchair, sidewalks are critical, and it helps if you don’t have to go up steps to reach the candy, one mother said. Lighting communicates safety, and some people mentioned blocking off streets as a way to improve safety even more.

But people matter, too. In the best trick-or-treat neighborhoods, “everybody gets into it”, several people said. Parents of young families can be out with their kids, while older neighbors can be home to give out the goods. If people work together to get the streets blocked off or to organize a neighborhood theme, everyone benefits. And, of course, you need a place that has the means to supply good candy!

AARP’s Age-Friendly Network of Communities encourages us to look at our communities through the lens of eight domains. All but one is reflected in the “where to trick or treat” question. Outdoor spaces, transportation (including those sidewalks), accessible housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation (to get the streets closed) and employment (to pay for the candy) and communication are all key features. Nobody mentioned health services, the eighth domain. We hope nobody needed them that night.

One other key point: Great trick-or-treat neighborhoods attract people. This may not happen where you live, but in St. Petersburg, the neighborhoods that best reflect these priorities attract residents from around the city.

As with trick-or-treat neighborhoods, so with cities: Livable places nurture a thriving economy. AARP recently released a report on the Livability Economy that makes the same case for residents and businesses that applies to trick-or-treaters.

You probably already know how your community would perform if there really were a formal trick-or-treater-friendly index.  If you want to look more broadly at how your community compares, check out AARP’s Livability Index , which compares your neighborhood to every other one in the country based on a broad spectrum of data.

Unfortunately, there’s no measure in the index for who stocks the most Reese’s.

Engage with Jeff Johnson through the AARP in Tampa Bay “Love Where You Live” Facebook group: