| While "urban sprawl" and "smart growth" seem to be | | | | guidelines. This change led to a spurt in the population |
| key phrases in the news these days-especially among | | | | growth, with the population edging to just under 16,000 |
| politicians and environmentalists, the truth is "smart | | | | people by 1970, only three years after the city officially |
| growth" can only happen when there is a plan in place | | | | changed its name to Cerritos (chosen because it was |
| to grow. "Smart growth" is not a reaction to a housing | | | | located in close proximity to the original land grant |
| boom. Neither is it a way to boost a city's economy as | | | | Rancho Los Cerritos). |
| it begins to slide into a slump. Truly smart growth is a | | | | Seeing the potential problems with continued population |
| new city's plan to, over years, accommodate more | | | | growth, Cerritos wanted to continue to grow in a |
| people and businesses, without comprising its natural | | | | well-developed manner under a policy of continual |
| resources or the quality of life for those who are | | | | environmental improvement. The standards and goals |
| already there. Despite what many people are labeling | | | | of the policy laid out ways to achieve a park-like |
| as "smart growth" in an effort to pad their own bank | | | | community and still allow for commercial, industrial, and |
| accounts or please their more powerful constituents, | | | | residential development. |
| smart growth can happen. And it has in the California | | | | The first Cerritos General Plan was adopted in |
| city of Cerritos. | | | | October of 1971, to provide for a controlled urban |
| Cerritos is an unassuming city, less attention-hungry | | | | development. The plan itself guaranteed convenient |
| than its bigger brothers Los Angeles and Hollywood. | | | | access to shopping near homes, locations for a |
| Nestled just northeast of Long Beach and northwest | | | | multitude of services, attractive neighborhoods, and |
| of Anaheim, the city of Cerritos isn't well known. Most | | | | parks for recreation. A revised version of the General |
| Americans wouldn't know that it's home to Cerritos | | | | Plan was adopted in January of 2004. |
| College (the third largest Hispanic-serving community | | | | So how did they do it? Approximately half of the city's |
| colleges in the country), Isuzu Motors America, | | | | land is designated for residential development. This |
| Inc.-well-known for its top-of-the-line SUV "Ascender" | | | | didn't slow Cerritos down. From 1970 to 1972, Cerritos |
| and pickup trucks, and United Postal Services (which | | | | became California's fastest growing city with a |
| employs approximately 5,000 people in Cerritos alone). | | | | population increase from 15,800 to 37,700. But it wasn't |
| California Business Magazine named Cerritos one of | | | | just the residential development that was being |
| the best 100 Cities to do business in the state. | | | | focused on. |
| Incorporated in 1956 as The City of Dairy Valley, | | | | Cerritos opened the first solar-heated City Hall |
| Cerritos' original name reflected the community's | | | | complex in U.S. history in 1978. The City developed the |
| agricultural focus. At that time, dairy cattle | | | | Cerritos Auto Square in the early '80s, which now |
| outnumbered the residents of the city nine to one as | | | | generates $10 million+ in sales tax revenue annually. In |
| there were less than 5,000 people living in the | | | | 1997, Cerritos opened a state-of-the-art Cerritos |
| incorporated city. Cerritos received its charter to | | | | Sheriff's Station/Community Safety Center to the tune |
| become a California city two years after its | | | | of $10 million to provide residents with public safety |
| incorporation, which marked the beginning of its "smart | | | | services 24-hours-a-day, 365 days a year. In March of |
| growth." | | | | 2002, the Cerritos Library was dedicated-an |
| Approximately eight years later, rising property taxes | | | | 88,000-square-foot building featuring art collections, |
| and land prices began to take their toll on dairy | | | | educational displays and beautiful conference center s. |
| operations, and by the early 1960s the agricultural crux | | | | As anniversary gifts commemorating 50 years as a |
| of Cerritos was beginning to falter. In March of 1965, | | | | city, The Cerritos Sculpture Garden and a fitness |
| the citizens decided, in a special election, to permit | | | | wellness center at the Cerritos Senior Center were |
| homes to be built under strict residential development | | | | dedicated in 2006 to the community. |