Cerritos is a planned suburb of Los Angeles County, California, United States on the American west coast, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The current OMB metropolitan designation for Cerritos is Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA". According to the California Department of Finance, as of 2005, the City had a total population of 55,000.
Cerritos is located at 33°52'6" North, 118°4'3" West (33.868314, -118.067547).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the City has a total area of 23.0 km2 (8.9 mi2). 22.3 km2 (8.6 mi2) of it is land and 0.7 km2 (0.3 mi2) of it is water. The total area is 3.04% water.
Cerritos lies along the Los Angeles County and Orange County border. The cities bordering Cerritos on the Los Angeles County side include Artesia in the center, Bellflower, La Mirada, Lakewood, Norwalk, and Santa Fe Springs. Buena Park and La Palma border the City on the Orange County side. Other cities in the region include Cypress in Orange County, and Hawaiian Gardens, Long Beach, and Signal Hill in Los Angeles County.
The former postal zip code of Cerritos was 90701 and was shared with the City of Artesia; however, it was later changed to an exclusive 90703 as a result of the increasing number of new addresses in the City during the mid-1990s.
There were talks of merging Cerritos and Artesia in the late 1960s to create one larger Cerritos. Both city councils were in favor of the merger, but when 69% of the Artesia voters cast their ballots, 1,362 voted "no" and only 1,140 voted "yes." Many Artesians feared being part of a newer community and losing their historic identity. Others worried that their established homes would be overrun by the Cerritos Redevelopment Agency.
As of the census of 2000, there are 51,488 people, 15,390 households, and 13,650 families residing in the City. The population density is 2,306.2/km2 (5,974.0/mi2). There are 15,607 housing units at an average density of 699.1/km2 (1,810.8/mi2). The racial makeup of the City is 26.90% White, 6.67% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 58.44% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 3.75% from other races, and 3.78% from two or more races. Approximately 10.39% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 15,390 households out of which 40.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.9% are married couples living together, 10.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 11.3% are non-families. Nearly 8.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.34 and the average family size is 3.54.
In the City, the population is spread out with 24.5% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 31.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.3 males.
The median income for a household in the City is $73,030, and the median income for a family is $76,944. Males have a median income of $50,103 versus $37,421 for females. The per capita income for the City is $25,249. About 5.0% of the population and 4.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 5.4% of those under the age of 18 and 5.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Employment within the City of Cerritos is primarily located in two districts, Los Cerritos Center and Cerritos Industrial Park. Businesses found in the Industrial Park provide jobs in light manufacturing and assembly of electronic and automotive parts, among other things. United Parcel Service, the City's largest employer with a staff of 5,000, is located in the Industrial Park. Los Cerritos Center provides for more than 2,500 full and part-time positions and the Cerritos Auto Square employs 1,900 people. Retail and industrial trades are responsible for the City's $2.6 billion taxable retail sales and the $6 billion assessed property valuation.
Other companies that have headquarters in Cerritos include: Delta Dental, Bunn Corporation, Xerox Corporation, Advanced Data Processing (ADP), Cingular Wireless, Izusu, and Memorex.
According to the California State Board of Equalization, Cerritos residents are the second highest retail spenders in California (second to Beverly Hills) averaging $36,544 per resident.
Cerritos was incorporated on April 24, 1956 originally as the City of Dairy Valley, its name symbolizing the more than 400 dairies, 100,000 cows and 106,300 chickens found within its limits. The cows outnumbered the City's 3,439 residents by 29 to one. At its peak, the City produced more dairy than any other place in the nation, surpassing even the entire state of Wisconsin.
Two years later, Dairy Valley voted to become a chartered California city. As land values and property taxes in California rose in the early 1960s, agriculture became increasingly unprofitable in southern Los Angeles County, and development pressures increased dramatically. In a special election held on July 16, 1963, residents voted to permit large-scale residential development. As a reflection of its newly suburban orientation, the City's name formally changed to "Cerritos" on January 10, 1967, after the nearby Spanish land grant Rancho Los Cerritos, which figured prominently in the region before California became a state. The name "Cerritos" is Spanish for "Little Hills."
Cerritos is a prime example of the "fiscalization" of California politics after the tax revolt of the 1970s and the passage of Proposition 13. With property tax increases effectively banned by Prop. 13, and most citizens already feeling that their income taxes and payroll taxes were too high, the only way for California cities to raise long-term tax revenue was to create as many commercial zones as possible to take advantage of the percentage of county sales tax allocated back to municipalities. This means that one cent of every taxable dollar exchanged in Cerritos (taxed at a rate of 8.25%) would go back to the City in the form of sales tax revenue. Cerritos was one of the first cities in Los Angeles County to develop large-scale retail zones and achieved stunning success. Crucial to this strategy was the development of the Cerritos Auto Square, the world's largest auto mall, which generates more than $10 million in annual sales tax revenue today. The sudden large influx of tax revenue fundamentally changed the mentality of the local leaders and many of its residents. Sales tax revenue is the lifeblood of the City and thus guides strict policies that protect against any compromise to this vital source of income.
Since emerging as an agricultural community in the first half of the 20th century, the current progressive nature of the Cerritos government and the unusually strong tax-base is best reflected in its facilities. In 1978, Cerritos dedicated the nation's first solar-heated City Hall complex. In 1993, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors, attracting patrons throughout the state. In 1994, the City unveiled the Cerritos Towne Center project that combines office, retail, lodging, fine arts and dining in an open-air location. In 1997, the City opened the Cerritos Sheriff's Station/Community Safety Center to provide public safety services. In 2002, the City rededicated its public library. The assessed valuation of the City of Cerritos is nearing the $6 billion ($6,000,000,000) mark.
Between 1970 and 1972, Cerritos was the fastest growing city in California. The population exploded from 16,000 to 38,000. Since the 1980s, Cerritos has attracted a large number of middle- and upper-middle-class Filipino, Korean and Chinese immigrant families, making it the city with the second largest Asian/Asian-American population in the nation (after Monterey Park, California). The "A-B-C" (Artesia-Bellflower-Cerritos) region, as well as the neighboring cities of Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Lakewood, Long Beach, Norwalk and Signal Hill, are considered one of the most ethnically diverse and rapidly growing areas in the world. According to a study by CSU Northridge, Cerritos was named the most ethnically diverse city of its size.
On August 31, 1986, Aeromexico Flight 498 on approach to Los Angeles International Airport collided with a small Piper aircraft over Cerritos. Eighty-two people died, including 15 people on the ground. Four houses were initially flattened when the DC-9 fell backwards out of the sky, and then eight more were destroyed by the subsequent fire before firefighters could bring it under control. The City is building a memorial, to be located in a sculpture garden at the Civic Center, to honor the victims of the crash. The memorial is expected to be completed in February 2006.
With large capital projects, memorials, and art programs, the theme of the Cerritos Millennium Library, "Honoring The Past - Imagining The Future," aptly describes the philosophy of the Cerritos experience of today.
Source:
CerritosCalifornia.com
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