Mission Viejo, California

Mission Viejo (anglicized pronunciation /ˈmɪʃn viˈeɪhoʊ/) (Spanish: "Old Mission") is a city located in southern Orange County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,102. But population figures may exceeded the 100,000 mark as of 2005.

Mission Viejo is suburban in nature and culture. It is mainly residential, although there are a number of offices and businesses within its city limits. The city is planned and features a very large number of single-family homes, some condominiums, a college, and a regional mall. Education in the city is provided by two school districts (Saddleback Valley and Capistrano Unified School Districts), seven high schools (Mission Viejo, Tesoro, Trabuco Hills, Silverado, Capistrano Valley, Mira Monte, Pathfinder High Schools), a college (Saddleback College), and a number of middle and elementary schools.

The city's name is in Spanish, and it's name in English translates to Old Mission in part to the proximity of the historic mission in San Juan Capristano.

There are recreational activities abound, the city has numerous parks; there are about two per square mile. A private country club also exists and a public lake, the Mission Viejo Reservoir has water sporting activities.

The Saddleback College ballpark hosted the Mission Viejo Vigilantes minor league baseball team of the Western Baseball League from 1996-2001. Now the ballpark has a semi-pro collegiate team, the Orange County Fire.

In the late 1990s/early 2000s, Mission Viejo became a major suburban city, one of the many communities of bringing forth attention to "South (Orange) County". According to a 2006 FBI crime statistic survey, Mission Viejo is the fourth safest city in the US. ^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links
- 4.1 Schools

[edit] History

The hilly region which Mission Viejo occupies was primarily used as cattle and sheep grazing land, as it was of little use to farmers. It was one of the last regions of Orange County to be urbanized due to its geologic complexity. Englishman Juan (John) Forster and husband of Mexican Governor Pio Pico's sister Ysidora, acquires the Rancho Trabuco (future Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita) from Santiago Arguello. Rancher Juan (John) Forster provided fresh horses to American military forces led by Commodore Robert F. Stockton and General Kearney on their march from San Diego to retake Los Angeles. The force camped in Lake Forest then in Olive along the way.

Early developers in the 1960s dismissed most of the land as simply "undevelopable". In the early 1970s, urban planner Donald Bren, who would later become the president of the Irvine Company, drafted a master plan which placed roads in the valleys and houses on the hills, and contoured to the geography of the area. The plan worked, and by 1980 much of the city of Mission Viejo was completed. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, houses in Mission Viejo were in such high demand that housing tracts often sold out before construction even began on them. The houses and shopping centers in the city are almost uniformly designed in a Spanish mission style, with "adobe"-like stucco walls and barrel-tile roofs. Many point to Mission Viejo as the first and largest manifestation of Donald Bren's obsession with Spanish architecture, which would again become apparent with his developments in Irvine and Newport Beach.

[edit] Geography

Mission Viejo is located at 33°36′46″N, 117°39′22″W (33.612739, -117.656038)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.3 km² (19.0 mi²). 48.3 km² (18.7 mi²) of it is land and 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²) of it (1.94%) is water. A significant portion of the surface water is held in Lake Mission Viejo, an artificial lake stretching approximately one mile from Olympiad Road to Alicia Parkway along Marguerite Parkway.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 93,102 people, 32,449 households, and 25,212 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,926.4/km² (4,990.1/mi²). There were 32,986 housing units at an average density of 682.5/km² (1,767.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.15% White, 1.15% African American, 0.37% Native American, 7.73% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 3.82% from other races, and 3.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.10% of the population. There were 32,449 households out of which 39.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.1% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 17.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.22.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $78,248, and the median income for a family was $86,902. Males had a median income of $61,849 versus $38,743 for females. The per capita income for the city was $33,302. About 2.3% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.4% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.