Brea

Brea (; Spanish for "tar") is a city in northern Orange County, California. The population as of the 2010 census was 39,282. The city began as a center of crude oil production, was later propelled by citrus production. It is a significant retail center, including the Brea Mall and downtown Brea. The area was visited on July 29, 1769, by the Spanish Portolá expedition the first Europeans to see inland parts of Alta California. Baseball legend Walter Johnson grew up in Olinda at the start of the 20th century where he worked in the surrounding oil fields as a youth. In 1950 Brea had a population of 3,208. The citrus groves gave way gradually to industrial parks and residential development. In 1956, Carl N. Karcher opened the first two Carl's Jr. restaurants in Anaheim, California and Brea, California. In 2000, the downtown area opened in 2000. Sunset magazine named Brea one of the five best suburbs to live in the Western U.S. in early 2006. Brea is governed by a council-manager system. The council is made up of the mayor, the mayor pro tem and three councilmembers serving a one-year term as mayor. The fire department provides law enforcement and fire protection for the city. Within the neighborhood of Carbon Canyon, Brea has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps. It has an extensive public art program which began in 1975 and continues today.

History

The area was visited on July 29, 1769, by the Spanish Portolá expedition. In 1894, the owner of the land, Abel Stearns, sold 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) west of Olinda to the newly created Union Oil Company of California. In 1908 the village of Randolph, named for railway engineer Epes Randolph, was founded just south of Brea Canyon for oil workers and their families. Baseball legend Walter Johnson grew up in Olinda at the start of the 20th century where he worked in the surrounding oil fields as a youth. In the 1920s, the Brea Chamber of Commerce promoted the city with the slogan Oil, Oranges, and Opportunity. In 1950 Brea had a population of 3,208. The citrus groves gave way gradually to industrial parks and residential development. A 50-acre (200,000 m2) swath of downtown Brea centered on Brea Boulevard and Birch Street was heavily redeveloped into a shopping and entertainment area with movie theaters, sidewalk cafes, a live comedy club from The Improv chain, numerous shops and restaurants, and a weekly farmer's market. It is locally known and signed as Downtown Brea. The downtown area opened in 2000. Sunset magazine named Brea one of the five best suburbs to live in the Western United States in early 2006. The opening of the Orange Freeway (57) in the 1970s spurred further residential growth, including large planned developments east of the 57 Freeway in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Geography

It is bordered by unincorporated Orange County and Los Angeles County to the north and east, La Habra to the west, Fullerton to the southwest, Placentia to the south, and Yorba Linda to the southeast. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Brea has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps. It is located in the San Diego County foothills. The city is located on the San Gabriel River, which is a tributary of the Santa Catalina River. It has a population of 1.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It was founded in 1858. It had a population peak of 2.1 million in 1859. It suffered a population decline from 1.7 million to 1.4 million in the early 1980s. In the early 1990s, the city experienced a population growth rate of 0.7%. It has an area of 12.1 square miles (31 km²) of which 0.26% is water. It also has a climate that is very hot and very dry, with an average monthly temperature of °C (°F) of 9.2 °F (°C) The city has a high school population of 2,000. The university has an enrollment of about 1,000 students. The college population is about 2,500. The University of California, Los Angeles has a campus in Brea, California, which opened in the 1970s.

Government

Brea is governed by a council-manager system. The five-member city council is elected to four-year terms in elections held every two years to fill alternately two and three seats. The council elects a mayor from the serving councilmembers to serve a one-year term as mayor. The city council hires a city manager to direct the city's departments and advise the council. Within Carbon Canyon, in the Olinda neighborhood of Brea, is situated Olinda Landfill, a major waste management facility serving a large part of Orange County. In the California State Legislature, Brea is in the 29th Senate District, represented by Democrat Josh Newman, and in the 55th Assembly District,represented by Republican Phillip Chen. In California's 39th congressional district, BreA is in California's 39th House of Representatives, represented in part by Republican Young Kim. The Brea Fire Department (BFD) provides fire protection for the city and law enforcement is provided by the Brea Police Department (BPD) The city is in Orange County, California, and is located in the eastern part of the county. The BFD is the largest fire department in the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OC Sheriff's Dept). The BFP is the second largest police force in the county, after the Santa Ana Sheriff’s Department (SAPD). Brea has a mayor pro tem and three councilmembers. The mayor is the mayor of the city for one year, and the city manager is the city council's city manager.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Brea had a population of 39,282. The racial makeup of Brea was 26,363 (67.1%) White (52.7% Non-Hispanic White), 549 (1.4%) African American, 190 (0.5%) Native American, 7,144 (18.2%) Asian, 69 (0,2%) Pacific Islander, 3,236 (8.2) from other races, and 1,731 (4.4) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9,817 persons (25.0%). The census reported that 39,213 people (99.8% of the population) lived in households. There were 14,785 housing units at an average density of 1,221.0 per square mile (471.4/km²), of which 9,266 (65.0%) were owner-occupied, and 5,000 (35.0) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rates was 5.3%. The median household income in the city was $64,820, and the median income for a family was $50,500. About 3.4% of families were below the federal poverty line, including 5.6% of those under the age of 5. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.21. The median age was 38.7 years.

Politics

As of October 22, 2018, Brea has 24,775 registered voters. Of those, 9,991 are registered Republicans, 7,370 are registered Democrats, and 6,466 have declined to state a political party or are independents. Joe Biden carried the city in 2020. Brea is traditionally a Republican stronghold at the presidential level; however, Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the city's mayoral race in 2008 and 2012. The city is located in the Central Coast region of Los Angeles County. It is home to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has more than 20,000 students. It also has a population of more than 100,000, making it one of the largest school districts in the state, along with Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. The City of Brea was founded in 1883. It was named after the Brea River, which runs through the city. The town's nickname is "Brea," which means "the river" or "the stream" in Spanish. It has a history of being a hotbed of political activism. It hosted the California Republican Party convention in 1988. The California Democratic Party Convention in 2000 was held in Brea, California. It held the state's primary election for the first time in 1992. The state's general election in 2008 was the first presidential election held in the city since 1988. In 2008, the city voted for Barack Obama, who won the California Democratic primary for the White House by a narrow margin.

Economy

According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: The city's top employers are: KPMG, KPMT, United States Bank, and Wells Fargo. The city is also home to a number of small businesses, such as a bank, a hair salon, a beauty salon and a hair care salon. The top employers for the city in 2019 are KPMC, Wells Fargo, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Education

The Brea Olinda Unified School District operates six elementary schools, one junior high school, one high school and one continuation high school. A small portion of Brea is also directed to Sonora High School in La Habra in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. There are many private schools in Brea, including Brea Congregational Pre-School, Brea Foursquare Church (Pre-5), Brea United Methodist Pre- School ("BUMPS"), Carbon Canyon Christian School (K-12) and St. Angela Merici Parish School (TK-8) The city is also home to the Southern California College of Business and Law and the SouthernCalifornia extension of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. The Brea City School District is part of the Los Angeles County School District, which also operates Brea Canyon High School and Brea Junior High School. In addition, students can also take an assessment to place in nearby Troy High school in Fullerton, also part ofthe Fullerton High School district. The city has a number of parks, including the Brea Community Park, which is located on the banks of the Santa Catalina River. It also has a park that runs through the center of the city. Brea also has several parks that are open to the public, such as Brea Valley Park and the Rancho Santa Cruz Park. The town is home to a variety of businesses, including a winery, a golf course, a bowling alley, a pool, a spa and a spa.

School awards

Local schools have won several awards. Brea Olinda High School and Olinda Elementary School have been named Blue Ribbon Schools. Arovista Elementary, Country Hills Elementary, Fanning Elementary, Mariposa Elementary, OlindaElementary, Brea Junior High and BreaOlinda High schools have been called California Distinguished Schools. Laurel Elementary received a Title I Academic Achievement Award. BreA Junior High School has been named California Gold Ribbon Schools, and Laurel Elementary has been given the Title I academic achievement award. The schools are located in Brea, California, near the town of Brea Oaks. The school district has a population of about 2,000. The district is located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The area is known as one of the fastest-growing areas in California, according to the California Department of Education. It also has the highest per-square-foot population in the state, with a population growth rate of 2.7 per cent in the last five years. It is the second-largest school district in the county, after Brea High School, behind only Brea Senior High School. It has a total enrollment of 2,816 students, with 1,788 students in the middle school. The high school has a graduation rate of 90 per cent, and the junior high graduation rate is 91 per cent. The elementary school has an average attendance rate of 80 per cent and the high school grade point average is 82.5.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Brea, Orange County, California = 4.3. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 65. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Brea = 5.9 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 47,325 individuals with a median age of 38.8 age the population grows by 9.88% in Brea, Orange County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,889.30 residents per square mile of area (1,501.72/km²). There are average 2.76 people per household in the 14,087 households with an average household income of $74,126 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.60% of the available work force and has dropped -5.07% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 23.26%. The number of physicians in Brea per 100,000 population = 253.3.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Brea = 12.4 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.1 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 30. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 283. 89 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 42 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 55, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Brea, Orange County, California which are owned by the occupant = 63.23%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 32 years with median home cost = $516,380 and home appreciation of 1.24%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $7.36 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,305 per student. There are 23.3 students for each teacher in the school. 12179.56% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 21.72% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 11.42% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).