Census lists fastest-growing cities (San Francisco, Boston losing population)

CNN ^ | June 30, 2005

[Skylab]

Census lists fastest-growing cities

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Posted: 10:18 a.m. EDT (14:18 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consider a move to Gilbert, Arizona, if you're looking to trade in that two-bedroom home for four bedrooms and a pool in the back yard.

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"People come here because there are good jobs, it's pretty affordable and it offers lots for the families, too," she said.

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The numbers show new residents flocking to midsize cities in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California. Hurt by skyrocketing housing prices, people are leaving San Francisco, Boston and other large cities in droves.

San Francisco and Boston found themselves among the cities losing the most people between April 2000 and July 2004. Boston, for example, shed more than 19,000 people, or 3.4 percent of its population, while San Francisco lost 32,000, or 4.2 percent.

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[Oatka]

Back in 2002 my wife and I retraced Walter Wyckoff's 1891 walk across America and passed through Joliet, as he worked in a steel mill there.

We thought the town was OK but had a heckuva time finding the depressing site of the old steel mill. The city was trying to make lemonade out of lemons and turned the abandoned ruins into a walk-through tour. They did a pretty good job, but it was a bitter reminder of de-industrialization this country went through.

[Aquinasfan]

We experienced the same situation having home schooled our kids for twelve years.

I feel your pain ;-)

Care to share the results? Our kids are about half-way through now. Did you homeschool through high school?

[bkepley]

I can't take all the union crap in Illinois. Plus it's becoming a pretty blue state.

[Cowman]

I think you go a bit far with the "Liberal Hellhole" comments. Time can be spent enjoying the views of the ocean, the picturesque areas of the city such as the Marina and it's view of the Bridge and the hills, Pacific Heights and surrounds that provide breathtaking vistas of the lit up skyline

Do you realize that you are saying that you are willing to trade sanity for scenery!!?

[Towed_Jumper]

"Care to share the results? Our kids are about half-way through now. Did you homeschool through high school?"

Sure. We started home schooling in our daughter in 1984 (we were one of the early home school families). She was Home schooled K-12. She then went her first two years to Grove City College in Pa, and her last two years at Arizona State University where she graduated with her BS in Biology. She's currently working and going back to school to become a science teacher.

My wife and I always marveled that we ended up with a "scientist" in the family as neither or us are trained in the hard sciences. However, we plodded steadily along all the way through calculus and physics, etc. to get her ready for college...mission accomplished.

Our son (who was born preemie has cerebral palsy), we home schooled K-7. He then went to a private Christian school that my wife taught at for several years. We then home schooled him for his senior year.

Given his handicap there was NO WAY we were EVERY going to let the state get their grubby little hands on him. They would have immediately labeled him "learning disabled" and shuffled him off to "special ed". So we spent years teaching him at home one-on-one to read, write, think, have moral values and tie his shoes! After years of physical therapy, surgeries and one-on-one education, he's now a senior at Arizona State University majoring in political science. He's also in the Barrett Honor College working on a thesis regarding US National Security topics and has a full academic scholarship. I guess we didn't screw him up too badly even though we weren't "certified teachers" or "education professionals", etc.

This is a kid who in spite of his Cerebral Palsy loves to shoot pistols, hunts, rock climbs, studies Aikido martial arts and has now taken up boxing. (Can you tell I'm proud of him?).

My advice for you is to stay the course with your kids in home schooling because it will make a difference in their lives. Also, on a related note, Arizona is a home school "friendly" state where parents have a lot of autonomy from the state education bureaucracy.

[nothingnew]

Are you from Akron??

No. Had some vacation property years ago in the Poconos though.

I'm originally from CT...left for good after Liar Weicker(R) passed the state income tax after running and winning on his NO STATE INCOME TAX platform.

Been in Durango, CO for 14 years.

FMCDH(BITS)

[justshutupandtakeit]

Unions certainly make life here more expensive and give power to the RATs. But they are just another annoyance like traffic or horseflies. Only a few counties are blue. Look at the famous map without Chicago the state would have gone Bush.

[Aquinasfan]

He's also in the Barrett Honor College working on a thesis regarding US National Security topics and has a full academic scholarship.

Awesome story, and not just because of the honors, of course. Thanks for telling it. What I value most is the time spent with our kids, the fact that they haven't been polluted by our culture, and the ability to pass on our faith without outside hindrance.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"There is a house amendment submitted by a Rep from MI and co-sponsored by 23 Congressman including four from my State of Oklahoma which will change the word in the Constitution to "citizen" for purpose of counting people for redistricting.

"When you read census, member it counts foreigners (legal and illegal) as well.

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Can you post any more details on this please and ping me?

[goldstategop]

Blue State America Losing Population Alert

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Primetimedonna]

"Do you realize that you are saying that you are willing to trade sanity for scenery!!?"

My sanity is just fine, thanks so much for asking. Are you trying to tell me that insanity is environmental? Believe it or not there are actually some very sane people living in San Francisco, and we're not about to completely abandon the city we care about to the libs! Would you suggest we abandon the entire west coast? Our time will come again, and in the meantime, yes, I will continue to enjoy the scenery AND my sanity thank you very much!

Things run in cycles, and hopefully someday my kids, and the kids of other conservatives may retake this beautiful city and state. Let's not forget California gave us Ronald Reagan.

[pepperdog]

Pray the middle classes that are leaving realize what caused them to leave and don't bring the liberal ideology with them to their new homes. Altho it has been my experience they do just that!

[Towed_Jumper]

"What I value most is the time spent with our kids, the fact that they haven't been polluted by our culture, and the ability to pass on our faith without outside hindrance."

Aquinasfan, while I agree with everything you said you have to keep in mind that our kids ARE going to have to function in that "polluted culture" - that's true whether it's in Gilbert "The fasting growing community in the nation", or in Boston.

I like to use the analogy of a green house in describing why we home schooled. What happens in a green house? Young plants are watered, nourished, and cultivated in a controlled environment. The same thing was true with our kids in our home school in environment. The purpose though wasn't so that our kids would live in that green house forever. It's so that they can become strong "plants" with deep moral roots. Then, when they're planted outside in that polluted culture when its rains come and the culture's winds beat upon them and the sun is hot to conform to the world, they'll still be strong plants with deep roots, and, given what I consider to be a superior academic preparation those kids are going to endure and thrive.

...hope that makes sense...

[Centurion2000]

(San Francisco, Boston losing population)

Like a virus that has burst the cell walls of its victim, liberals are coming here to infest our cities.

[pepperdog]

Dayton shouldn't have Wright-Patterson AFB! No liberal city should have a significant military installation, unless it is to protect the surrounding countryside from liberal infestation. I would love to hear them howl if WPAFB was on the base closure list.

[Jim Verdolini]

"Unfortunately the people that are leaving Boston and other parts of the People's Republic of Massachusetts are going to New Hampshire one of the last truly "Live Free Or Die" states, and bringing their Liberal politics with them."

About 19,000 a year which is why the 'Free State' movement id doomed.

[Jim Verdolini]

"Chicago has everything anyone would want. Fantastic food, great culture, great educational institutions. In short, everything which makes civilization civilization."

No concealed carry and no real right to self defense so it is not a free place. Thank you...no

[HostileTerritory]

It's never going to pass. The states with large numbers of non-voting immigrants are California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois, and there is too much power in both parties from those states to advance a bill that would shift representatives to the Rust Belt, the Great Plains, and the Mississippi Valley from Louisiana to Minnesota.

[justshutupandtakeit]

If I had to carry a gun to make life worth living I wouldn't care to live. And I am a NRA member. There is more to life than firearms.

[justshutupandtakeit]

No its doomed because there is no substance to keep it alive.