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.

(snip)

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

(snip)

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.

(snip)

[Skylab]

Peter Ragone, a spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, said the administration recognizes the problem and has begun a number of affordable housing initiatives, such as redevelopment projects aimed at producing more moderately priced homes.

No! You idiots! Less regulation and government, not more!

[cotton1706]

And as the people leave Boston and Massachusetts, there's less socialist representatives in Congress. We had 14 electoral votes in 1980, we now have 12. That's progress.

[Moral Hazard]

"Peter Ragone, a spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, said the administration recognizes the problem and has begun a number of affordable housing initiatives, such as redevelopment projects aimed at producing more moderately priced homes."

So they're going to knock down expensive houses to build cheap ones?

[ProudVet77]

Cool. Maybe this is the way to get rid of Barney.

[ProudVet77]

So they're going to knock down expensive houses to build cheap ones?

That is kinda funny (in a sad way) when you put it that way.

[LauraleeBraswell]

They just don't get it. It's the middle class that's leaving. The rich can afford to stay and it's a comfortable life for the poor.

[TakeitBack]

When all you have is a hammer, then all problems look like a nail.

Translation: Socialism is the tool of the Democrat Party.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Fresh story in the local papers is that Joliet (located to the SW of Chicago) is one of the FASTEST gaining middle-tier cities in the country, because of its affordable housing. Many people are fleeing Chicago (and with good reason, in my opinion ;-).

Excerpt from the above-linked story:

With affordable housing and an aggressive annexation policy, Joliet has become one of the nation's fastest growing large cities--a rarity outside the Sun Belt.

Joliet ranked 14th among cities with at least 100,000 residents for growth between July 2003 and July 2004, according to Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

As the far southwest suburb grew, the estimates suggest, Chicago saw a slight population decline.

Bucking the notion of growth fueled by condominium projects across the city, the estimates show that Chicago lost more than 13,000 people, or .5 percent.

The nation's third-largest city now has an estimated 2,862,244 people, down nearly 34,000 from the 2000 census, or 1.2 percent.

Demographers say that immigrants are increasingly moving to the suburbs when first arriving in the area, rather than landing in the city. Much of the city's new residential construction, meanwhile, is going to singles, couples and empty-nest households that are smaller than families leaving the city.

In Joliet, the new figures show an addition of more than 5,400 residents during the year, a 4.4 percent increase to a population of 129,519. The city has now grown nearly 22 percent since the 2000 census.

[markedman]

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.

[jbwbubba]

Now those same people will move to new areas, and vote in the same liberals they voted for in Boston and San Fran. "because this time it will be different"

[the invisib1e hand]

umm, let's see. homosexual capitals of the world are failing to increase populations.....this is news?

[justshutupandtakeit]

Anyone who leaves Chicago to move to Joliet needs their head examined.

[Publius6961]

When I was a kid in San Francisco, I watched the population inch up towards the 750,000 mark. For some reason I thought that was a magic figure, three-quarters of a million.

I believe it briefly touched that figure, then it got the attention of the world for all the wrong reasons, and it's been downhill ever since.

Gilbert Arizona is looking better and better.

[cotton1706]

Unfortunately, this is true. In the mean time, there are ever increasing programs that need to be paid for by an ever decreasing populace.

[Vision Thing]

Now those same people will move to new areas, and vote in the same liberals they voted for in Boston and San Fran. "because this time it will be different"

Well, in my case, when I lived in Boston, I grew tired of voting for Republicans who always lost. So I moved to Dallas, where my Republican candidates tend to win.

[Paleo Conservative]

And as the people leave Boston and Massachusetts, there's less socialist representatives in Congress. We had 14 electoral votes in 1980, we now have 12. That's progress.

At least in 1980 and 1984 those electoral votes went to Ronald Reagan.

[Redleg Duke]

Queers don't breed too well.

[Blood of Tyrants]

And they are so stupid as to want to make their new home like the old one and not realize that it was THEIR politics that screwed up the states they came from!

[freedomcrusader]

Ha! In Pennsylvania, we've gone from 32 electoral votes in 1960 to 21 today.

Thanks to a DemonRAT gov and RINOs in the legislature who are raising taxes, we're a sure bet to lose another two in 2010, I'm hoping three.

Already, the census pegs PA as one of the two or three slowest growing states out of the 50.

In 2000, PA's rate of pop. growth was the lowest out of all 50 since the 1990 Census. Only Washington D.C was lower.

[Southack]

"Demographers say that immigrants are increasingly moving to the suburbs when first arriving in the area, rather than landing in the city. Much of the city's new residential construction, meanwhile, is going to singles, couples and empty-nest households that are smaller than families leaving the city."

What really isn't being told by the reporters, but is being said in the statistics, is that our Gay, Greek, city-states (call them American cities or hyper-urban areas only if you must) are dying.

As more people leave (or die; keep in mind that gays have substantially shorter life spans), the cities raise taxes to "make up for" the loss in tax revenue; this drives even larger population losses. This is not a new trend, nor is it likely to subside anytime soon.

And that's the *real* Blue versus Red America. It's not a state by state issue; it's a mega-city versus suburban, x-urban, and rural issue.

The largest of cities in the U.S. are striving to turn back the clock to the days of gay, greek city-states of 1,500 B.C.

In response, these cities are declining.

Note however that the overall population of the U.S. is increasing even as our mega-cities lose numbers. This has shifted power *away* from urban hyper-centers.

Noted author Alvin Toffler calls this sort of seismic restructuring a "Power Shift."