This seems like as good a place as any to post this.  This is from the 9/18/05 Enquirer:

 

 

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE (40 pages, PDF)

 

PHOTO: Like other Hamilton County residents, Colleen Harris reluctantly moved out. She plays a board game Saturday with her daughters, 11-year-old Maggie (center) and Brigid, 8, in their Liberty Township home.  The Enquirer/Brandi Stafford

 

Hamilton Co. faces mixed report card

Shrinking jobs, population represent biggest concerns

By Kimball Perry

Enquirer staff writer

 

After living in Greenhills for 10 years, Colleen and Doug Harris decided they needed more space for their growing family.

 

They started looking in Hamilton County for a lot to build a bigger house.

 

After more than a year, the frustrated family of four finally found what they wanted - in Butler County.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050918/NEWS01/509180365/-1/back01

From the 9/26/05 Enquirer:

 

 

DeWine: Reverse county exodus

Commissioner wants to use federal money

By Kimball Perry

Enquirer staff writer

 

Aiming to reverse the exodus of jobs and people from Hamilton County, Commissioner Pat DeWine wants to use federal money that historically pays for things such as street repaving and senior center operations for economic development.

 

"I am committed to making reversing these trends our number one priority for Hamilton County," DeWine said.

 

The county lost about 6 percent of its population between 1990 and 2004, falling 51,617 from 866,228 to 814,611.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/NEWS01/509260339/1056/rss02

 

You know, I live 12 miles from downtown and I still don't have sewer lines, and I am certain that with the exception of the new subdivision up the road there aren't any houses connected  to the system. However, you can clearly see where sewer lines and added capacity has just been laid. There are many, many subdivisions going up in Miami and Green Townships, especially around the Rybolt Rd. and Harrison Avenue region, and these new subdivisions generally follow the expansion of the sewer lines from the Taylor Creek facility.

 

However, a lot of things have been learned sewer expansion through the West Side. Given the terrain of the area, sewer line expansion can be rather expensive. I remember the sewer line along Wesselman Rd. going way over budget; however, I do not have an exact figure. If the MSD is going to have huge overruns in running the line then is it really effective to lay them? That is a question that I am sure will be touched on at the next task force meeting. The second thing that can be learned from the sewer expansions is that development does indeed follow the sewer line expansion, and that is made even more clear in this article.

 

This article makes some valid points, but a lot of what it says seems to be obvious. There is a lot of land in Western Hamilton County just waiting to be developed, but it will not see any development until the proper infrastructure is in place. Once that infrastructure is in place it will be interesting to see just how the area develops, since I am sure that in time it will be developed.

From the 10/13/05 Enquirer:

 

 

State of the county? Bloody awful, Heimlich to proclaim

By Kimball Perry

Enquirer staff writer

 

Hamilton County is hemorrhaging people and jobs and that bleeding must stop so repairs can be made to the damage done by previous Republican commissioners, Phil Heimlich plans to say today in a State of the County speech.

 

When Heimlich became a commissioner in 2003, he blanched at a ledger that showed government taking in and saving too little, spending and taxing too much, and going deeply in debt to keep the Bengals in town.

 

"I'm looking at this, my first instinct was to blame Democrats, but I look around and it's mostly Republicans," the Republican Heimlich noted in a draft version.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051013/NEWS01/510130351/1056

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From the 10/14/05 Enquirer:

 

 

MULTIMEDIA

• State of the County presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint Document)

 

Heimlich has county comeback plan

By Kimball Perry

Enquirer staff writer

 

As a government, Hamilton County is in the middle of a reform that must take place if there is to be a bright future.

 

That was the message Hamilton County Commission President Phil Heimlich delivered Thursday in his State of the County speech, the first, Heimlich said, ever given.

 

"We're losing people at a faster rate than almost any county in the United States," Heimlich told a lunch crowd at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Cincinnati.  "We're going to turn those trends around."

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051014/NEWS01/510140442/1056/rss02

 

Also an economic issue.  From the 10/29/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Wanted: More young employees

Panel says area's growth constrained by shortage

By Cliff Peale

Enquirer staff writer

 

DOWNTOWN - A population growth rate only half the national average - particularly among young professionals - could be the biggest factor holding down expansion of the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky economy next year.

 

A panel of economists, speaking at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's annual forecast Friday, predicted that the local economy would grow 3.5 percent next year, slightly lower than this year's 3.8 percent rate and the projected 2006 national average of about 4 percent.

 

Employment should grow 0.7 percent in 2006, less than half the U.S. average, they said. Manufacturing employment is predicted to grow only 0.2 percent next year.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051029/BIZ01/510290349/1076/rss01

 

It is in the middle?  Uh, how does that work?  So do taxes flux from one side of the mall to the other?  The entire mall has to be in one county, no?

 

I had a friend who worked there and had to file taxes for both cities. Most of the mall is in Forest Park, but when the place opened, Butler Co. Sheriffs took care of the traffic control.

 

I don't know, but I assume the cities have some kind of agreement similar to JEDDs.

From the 4/12/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: Mohamad Ramlawi, owner of the Halal Market in West Chester, has some fun with customer Asiya Chaudhry, holding her granddaughter, Eman Chaudhry, 2, of Mason. Ramlawi is a native of Lebanon, and Chaudhry is from India. Immigrants made up almost half of Cincinnati's population in 1850; now they make up just 2.6 percent.  The Enquirer/Tony Jones

 

LINK: Local immigration as of 2000 (PDF)

 

Can immigrants save city?

As population leaves Cincinnati, there's too few to pick up slack

BY GREGORY KORTE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

The numbers come out year after year, and they are sobering: Cincinnati and Hamilton County lose population faster than just about any other urban area in America.

 

Suburban flight is just one part of the equation - every major city is losing its residents to the suburbs.

 

There's one key difference between Cincinnati and areas that are growing in population: Immigrants.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060412/NEWS01/604120368/1056/rss02

 

These stories were also posted in the 2005 census figures thread.  In the interests of keeping this thread updated, I'll post them in here.  Maybe they will spur discussion to keep discussion of Cincy's particular issues in here.

 

Links to other stories:

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Attracting, keeping jobs a priority (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Education dilemma pushes many outside (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Excitement, variety can help stem the tide (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Ludlow still has small-town feel (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Not all put the blame on city (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Population boom reported, but officials say 'Where?' (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Some who leave Cincinnati see city as no longer safe (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Suburbs growing bigger faster (6/21/06)

 

Two takes on the same story, based on the edition:

* Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio): Census has people talking (6/22/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer (Kentucky): Cincy's loss Kentucky's gain (6/22/06)

 

Graphics:

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Population changes in Southwest Ohio counties (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Population gains and losses in Cincinnati-area counties (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: How Cincinnati compares to key Midwestern cities (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Population change in 100,000+ cities, 2000-2005 (6/21/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer (6/21/06)

---

From the 6/21/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: Kurt and Bridget Krebs carry boxes Tuesday to the moving truck as they leave their home in Oakley for one in Symmes Township. The couple, both 32, needed a bigger house for their family and decided that the suburbs offered a better value.  THE ENQUIRER/GARY LANDERS

 

PHOTO: Betty L. Carstens enjoys the view from the clubhouse patio at River's Breeze condominiums in Ludlow after her morning walk Tuesday. Ludlow grew by 224 residents, or 5.1 percent, between July 2004 and July 2005 to 4,647 - making it the third fastest-growing city in Kentucky.  THE ENQUIRER/PATRICK REDDY

 

Cincinnati shrinking, and fast

Queen City falls below Detroit as suburbs gain

BY DAN KLEPAL AND KIMBALL PERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

 

No big city in America lost a greater percentage of its people during the past five years than Cincinnati, new U.S. Census figures show.

 

Cincinnati lost 6.8 percent of its population from 2000 to 2005, taking Detroit's place as the biggest percentage loser among cities with a population of 100,000 or more. And the city's not alone. Of the 30 cities at the bottom of the U.S. Census list, five are in Ohio.

 

Folks are leaving Cincinnati for a lot of reasons: lower crime, better schools and cheaper land in the suburbs, to name a few.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060621/NEWS01/606210361/1056/rss02

---

From same:

 

 

PHOTO: Tim McNay of Bam Carpentry works on a house Tuesday in the Freedom Park subdivision of Independence. Independence is the fastest-growing city in the state, according to population estimates the U.S. Census Bureau released today.  The Enquirer/Meggan Booker

 

PHOTO: Mike "Skinny" Lindeman, 53, has breakfast at Deelites Dairy Bar Restaurant in Ludlow, where he's lived about 30 years. The city was the third-fastest growing city in the state in 2004-05.  THE ENQUIRER/PATRICK REDDY

 

Area continues to boom

Independence, Cold Spring lead growth; river cities decline

BY BRENNA R. KELLY, | CINDY SCHROEDER, SCOTT WARTMAN, RYAN CLARK

 

Northern Kentucky is the state's fastest-growing region - again.

 

It was good news today from the U.S. Census Bureau for the three counties that hug the Ohio River. Boone, Kenton and Campbell are home to six of the top 10 fastest-growing cities in the commonwealth.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060621/NEWS0103/606210387/1059/rss13

 

on the enquirer website hundreds of people have responded to the fact that Cincinnati lost so much of its population. Almost every comment asked for entertainment options, along with better schools and lower crime. For the entertainment options many ,many people said something to the effect of "newport style". I looked over some of the figure from the report. People aren't moving to newport. People may visit newport and then leave, but newport lost a larger percentage of population than Cincinnati did 5.6% (compared to cincy's 5.2%). Covington posted a moderate fall in pop.  too. Fort Mitchell, Fort Wright, and Fort Thomas always highly regarded by most people all fell in pop. Some larger percentages than cincy. We have to consider the fact that even if people have a good preception of a place...they still won't move there unless they can have their enormous yard, wide streets, and homogeneous neighbors. ...All to often we hear suburbanites tell us that we need something like newport on this side of the river.....would that really even help....the evidence says...NO! :?

^I saw that. There was like 55 pages of comments. Most poeople did not even live in the city limits or never have.All i can say is, they need to move to a new town like Chicago and they can really see how bad crime is. They have like 2-3 murders a night. Even try Baltimore, they had like 200+ murders last year.

^Excellent point. Reading those comments is immensely depressing -- it's like a murderer's row of idiots. The best part of all of them is that several people complaining about Cincinnati from Clermont County can't even spell Clermont County.

 

Reminds me of a quote about Bill Brasky. "He hated Mexicans. And he was half-Mexican!... And he hated irony."

I live in Silverton it's lost 500 poeple since 2000 out of 5200 people. That's a whole lot. There is no crime in Silverton and people are still leaving.

^I saw that. There was like 55 pages of comments. Most poeople did not even live in the city limits or never have.All i can say is, they need to move to a new town like Chicago and they can really see how bad crime is. They have like 2-3 murders a night. Even try Baltimore, they had like 200+ murders last year.

 

Sounds like something I used to beat my chest about after moving here from a city that had 150-170 murders a year.  I know where you are coming from.  Cincinnati can be a weird place when it comes to perceptions that are fueled by the media.

It's actually located both in Forest Park (Hamilton) and in Fairfield (Butler).

 

Butler Co. starts 1/4-1/2 mile north of I-275.

Why it was once called "Forest"Fair" Mall ;-)

I live in Silverton it's lost 500 poeple since 2000 out of 5200 people. That's a whole lot. There is no crime in Silverton and people are still leaving.

Shrinking houshold size..I lived in Deer Park until recently, and they have the same housing stock as Silverton (at least the north portion of S'ton), and very few, if any vacant houses in DP, and the homes didn't last long when on the market, and 5%-10% increase in values, all signs of a healthy hosing market -- very good for young families or singles (like I was) -- some empty nesters there too -- but less and less larger families-- ones with 2-4 kids move out to larger houses.

It is kind of incredible how much resentment and ill will a good portion of suburbanites feel toward the urban core.  These people seem to spend a lot of time being angry about a place they never go. Without being too harsh, let's all come to terms with the fact that you can't trust any of the reasons given on these comments or surveys.  First off, it is self-selective.  The people who fill them out are the people who want to fill them out.  Second, the complaint about the quality of city schools is basically bunk, at least for the people who can afford to move to "good districts".  West Chester gives one the option of attending either Lakota East or Lakota West (and they probably don't even have that option, since my guess is that one is assigned one by district) for high school.  Cincinnati Public offers Walnut Hills High School, SCPA, Clark Montessori, all superior schools, as well as the Withrow Language and International Baccalaureate High School.  There are no more neighborhood high schools in Cincinnati anymore, if West High has the program you want, you can go there.  So in terms of educational options, no other local school district can hold a candle to CPS.  While there are plenty of crappy schools in CPS, the people responding to that article aren't forced to attend them.

 

Also, if these so called "good" school districts superiority was a function of their methods of instruction instead of the income levels of their parents, than you'd see a lot more apartments in Kenwood (Indian Hill School District) or Sycamore Township.  People like educational exclusivity and don't value contributing to the education of children other than their own.  The next time someone tells you that the public schools waste money, ask them how much money their spending to send their kids to private schools that teach the same geometry they teach at public schools.

 

^I saw that. There was like 55 pages of comments. Most poeople did not even live in the city limits or never have.All i can say is, they ned to move to a new town like Chicago and they can relaly see how bad crime is. They have like 2-3 murders a night. Even try Baltimore, they had like 200+ murders last year.

 

Exactly.  These people have no idea what crime is aside from what they watch on the local news.  I remember when I was living in DC in 2000, about four months before the riots broke out.  People were complaining about the fact that the past 14 men the Cincinnati Police killed were black (a few of those cases were a bit questionable, but that's another story).  People would banter about how racist the city was, while at the exact same time, Prince George's County MD, a suburban county east of DC (and a black-run county at that) had about 25 people killed by police that year alone.  And one of them was followed by a PGC sheriff who shot and killed him outside of the county!

 

Anecdotal evidence, while interesting and occasionally amusing, doesn't do a good job about providing understanding.  I guess they don't teach that in suburban school districts.  They probably encourage you to just "go with your gut".

The media definitely has a lot to do with the perception. I hate even watching the news anymore because it's so negative. They barely cover all of the great things about the inner city. Mass hysteria, fear, and moral panic get better ratings.

The Convention Center news has been the only positive "urban" news in a month.  It was rehashed almost every day this week in some form.

It is kind of incredible how much resentment and ill will a good portion of suburbanites feel toward the urban core.  These people seem to spend a lot of time being angry about a place they never go.

 

You should read the comments on the Dayton Arcade, or just the comments in general at the Dayton Daily News online forum to really appreciate some hard core negativity and bad attitudes as well as out and out racism.

 

It is really kind of amazing, and explains alot about the failure of the Dayton area.

 

It is kind of incredible how much resentment and ill will a good portion of suburbanites feel toward the urban core.  These people seem to spend a lot of time being angry about a place they never go.

 

You should read the comments on the Dayton Arcade, or just the comments in general at the Dayton Daily News online forum to really appreciate some hard core negativity and bad attitudes as well as out and out racism.

 

It is really kind of amazing, and explains alot about the failure of the Dayton area.

 

 

I bet the negative postings go down during the Bill Cunningham show since the hateful conservative sheep are to busy listening to his broadcast.

^^

 

I am not a regular listener, but I checked in at lunch to see what old Bill was spewing and he was going on about whether or not he has an impact on people leaving the city.  I sent an email and basically said that for the educated person no, but for his many followers who take everything he says as fact yes.  Additionally, for those around the country and who listen to XM he might be the only impression they have of Cincinnati.  I added that I realize he has to exaggerate for ratings, but to at least once in while say something positive about the city.  It is unbelievable how much he drums on the crime issue (and always equates the entire city with the worst neighborhoods), but I asked him to look at some historical numbers for St. Louis as an example.  Again, like people posted earlier I think people here should go to big city to see real crime for some perspective.

Cunningham is the absolute WORST. People listen to him religiously too and believe and automatically adopt his ideology. It's disgusting. It's people like him and his followers that make me HATE republicans because every self proclaimed republican I've ever known is like that.

 

By the way, Cincinnati had more murders in the late 1800s than they do now.

^^

 

I am not a regular listener, but I checked in at lunch to see what old Bill was spewing and he was going on about whether or not he has an impact on people leaving the city.  I sent an email and basically said that for the educated person no, but for his many followers who take everything he says as fact yes.  Additionally, for those around the country and who listen to XM he might be the only impression they have of Cincinnati.  I added that I realize he has to exaggerate for ratings, but to at least once in while say something positive about the city.  It is unbelievable how much he drums on the crime issue (and always equates the entire city with the worst neighborhoods), but I asked him to look at some historical numbers for St. Louis as an example.  Again, like people posted earlier I think people here should go to big city to see real crime for some perspective.

 

Nice post, Cincy1! I couldn't agree more!

I've never listened to Cunningham, but I do see the local news from time to time and it's not pretty.  It's an inane, lowest-common-denominator trough of "news" that feeds the vicious cycle of fear and blows negative news way out of proportion.  I've overheard people who I know live in the suburbs who actually think there is a chance they are going to get shot if they come to Cincinnati!  That is so utterly, outrageously blown out of proportion.  Maybe a few murders a year are random and they aren't going down in the neighborhoods or at the times of day that any suburbanite is going to be conducting legitimate business.

 

People are so much more likely to randomly die in a traffic accident on the freeway than to get shot in Cincinnati, yet you don't see our media outlets fomenting a ridiculous hatred of the freeways.

Well theres always the "possibility" of getting shot but why would anyone live their life in fear? I talked to someone yesterday that said "I don't carry cash on me...I live in Clifton".  Clifton is NOT that bad...and it's probably in your best interest to have atleast SOME cash on you if you're being robbed.  I don't get why people are so terrified; there is definitely a lot of people that are. There's times I've tried to show OTR to my friends from Columbus to show 'em the old Italianate architecture and they refuse to go at all. I said "come on we'll go down Main street it's not that bad.  "Nope".

Interesting.Since fear and panic sell then why don't we market that.People are so quick to believe the worst then wer'e sittin' on a gold mine in cincy.Hype it as a "one-of-a-kind" destination. something akin to the Purple People Bridge Climb.You could market it to thrill seekers,daredevils,people with death wishes,sktrs,punks etc.Let them try to get out of cincy alive,unmolested,or without incident.And we could charge an arm and a leg-where else in the world could you find such an adrenaline rush?Aussieland?New Zealand?The Queen City baby!!!There you have instant world class destination and population booster!!NO MORE RETREATING-LET'S GO FULL STEAM AHEAD!

LOL it could be like a scary haunted village for halloween. Except you don't have to pay the workers...

welll,we don't want to be known as the Wal-mart of urban America,so ...yes,we'll pay them and provide health insurance we can even provide body armor scavenged from some chop-shop(or Detroit).The point is not to generate more bad press but to take our biggest weaknesses  e.g. the perception of Cincinnati ,and otr in particular,as the killing fields of America, and to then, in a stunning reversal turn it to our biggest strength.  QUICK- someone notify the Chamber of Commerce!!!

Btw,sorry 4 jumpin' right in on your wonderful site.I'm new and don't know protocol,I introduced myself over on a "where are you from" thread.Thanks for listening.

What is it with this bullshit?

 

On Sunday, the Enquirer thinks it's "funny" that the city is losing population and puts out this load of crap.  What kind of serious newspaper uses "Top Ten" lists, anyway?

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060624/LIFE/606240324/1059/rss13

 

They also put out an article about "If rural Boone County was a city, they would have 72,000 residents".  So fucking what?  They aren't a city.  If Asia and Europe were a city, they'd have....

 

Then they posted articles about growth in Northern Kentucky, including Louisville.

 

Today they post this shit about three regional cities that have absolutely nothing in common with Cincinnati.  And then, after reading the articles, I still failed to see the point of any of them because they showed me nothing.  They were utterly pointless:

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Columbus sheds rural past (6/26/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Indy's heartland revitalization (6/26/06)

* Cincinnati Enquirer: Lexington on the upswing (6/26/06)

 

All under the guise of "learning" something:

 

Learning from their successes

How 3 nearby cities grow as Cincinnati declines

 

Last week, U.S. Census data that showed Cincinnati is losing population at the fastest rate of any major U.S. city rocked the Queen City. Talk-show phone lines lit up and Internet chat rooms blasted forth with passionate dialogue about how to bring people back.

 

Clearly, the community conversation has started, but as other cities have found in their quest for reinvigoration, action speaks louder than words.

 

Milton Dohoney Jr., the top administrator in Lexington and a candidate for the city manager job in Cincinnati, says there is no magic bullet. But there is a common thread.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060626/NEWS01/606260336/1056/rss02

 

^I have to say I laughed out loud at that list, but yeah, it is ridiculous.

Its not so ridiculous to do a comparison between Columbus and Cincinnati as they are both in Ohio, thus are governed by the same state Consitution, legislation and body of law dealing with local governments, annexation, and so forth.

 

In any case the comparison would, at this point, be more historical, as to the politics and decisions that led Columbus to sucessfully annex areas of postwar suburbia and Cincinnati to not.

 

 

 

Yeah, this whole piece pissed me off as they chose three cities that have all annexed in recent years and range from 225-361 square miles in size.  A more appropriate comparison for Cincinnati based on the city and metro would be Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, or even Atlanta.  These are cities that have not annexed and are closer from a historical perspective.

That top 10 list wasn't even comical.

"Atleast there's Graeter's" wtf?

I wrote them an e-mail...I hope they respond.

Indianapolis and Lexington didn't just annex, they merged their cities and surrounding county, and this happend in the very early 1970s, which was over 30 years ago.

 

Whats more, for most of those 30 years Lexington had a fairly strict growth control policy, which is one reason their older parts of town remained viable, due to concentration of population within the urban service area.

^Don't surrounding suburbs have limits on housing density though? If Columbus annexes further out, it allows more population density for those areas doesn't it?

Jeff - I should have been clearer, but I was considering any change in boundaries as annexation, and you are right. 

 

I did not see this posted yet, but this is another reason I like the Business Courier - they seem to have a better perspective and at least look for measurable solutions:

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/06/26/editorial1.html

 

City must reverse population loss

Cincinnati Business Courier - June 23, 2006

 

We could wax about the good and the bad in the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, detailing Cincinnati's continuing population-loss plight. But here's what's new: The census bureau released on Wednesday new population estimates for cities with populations greater than 100,000 for July 2005. The figures are an update of numbers released a year ago.

 

Cincinnati was not the city that lost the most population by percentage during this period. We did lose 1.6 percent, or more than 5,100 residents. But St. Louis and Norfolk, Va., lost more. When you look at the numbers over the 2000-2005 period, Cincinnati is at the bottom, but we share that position with Detroit, each losing 6.8 percent of our population during that period. Detroit lost more than 64,000 residents; Cincinnati lost nearly 23,000.

Don't surrounding suburbs have limits on housing density though? If Columbus annexes further out, it allows more population density for those areas doesn't it?

 

Oh, I don't know about the Columbus zoning or density regulations.  I was just commenting that Lexington isn't a fair comparison example due to that growth control policy that had a big effect on the local housing market and what was built, as well as having the side-effect of encouraging retention and remodeling within the city.  Combine that with in-migration, a real-estate investment boom generated by Eastern Kentucky coal money, and a big state university and the situation in Lexington is totally unlike Cincy (or any other city in Ohio).

 

Incidentally, the Lexington urban services area was not driven by good planning or anything like that, but was intended to protect the horse farms, as the equine industry was a big contributor to the local economy.

 

People all across America are leaving urban cores due to crime, housing and schools. Cincinnati is no different, but unfortunately our city's primary leaders in these areas - public and private schools, city housing policy makers, housing developers and our crime fighters - aren't focused on this population measurement as an indicator of their own success.

 

Mallory should create the scorecard. The goal: Cut Cincinnati's population loss (that will be announced a year from now) to 3,500 residents, the smallest decline in five years. Then build a model for even more progress to grow the city's population, neighborhood by neighborhood.

 

Good editorial, and also a challenge to work together as these are all peices of the big picture.

 

If the schools are failing (I dont know if they are or not), perhaps Mallory should recruit and run his own slate for the school board, with a mandate to turn the situation around.

 

One good thing about crime thats been reported elsewhere on this board is whats happening in OTR, with those citizen patrols, and the county jumping in the help patrol the neighborhood....which is a good sign of city-county cooperation on a crime issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did not see this posted yet, but this is another reason I like the Business Courier - they seem to have a better perspective and at least look for measurable solutions:

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/06/26/editorial1.html

 

In the interest of fairness, the Enquirer did have an editorial that ran some time last week.  It just lost its impact when compared to all of the stories that the Enquirer has chosen to run.

 

Does anyone have current data on birthrates and abortions in the city?  I believe the teenage birthrate began to decline around 1990, meaning there are currently fewer teenagers to have teenage births than there were before, and if the abortion rate amongst teenagers has risen that alone could explain 1,000 or more of the lost population.  Again, the effect of modern birth control and the legalization of abortion in 1973 and the decline of the US's urban populations can't be overemphasized. 

Yeah even though the birthrate is lower, in relation to the suburbs, the city's still worse off.

I can assure you that birth control is not widely used in my neighborhood.

Numbers show losses in Hamilton County

Green, Colerain swap places as Ohio's largest township

BY CLIFF RADEL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

While Cincinnati is the nation's pace-setter for population loss, Hamilton County continues to have the two most-populous townships in Ohio - Green and Colerain.

 

Since 2000, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, 17 communities in the county are losing population as fast - or faster - than Cincinnati's 7 percent rate. And, just seven - including five on the West Side - are gaining population.

 

Across the county, government officials doubt the accuracy of those estimates.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060628/NEWS01/606280365/1077

^Colerain and Green were notorious for huge families in the 1950's and 60's.  Few households are now raising 6-8 kids as was once commonplace and most today would see those many "small" houses where large families were raised as unfit for raising more than two kids.  They should be instead writing articles which focus around declining birthrates and declining population instead of people supposedly running off in droves.       

 

  "I'm Dubious. ....That doesn't sound like we're declining or deteriorating."

 

    Population loss is often taken as bad news, and people tend to question the Census estimates only when there's a loss. I haven't heard anyone say that the Census estimates are too high.

 

    The number of people per house is declining across the board. We've discussed this before. If your community doesn't have new housing, you are probably losing population. If your community is losing housing or has a lot of new vacancies, then you are losing even more.

 

  Incidently, Green Township has a lot of new housing.

 

  "Being No. 1 comes from having good schools, low taxes and great services,"

 

    -And having 70% of your land developed as residential. Most townships in Ohio are mostly farms or forest.

 

    Cheviot "has lot 8 percent of its population since 2000. Yet, our earnings tax is up 3 percent from last year..."

 

    Inflation? Higher salaries? In any case, I suppose that's good news, assuming the tax rates didn't change.

 

   

 

I wonder if the people at the Enquirer and the majority of their readers realize that these are all just ESTIMATES.  They are basically using the rates at which the city decreased from say 1990-2000.  I'm not saying that the City is not losing population, but I really don't believe the city is loosing THAT much.  Additionally, 300,000 by 2010.  I really don't see it getting that low.

I haven't been keeping up with the census threads, so I apologize if this link is already here.

 

Wendell Cox, who is a sprawl supporter, has compiled a list of cities showing how their regions have grown compared to the central city from 2000 to 2005:

 

Cincinnati is shown as follows:

 

year 2000 region 2,050,175

year 2005 region 2,113,011

Regional increase    62,836

 

Central city year 2000  331,283

Central city year 2005  308,728

Central city change      (22,555)

 

Share of growth city contributed to region -35.9%

 

Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester and St. Louis are the only ones shown with a regional loss!

 

http://www.demographia.com/db-metrocore2005.htm

From the 7/3/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Census decline lowers funds

Many federal formulas use population data

BY MALIA RULON | ENQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU

 

WASHINGTON - As Cincinnati's population shrinks, so could the checks it gets from the federal government - for programs that help people heat their homes, find affordable housing, get health care and others.

 

That's because money for those services - like funding for highway construction, welfare grants, school lunches - are based on formulas that include a city's population.

 

An estimated 158 federal grant programs use census population figures to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars to state and local governments across the country, according to a 2001 study by the nonprofit research group, the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

Related News From The Web

Complete census coverage

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060703/NEWS01/607030344/1056/rss02

 

Wendell Cox, who is a sprawl supporter, has compiled a list of cities showing how their regions have grown compared to the central city from 2000 to 2005:

 

Cincinnati is shown as follows:

 

year 2000 region 2,050,175

year 2005 region 2,113,011

Regional increase    62,836

 

Central city year 2000  331,283

Central city year 2005  308,728

Central city change      (22,555)

 

Share of growth city contributed to region -35.9%

http://www.demographia.com/db-metrocore2005.htm

 

Check that last line.  It is unreasonable to expect a center city in a midsize region to contribute to a region's overall population growth when it has no greenfields to build on.  Even generating that statistic is an insult to intelligent discourse.  I would say the city of Cincinnati's contribution to regional growth is almost 100%.  That is, if Cincinnati had never been, you better believe almost nobody would be living in Liberty Twp., Mason, etc.  To disparage an aged, landlocked city for not growing is the product of flawed reasoning and a feeble mind.  But that's what I've come to expect from Wendell Cox.

Does anyone know why Denver has a lesser death rate than Cincinnati does, being that Denver as the larger MSA?

 

http://recenter.tamu.edu/Data/popm00/

 

It not just Denver either some others in Cincinnati's population range has a lesser death rate. I wonder why that is?