[netdragon]

Originally Posted by Coem

Hartford continues to lose population

That's actually inaccurate. Hartford has begun gaining population in the last few years due to Adrian's Landing, and it's higher income population as well, mainly due to redevelopment downtown. Most of the population lost in the 90s and earlier were to projects being demolished. I think Hartford is getting healthier, but it has a long way to go -- especially if compared to other cities that had begun redevelopment of the residential centers much earlier. Hartford's corporate presence is strong, as JayCT mentioned. What will probably benefit it the most is building more downtown housing to take advantage of the corporate presence and continuing to revitalize neighborhoods. Also, Hartford should tie itself into metro North to take advantage of NYC corporate spilloff when companies are looking to stay in the region but get lower rent, with the requirements that they are connected by low-cost rail to NYC (Amtrak is anything but inexpensive).

It doesn't take much to increase population. A condo complex with 400 units will usually add 600-1000 people. I wouldn't consider population growth a gauge of becoming healthier, since that would say we could argue Southern cities (such as Atlanta) are becoming healthier than Northern cities, which isn't the case. In a lot of cases they are just catching up. In a lot of ways -- such as infrastructure -- the immediate area of Providence leaves a lot to be desired. Try driving through Providence and staying on route 1 and you'll know what I mean.