Fastest Dying Cities in America article -Ohio has 4 of 10

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by the_pines

OOOOO so scary Dayton is dying. HALP MOM! Don't like Ohio cities? Or think they are going to die? Pack up and leave. See how that works. Ain't got time for people who can see true beauty beneath it all.

I'd rather live in a dying Dayton, if I had enough money to create things, than live anywhere else in the entire world. I would love nothing more on Earth than to comeback with money, and buy an abandoned building downtown and turn it in to a living space for myself, friends, travelers, and my three daughters if they wanted to come and stay with me. Then move on and try my best to not just help the area, but to do it with my dreams.

Maybe someday.

Great post. We need more urban lovers in this country. Screw suburbia lol

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Buckeye in SC

Water may be the greatest need in some cities, but I think it is overstated for cities in the south like Atlanta & Charlotte. All it takes is one tropical storm or hurricane to come through (like Fay has offered the past couple days), and our resovoirs and lakes are nearing normal after the past couple dry summers. We've gotten a lot of heavy rain storms the past month or two in Columbia. Now cities in the southwest like Phoenix, you probably have a point there. One thing Ohio can't offer is abundance of sun and mild weather year-round, which is why people continually are migrating south and west. I think the cities in Ohio & Michigan need to really start embracing the alternative energy industry to help turn them around, I know they are pushing it here in South Carolina. But hopefully in 50 years, Canton, Cleveland & Youngstown are success stories of cities that were once great, survived a downturn and found a way to reinvent themselves into great communities again.

There already are success stories. And cities down south are also facing huge problems. Suburban sprawl is some of the worst in the nation around Atlanta and Charlotte. Their infrastructures are struggling to keep up with the growth of their cities, I know because I spoke with many members of Charlotte's city council not even a year ago.

The south does not just have to worry about droughts, but the many large hurricanes that can hit any which way down there. New Orleans could get hit again! And North Carolina and Georgia are no exceptions to this.

[Traveler87]

Ok, Cincinnati is still growing in population though. The thing you have to remember is Cincinnati is not annexing like many other cities across the country are. And public housing has been increasing all over the city limits every year.

I can tell you right now, with the amount of people moving to the suburbs all over the country...... if it wasn't for annexing, you would see a lot of cities declining in population. Cincinnati grew, by 1,200 I believe, which isn't bad. And compare Cincy's city limits to that of Phoenix, Columbus, Indianapolis or Jacksonville. That proves my theory right there.

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by hillside

the information was submitted to the census. the census can approve or deny the findings. the census approved using such information. that is why it is a petition.

Hillside, you are right. I was thinking the "term" petition was used more along the lines of a "demand" instead of a "request," but petitioning someone is requesting. My apologies.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by Cincy-Rise

Hillside, you are right. I was thinking the "term" petition was used more along the lines of a "demand" instead of a "request," but petitioning someone is requesting. My apologies.

people see the developments and say, "whoa", but the jobs for average cincinnatians pay less bills than they did a year ago and the schools are getting worse despite a fleet of new buildings.

Wow, sorry hillside, I didn't mean to erase your whole comment. I meant to quote it, not edit it.

[Traveler87]

What I was going to say though is, this comment:

people see the developments and say, "whoa", but the jobs for average cincinnatians pay less bills than they did a year ago and the schools are getting worse despite a fleet of new buildings.

That comment can be said in any region of the country right now. I know I have said that numerous times today, but its true. The entire nation as one right now is suffering, not just one city or state.

Once, sorry about the comment. It was a good informative comment too.

[The Cactus Leaguer]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

There already are success stories. And cities down south are also facing huge problems. Suburban sprawl is some of the worst in the nation around Atlanta and Charlotte. Their infrastructures are struggling to keep up with the growth of their cities, I know because I spoke with many members of Charlotte's city council not even a year ago.

The south does not just have to worry about droughts, but the many large hurricanes that can hit any which way down there. New Orleans could get hit again! And North Carolina and Georgia are no exceptions to this.

I love Ohio and I would much rather live there than the other places you mentioned, but I'm not following your logic here. Basically what you are saying is that Atlanta and Charlotte are bad places to live because they are growing too fast. Well why are they growing too fast? Obviously people must like something about those places (even with the sprawl which I also despise) or else they wouldn't be moving there.

The other thing about growth is that it is an industry unto itself. That's (partly) why metros want to keep growing. Heck, it seems like half of Phoenix's economy is dependent on growth. If/when they stop growing, watch out.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by The Cactus Leaguer

I love Ohio and I would much rather live there than the other places you mentioned, but I'm not following your logic here. Basically what you are saying is that Atlanta and Charlotte are bad places to live because they are growing too fast. Well why are they growing too fast? Obviously people must like something about those places (even with the sprawl which I also despise) or else they wouldn't be moving there.

The other thing about growth is that it is an industry unto itself. That's (partly) why metros want to keep growing. Heck, it seems like half of Phoenix's economy is dependent on growth. If/when they stop growing, watch out.

I never said they were bad places to live. People just refuse to see that in some ways these cities are struggling with their terrible growth and not good enough planning. Charlotte and Atlanta sprawl like crazy, and that hurts a city more than you think. But with all this population growth too, their is a lot of pressure on their infrastructure. That is a matter of opinion, are they bad places to live in? Thats up to whatever you think...

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

I never said they were bad places to live. People just refuse to see that in some ways these cities are struggling with their terrible growth and not good enough planning. Charlotte and Atlanta sprawl like crazy, and that hurts a city more than you think. But with all this population growth too, their is a lot of pressure on their infrastructure. That is a matter of opinion, are they bad places to live in? Thats up to whatever you think...

We decided against Charlotte for some of those reasons of the struggle they've had in managing growth. I-77 is a mess from the SC state line to Lake Hartwell during all rush hours; I-485 was poorly designed on the southside of the outer belt (instead of having it as a reasonable bypass around the city from the south to get to cities like Greensboro and Raleigh, it's much shorter to continue through downtown to I-85). We had friends that lived in Ft. Mill, SC (about 15 miles from downtown) and the husband worked on the southeast part of the city (roughly 15-20 miles), and it took him 45 minutes most days to get to work w/most of his route on the expressway. Charlotte is a great city that is still trying to figure out a lot of things that big cities have to deal with like sprawl, while we love visiting there (on the weekends only), but I would hate to live there and deal w/that commute/traffic everyday. I guess for that matter, I wouldn't like many big cities at all b/c they pretty much all have to deal w/that! They have installed a high-speed rail that just started running recently that was state of the art, haven't read much on the effects of it thus far though.

[The Cactus Leaguer]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

I never said they were bad places to live. People just refuse to see that in some ways these cities are struggling with their terrible growth and not good enough planning. Charlotte and Atlanta sprawl like crazy, and that hurts a city more than you think. But with all this population growth too, their is a lot of pressure on their infrastructure. That is a matter of opinion, are they bad places to live in? Thats up to whatever you think...

Sorry for misunderstanding what you were saying.

And hey, no argument here regarding the problems of sprawl. I'm from Portland and we are very anti-sprawl (for those who are interested, Google "Oregon Urban Growth Boundary"). My side point, which I didn't make very well, is that growth, even the sprawl variety, is a net positive for a metro region. Growth + good planning is an even bigger positive. Hopefully Ohio will have both in the future.