Recent rise in Pittsburgh's population. (Liberty: student loans, how much, new house)

[gg]

Not exactly a net positive.

"The growth that we're seeing in Pittsburgh is primarily dormitory and jail and prison-related type growth," Mr. Johnson said.

Read more: Census data show unusual rise in Pittsburgh population - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[Hopes]

There's a 7 page thread about it here: 307,484

But it's interesting that Mr. Johnson attributes it to students and prisoners.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Hopes

There's a 7 page thread about it here: 307,484

But it's interesting that Mr. Johnson attributes it to students and prisoners.

70% of the increase is attributed to prison, military, public housing and dorms. That being said, there really was about no population increase. If anything much of it is a drag on our area.

[Hopes]

I'd like to see data corresponding the increases in student enrollment and prison populations instead of taking Mr. Johnson's word for it.

btw, an increase in student population isn't a bad thing for the area.

[eschaton]

It will be a long time until we know, but I tend to think that Pittsburgh proper had real growth greater than the census projection. In the last decade the only portions of Allegheny county which showed net growth were the townships out by the airport and the Wexford area. I can't believe that this handful of townships managed to drag the entire county into positive growth alone.

Remember, we're not just talking about needing to have net growth in those areas, but net growth to cancel out declines - sometimes substantial declines - everywhere else in the county.

[gg]

Maybe you missed this part of the article.

About 1,200 -- or 70 percent -- of those new Pittsburgh residents settled in city group quarter arrangements, said Rodger Johnson, chief of the bureau's Local Government Estimates and Migration Processing Branch.

Roger should know a thing or two considering his title.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Maybe you missed this part of the article.

About 1,200 -- or 70 percent -- of those new Pittsburgh residents settled in city group quarter arrangements, said Rodger Johnson, chief of the bureau's Local Government Estimates and Migration Processing Branch.

Roger should know a thing or two considering his title.

That's 70% of the estimated new Pittsburgh residents. As I said, I believe that ultimately the growth in the city proper will be higher than the estimates, which still show some real growth in the number of households in the City.

Either way, the one-for-one plus a few (at minimum) replacement of dying off/moving away retirees with new households is a great thing for the future of our city.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

70% of the increase is attributed to prison, military, public housing and dorms. That being said, there really was about no population increase. If anything much of it is a drag on our area.

aside from the increased prisoner population, how is that a drag? isnt ANY population growth better than decline?

we need population increases in Pittsburgh areas that are bikeable or served by PAT. do we really need MORE cars using the tunnels and such?

[gg]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

aside from the increased prisoner population, how is that a drag? isnt ANY population growth better than decline?

we need population increases in Pittsburgh areas that are bikeable or served by PAT. do we really need MORE cars using the tunnels and such?

College students aren't a drag, but the rest is a net drag on taxpayers. Military are spending our tax money, public housing is our tax money and they use Access cards at grocery stores, so you have to consider the massive amount of tax dollars that costs us all. Sure some local places get money back from our taxes supporting all this, but lets be real about it. How much does it cost to have one family living off the taxes we all pay? Multiply that by just the amount of that in East Liberty. How much does it cost to build those buildings in East Liberty. Sure the construction company makes money and local businesses make money because the workers have to eat and so do the soon to be residents, but remember that is from our tax money, not part of the capitalist economy. I look at it as a net loss overall. If taxes are supporting it all, it isn't going to help us all. College students actually are supported by us for the most part because the student loans that are the biggest reason for the wildly rising cost of education. If you go back to the old days they didn't have these student loans and people could actually have part time jobs to pay for college, it would be more real, but it is actually borrowed money. Banks/government have distorted reality and they serve no purpose other than creating fake economies.


Okay that is a rant, I know, but the biggest reason I wanted to start this thread, is we need to know why a population increase occurred. Seems much of it is not really some great news. Just tax money propping it up.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Maybe you missed this part of the article.

About 1,200 -- or 70 percent -- of those new Pittsburgh residents settled in city group quarter arrangements, said Rodger Johnson, chief of the bureau's Local Government Estimates and Migration Processing Branch.

Roger should know a thing or two considering his title.

I didn't miss it. I prefer to form my own conclusions via reviewing and comparing various actual data over taking someone's word, regardless of his title