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It's biggest Cities are still struggling to keep Population and slipping further down the Census list.
Like I Said in the Pittsburgh forum, State Government really works hard against its own economic engines. The Loons in the "T" have too much power in Harrisburg, and its killing both the Burgh and Philly.
Business / Jobs simply cannot thrive in this State.
Slow-growing metro Philly falls to No. 7 nationally
Quote:
In the last five years, Philadelphia and its neighboring counties have lost tens of thousands of residents, but birthrates and an influx of immigrants have resulted in modest population increases.
Still, the Philadelphia metro area - No. 4 a decade ago - has fallen to No. 7 in the U.S. population rankings, surpassed this year by Washington.
If current rates continue, Philadelphia is set to drop even further within the next five years, overtaken by Miami and Atlanta.
Census shows population decline in Pittsburgh region
Quote:
Here’s a new slogan for local civic boosters to consider: “Pittsburgh: The Greatest Place that Doesn’t Grow.”
It seems apt as ever, based on new U.S. Census Bureau estimates posted today. Among the nation’s 30 largest metropolitan areas, Pittsburgh is the only one deemed to have fewer people on July 1, 2015, than were counted during the official 2010 census. The region is estimated to have lost 5,051 people last year and 3,240 overall since the official count, despite small gains from 2010-12.
That news might be a head-scratcher to some people — it certainly was to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald — who have a hard time meshing it with what they see of Downtown commercial development, East End residential construction, trendy restaurant proliferation and never-ending rankings of how ideal Pittsburgh is.
The relative ranking against other US cities isn't as important as real growth (population, income, real estate value, real estate # of units...) in Philly and Pittsburgh.
In other words, if PA is growing at say (and these #s are completely made-up) 4%, the US at 3%, but the top 10 cities like Miami... at 5%, PA is actually doing well.
1. Revitalizing only a couple neighborhoods and building expensive condos isn't going to help a city. It pushes up living costs and the bad neighborhoods get worse. The middle class is pushed out of the city. The rent here is comparable to big East Coast cities.
2. Affluent Twentysomethings. The city is only focusing on one demographic which will not lead to long term growth.
3. Our public rail transit expansion plans are dead. Money goes to the highways which has helped boost the burbs.
4. Crime and violence are increasing dramatically.
5. The city thinks that rich twentysomethings are going to buy homes in bad neighborhoods and fix them up. It's not happening.
6. No easy way to the airport. Flights are expensive.
7. PA is a blue state.
8. Horrendous city schools and the teachers union. (but not all the blame, the parents are just as much at fault.)
It's biggest Cities are still struggling to keep Population and slipping further down the Census list.
Like I Said in the Pittsburgh forum, State Government really works hard against its own economic engines. The Loons in the "T" have too much power in Harrisburg, and its killing both the Burgh and Philly.
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin have all had larger "natural" population increases (births minus deaths) since 2010 than Pennsylvania has. And I'm not talking percentages either; I'm talking absolute quantities here. Pennsylvania is in the lower half of all 50 states in its absolute quantity of natural population growth despite ranking 6th in total population. Every state with at least 8,000,000 population except Pennsylvania has had a natural increase of at least 120,000 since 2010, while Pennsylvania has had a natural increase of just over 75,000. All those old people that Pennsylvania had during the 1990s and 2000s weren't going to keep getting older forever; eventually they were going to die, and a mass die-off is a tremendous ball and chain when it comes to population growth. There's a reason why Pennsylvania is projected to have the slowest-growing elderly population of all 50 states between now and 2030.
And if you want to talk about jobs, Pennsylvania just lost nearly one quarter of all its mining and logging jobs between January 2015 and January 2016, due to a global energy market crash that's way beyond the control of any state politician.
It's biggest Cities are still struggling to keep Population and slipping further down the Census list.
Like I Said in the Pittsburgh forum, State Government really works hard against its own economic engines. The Loons in the "T" have too much power in Harrisburg, and its killing both the Burgh and Philly.
Business / Jobs simply cannot thrive in this State.
You got to get into the 21st Century, bb.
Modern Tele-Commuting means a lot of jobs can be done at home, or anywhere. No reason why working from home from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia is any more practical than working from home in Shinglehouse or Donora. Further, manufacturing facilities need a lot few people than in the past. The ET works in Braddock produce as much product as the did during the days of Carnegie and Frick, but with a workforce 5% of the size, making them easier to locate in less populated counties.
1. Revitalizing only a couple neighborhoods and building expensive condos isn't going to help a city. It pushes up living costs and the bad neighborhoods get worse. The middle class is pushed out of the city. The rent here is comparable to big East Coast cities.
2. Affluent Twentysomethings. The city is only focusing on one demographic which will not lead to long term growth.
What do you consider expensive condos. What price range, and how many have been built or are being built.
Second point - it is usually developers and investors who decide what gets built. Not "the city". They build based on what the demand shows. Would you rather have nothing built, like in the 80s, 90's and early 00s?? That makes no sense at all.
Third point - Building new apartments and condos does not necessarily bring up living costs. It depends completely on supply and demand. Building adds new supply, should not have much affect at all on existing stock unless they are tearing down more units than they build (which usually does not happen in Pittsburgh). Costs are more likely increasing due to both the tendency of new housing to be more expensive than old, and lack of supply. Meaning more of what is in demand should be built, not less.
Fourth point - Pittsburgh is STILL one of the most affordable large metros/cities in the US. There are PLENTY of affordable neighborhoods in both the city and surrounding areas. You really shouldn't be surprised if trendy areas are expensive. It should be kind of a given.
I did a comprehensive analysis of trying to determine why the Pittsburgh MSA is continuing to lag in population gains. It seems to me we should have at a MINIMUM least a small gain instead of a small decrease in population with the most development the region has seen in 35+ years.
Using the numbers/estimates from the census Bureau, I broke each county in the metro down to the municipal level - from there, I split the municipalities into either part of the continuous Pittsburgh Urban Area or Rural/outside urban area. It seems that although at the county level and MSA level we are still slightly losing population, we are GAINING at the urban area level.
PITTSBURGH URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 1,779,969
2010 Population: 1,734,869 (-45,100 or -2.53%) *Less than the MSA level drop percent wise
2014 Population: 1,742,985 (+8,116 or +0.47%)
RURAL PORTIONS OF MSA
2000 Population: 654,427
2010 Population: 621,725 (-32,702 or -5.00%) *MORE than the MSA level drop percent wise
2014 Population: 612,715 (-9,010 or -1.45%)*MORE than the MSA level drop percent wise
URBAN PORTIONS:
ALLEGHENY URBAN AREA (Entire county, with the exception of Forward Twp, Fawn Twp, and Frazer Twp)
2000 Population: 1,277,400
2010 Population: 1,219,268 (-58,132 or -4.55%)
2014 Population: 1,227,368 (+8,100 or +0.66%) *Over a 5.00% change
WESTMORELAND URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 221,889
2010 Population: 222,249 (+360 or +0.16%)
2014 Population: 218,697 (-3,552 or -1.60%) *Major contributor to the loss right now
WASHINGTON URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 100,222
2010 Population: 110,126 (+9,904 or +9.88%)
2014 Population: 111,852 (+1,726 or +1.57%) *Slowing down a bit, but actual sustainable growth
BUTLER URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 43,666
2010 Population: 53,640 (+9,974 or +22.84%)
2014 Population: 56,223 (+2,583 or +4.82%) *Continued boom in Southern Butler County
BEAVER URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 134,830
2010 Population: 127,773 (-7,057 or -5.23%)
2014 Population: 127,079 (-694 or -0.54%) *Population hemorrhaging seems to be over in Beaver County
FAYETTE URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 0
2010 Population: 0 (0 or 0.00%)
2014 Population: 0 (0 or 0.00%) *Continuous urban development does not reach Fayette County
ARMSTRONG URBAN AREA
2000 Population: 1,962
2010 Population: 1,813 (-149 or -7.59%)
2014 Population: 1,766 (-47 or -2.59%) *Only Freeport Borough is part of the Pittsburgh Urban Area
RURAL PORTIONS: ALLEGHENY RURAL AREA (Just Forward, Fawn, and Frazer Townships)
2000 Population: 7,561
2010 Population: 6,909 (-652 or -8.62%)
2014 Population: 6,879 (-30 or -0.43%) *Even Rural Allegheny County is stabilizing
WESTMORELAND RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 148,104
2010 Population: 139,807 (-8,297 or -5.60%) *Huge reason we lost so much last decade
2014 Population: 137,272 (-2,535 or -1.81%) *Major contributor to the loss right now
WASHINGTON RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 102,675
2010 Population: 97,694 (-4,981 or -4.85%) *A reason we lost so much last decade
2014 Population: 96,394 (-1,300 or -1.33%) *Still depopulating a fair amount. Includes the Mon Valley
BUTLER RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 130,417
2010 Population: 130,222 (-195 or -0.15%) *Without Slippery Rock, this would be higher
2014 Population: 129,180 (-1,042 or -0.80%) *Seems to be losing at a much higher rate now
BEAVER RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 46,582
2010 Population: 43,359 (-3,223 or -6.92%)
2014 Population: 42,885 (-474 or -1.09%)
FAYETTE RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 148,658
2010 Population: 136,606 (-12,052 or -8.11%) *Entire County, and largest reason for population loss
2014 Population: 134,086 (-2,520 or -1.84%) *Entire County, and a major reason for population loss
*I think they area overestimating Fayette County, which could hurt us more in 2020. Fayette County is a true Appalachian County, with widespread poverty and no development in the entire county.
ARMSTRONG RURAL AREA
2000 Population: 70,430
2010 Population: 67,128 (-3,302 or -7.59%) *Entire county, except Freeport. Very much like Fayette Co.
2014 Population: 66,019 (-1,109 or -2.59%) *Entire county, except Freeport. Seems to be stabilzing a bit.
What do you consider expensive condos. What price range, and how many have been built or are being built.
Second point - it is usually developers and investors who decide what gets built. Not "the city". They build based on what the demand shows. Would you rather have nothing built, like in the 80s, 90's and early 00s?? That makes no sense at all.
Third point - Building new apartments and condos does not necessarily bring up living costs. It depends completely on supply and demand. Building adds new supply, should not have much affect at all on existing stock unless they are tearing down more units than they build (which usually does not happen in Pittsburgh). Costs are more likely increasing due to both the tendency of new housing to be more expensive than old, and lack of supply. Meaning more of what is in demand should be built, not less.
Fourth point - Pittsburgh is STILL one of the most affordable large metros/cities in the US. There are PLENTY of affordable neighborhoods in both the city and surrounding areas. You really shouldn't be surprised if trendy areas are expensive. It should be kind of a given.
Just add him to your ignore list. You'll feel better when you do. He posts this drivel in every thread about costs in the area.
What do you consider expensive condos. What price range, and how many have been built or are being built.
Second point - it is usually developers and investors who decide what gets built. Not "the city". They build based on what the demand shows. Would you rather have nothing built, like in the 80s, 90's and early 00s?? That makes no sense at all.
Third point - Building new apartments and condos does not necessarily bring up living costs. It depends completely on supply and demand. Building adds new supply, should not have much affect at all on existing stock unless they are tearing down more units than they build (which usually does not happen in Pittsburgh). Costs are more likely increasing due to both the tendency of new housing to be more expensive than old, and lack of supply. Meaning more of what is in demand should be built, not less.
Fourth point - Pittsburgh is STILL one of the most affordable large metros/cities in the US. There are PLENTY of affordable neighborhoods in both the city and surrounding areas. You really shouldn't be surprised if trendy areas are expensive. It should be kind of a given.
I don't consider condos over $300,000, homes starting at $300,000, and 1br apts $1200 a month to be affordable for what the Pittsburgh economy has to offer. There are only so many IT jobs. We now have these really great expensive neighborhoods next to poor, declining, and unsafe neighborhoods. So yes, there are affordable homes in Pittsburgh but not places anyone would want to live. Affluent members of Gen X,Y, and Z aren't buying homes in run down neighborhoods and fixing them up so those areas continue to decline. Gentrification has taken away the middle class neighborhoods. What option does the middle class have? Move out to the country and the census figures of the last two years support that.
I don't consider condos over $300,000, homes starting at $300,000, and 1br apts $1200 a month to be affordable for what the Pittsburgh economy has to offer.
Then why do they sell out so fast?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecarebear
There are only so many IT jobs.
IT aren't the only high-paying jobs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecarebear
We now have these really great expensive neighborhoods next to poor, declining, and unsafe neighborhoods.
Gee, that sounds like virtually every other major American city, so it's more than likely not a Pittsburgh-specific problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecarebear
Affluent members of Gen X,Y, and Z aren't buying homes in run down neighborhoods and fixing them up so those areas continue to decline.
At least affluent younger people are buying, which means that Pittsburgh must doing something right, especially considering the mantra as recently as the early 2000s was that educated and upwardly-mobile young people were stumbling over each other trying to leave as fast as they could. And at least you acknowledge that they're buying, which gives me hope that you're not a typical anti-Pittsburgher who still believes they're "fleeing in droves."
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecarebear
Gentrification has taken away the middle class neighborhoods. What option does the middle class have? Move out to the country and the census figures of the last two years support that.
No, gentrification begins in the blighted neighborhoods, not the middle-class ones. Since the late 1990s, the neighborhoods with large-scale gentrification include the Hill District, East Liberty, Lawrenceville, Larimer and the Central North Side. Of those neighborhoods, only Lawrenceville wasn't thoroughly blighted. And there are still plenty of middle-class neighborhoods that people aren't getting priced out of: Highland Park, Stanton Heights, Bloomfield, Regent Square, Greenfield, Brookline, Beechview, Brighton Heights, and more than likely a few others as well.
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