Friday, May 05, 2006
Honey, I Shrunk the District [of Columbia]
This is from from the Washington Citypaper, and describes the long-term decline in the population of the Nation's Capital, and some of the reasons why.
Shiny condos and a flashy marketing campaign haven’t solved the District’s epic population problem.
Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau seems to tell Washington it needs “city living, dc style!” more than ever.
For the past several years, the bureau and District officials have engaged in a regular, fiery, and utterly predictable tango. It goes something like this: The Census Bureau reveals numbers that show the District continues to empty; the officials complain like hell.
Today, the District is smaller in population terms than the three large suburban "Beltway" counties, Fairfax (Va.), Montgomery (Md.) and Prince George's (Md.). It wasn't always this way.
D.C.’s influence has outclassed its population for its entire history—but never more so than today. Whereas in 1950, Washington was the nation’s 9th largest city, it is now estimated by the Census Bureau to be the nation’s 24th largest, outsized by such rapidly growing burgs as El Paso and Fort Worth. Washington has less than 8 percent of New York’s population, but when it comes to media, culture, power, and people’s imaginations, D.C.’s still in the ballpark. When’s the last time you heard someone debate DFW vs. NY?
But for nearly half a century, D.C. and other U.S. cities have found it nearly impossible to maintain their populations, let alone attract new residents. It’s a trend that shows no sign of stopping: Census Bureau figures released last month show that from 2000 to 2004, 18 of the nation’s 25 largest metro areas had more people move out than move in. And a dropping population starts all sorts of downward spirals. Abandoned houses lead to crime, which leads to more abandoned houses. When children leave a school system, the buildings that held them remain, leaving surplus property that still needs to be maintained, sucking funds away from students who do stay. And it’s a failing school system that starts the most destructive downward spiral of them all, the one that kills the middle class.
See also this recent editorial by the Washington Post about the D.C. Public Schools.
And even though this Washington Monthly article by Jason DeParle is from way back in 1989, it still holds more than one nugget of truth.
The worst city government in America - Washington, D.C. - When it comes to screwing the poor and feathering their nests, the District of Columbia's bureaucrats take the prize.
Shiny condos and a flashy marketing campaign haven’t solved the District’s epic population problem.
Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau seems to tell Washington it needs “city living, dc style!” more than ever.
For the past several years, the bureau and District officials have engaged in a regular, fiery, and utterly predictable tango. It goes something like this: The Census Bureau reveals numbers that show the District continues to empty; the officials complain like hell.
Today, the District is smaller in population terms than the three large suburban "Beltway" counties, Fairfax (Va.), Montgomery (Md.) and Prince George's (Md.). It wasn't always this way.
D.C.’s influence has outclassed its population for its entire history—but never more so than today. Whereas in 1950, Washington was the nation’s 9th largest city, it is now estimated by the Census Bureau to be the nation’s 24th largest, outsized by such rapidly growing burgs as El Paso and Fort Worth. Washington has less than 8 percent of New York’s population, but when it comes to media, culture, power, and people’s imaginations, D.C.’s still in the ballpark. When’s the last time you heard someone debate DFW vs. NY?
But for nearly half a century, D.C. and other U.S. cities have found it nearly impossible to maintain their populations, let alone attract new residents. It’s a trend that shows no sign of stopping: Census Bureau figures released last month show that from 2000 to 2004, 18 of the nation’s 25 largest metro areas had more people move out than move in. And a dropping population starts all sorts of downward spirals. Abandoned houses lead to crime, which leads to more abandoned houses. When children leave a school system, the buildings that held them remain, leaving surplus property that still needs to be maintained, sucking funds away from students who do stay. And it’s a failing school system that starts the most destructive downward spiral of them all, the one that kills the middle class.
See also this recent editorial by the Washington Post about the D.C. Public Schools.
And even though this Washington Monthly article by Jason DeParle is from way back in 1989, it still holds more than one nugget of truth.
The worst city government in America - Washington, D.C. - When it comes to screwing the poor and feathering their nests, the District of Columbia's bureaucrats take the prize.
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