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Census Bureau reports 1,382 people left Akron
Published on Thursday, Jul 10, 2008
From staff and wire reports
CLEVELAND: Hurt by manufacturing job losses, Cleveland had the largest population decline among the nation's big cities in the past year and the second-worst percentage drop since 2000, trailing only Hurricane Katrina-devastated New Orleans.
Among Ohio's six biggest cities, only Columbus and Cincinnati managed increases since 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in population estimates released today.
Cleveland's population dipped 1.1 percent from 443,109 in 2006 to 438,042 last year, the biggest numerical drop among big U.S. cities, the Census Bureau said. The city's 8.3 percent drop from 2000's 477,472 was the second greatest rate of decline in the nation, behind only New Orleans.
From 2006 to 2007, Columbus rose 0.6 percent to 747,755 and Cincinnati was up 0.2 percent to 332,458. Ohio's other big cities were population losers: Akron down 0.7 percent, Dayton 0.8 percent and Toledo 0.9 percent.
Akron lost 1,382 people within the past year. Since 2000, the city has lost 4.2 percent of its population and has had one of the biggest percentage drops among major cities in the nation.
Only 14 cities — including Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo — rank worse.
Akron's population now is 207,934, down from 217,074 in the 2000 census.
Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who was visiting the city's sister city of Rouen, France, said high-profile projects including $1 billion in hospital construction and $500 million for a riverfront development would improve the city's image and reverse the population decline.
''Not immediately, but over time we expect that it will,'' he said.
After speaking Wednesday in Cleveland at the Great Lakes Manufacturing Council Forum, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Ohio cities near Lake Erie could see a population surge rather than a decline.
''Perhaps in the not too distant future, people are going to be leaving arid areas of this country, the New Mexicos and the Arizonas,'' he said. ''They'll come running back to Ohio, because we have water, and they're going to be thirsty.''
But Strickland recognized that some Ohio cities must make more immediate progress to stem population loss.
''I believe we have not fully or adequately engaged in the kind of planning that would discourage population loss,'' he said.
In Cincinnati, Mayor Mark Mallory was unhappy with the estimate and said he was prepared to challenge the data ''even if it's only one person short of what we think it should be.'' He said the accuracy of the data was important for several reasons, including how federal aid is allocated and how companies make retailing decisions.
In Avon, 18 miles west of Cleveland along the Interstate 90 corridor, the population has grown 46 percent from 2000 to last year's estimate of 16,717. About half the newcomers moved from out-of-state, attracted by good schools and new homes, Mayor James A. Smith said.
Smith said Cleveland's dwindling population was a concern because the region depends on the city as its focus. ''It's scary. You still have to have a nucleus,'' he said.
From staff and wire reports
Get the full article here.
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