Cities and the Census: Cities Neither Booming Nor Withering
7th April 2011
For many mayors across the country, including New York City’s Michael Bloomberg, the recently announced results of the 2010 census were a downer. In a host of cities, the population turned out to be substantially lower than the U.S. Census Bureau had estimated for 2010—in New York’s case, by some 250,000 people. Bloomberg immediately called the decade’s meager 2.1 percent growth, less than one-quarter the national average, an “undercount.” Senator Charles Schumer blamed extraterrestrials, accusing the Census Bureau of “living on another planet.” The truth, though, is that the census is very much of this world. It just isn’t the world that mayors, the media, and most urban planners want to see.
I love that name, ‘urban planners’. What a marvelous reflection of the innate statism of those who are in control of city life these days! I suppose it must be a lot like ‘cat wrangler’ — lots of failure, but hey, you still get paid.