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Downtown areas in the rust belt seem to be making a comeback

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Masterhawk

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Many of us have heard of the declining midwest. The manufacturing hubs of the US are losing jobs. And indeed, this is true. After the end of the 1940s, many major cities in the midwest began losing people, a trend which seems to be continuing to this day. Meanwhile, the US has roughly doubled its population since 1950. In 2010, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland had a population which half of its 1950s peak. Detroit, Youngstown, and St. Louis were at a measly third of 1950s peak population. And despite all of the media coverage of Chicago suffering from decay, the windy city retained 74% of its peak population in 1950.

However, since the beginning of the 2000s, the downtown areas of many midwestern cities began growing much faster than the national average. From 2000 to 2010, the population of downtown Pittsburgh increased by roughly a third, even as the city as a whole lost 8.6% of its population over the same time period. From 2010 to 2016, downtown Cleveland's population increased by almost 20%. Downtown Chicago is split into four neighborhoods: Near North Side, Near South Side, Near West Side, and the Loop (epicenter of downtown where the Willis Tower can be found). From 2000 to 2010, near north side grew by 10.4%, near west side grew by 18.2%, near south side grew by an astounding 121.6%, and the loop grew by 80.3%. In that same timeframe, the nation as a whole grew by 9.7%. From 2010 to 2015, near north side grew by 6.5%, near west side grew by 12.5%, near south side grew by 4.7% (much less impressive than the prior decade), and the loop grew by 14.2%. In that same timeframe, the nation as a whole grew by 4% so each of the downtown Chicago neighborhoods grew faster than the national average.

The near west side is starting to experience a building boom:
https://chicago.curbed.com/maps/west-loop-construction-development
 
Masterhawk said:
Many of us have heard of the declining midwest. The manufacturing hubs of the US are losing jobs. And indeed, this is true. After the end of the 1940s, many major cities in the midwest began losing people, a trend which seems to be continuing to this day. Meanwhile, the US has roughly doubled its population since 1950. In 2010, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland had a population which half of its 1950s peak. Detroit, Youngstown, and St. Louis were at a measly third of 1950s peak population. And despite all of the media coverage of Chicago suffering from decay, the windy city retained 74% of its peak population in 1950.

However, since the beginning of the 2000s, the downtown areas of many midwestern cities began growing much faster than the national average. From 2000 to 2010, the population of downtown Pittsburgh increased by roughly a third, even as the city as a whole lost 8.6% of its population over the same time period. From 2010 to 2016, downtown Cleveland's population increased by almost 20%. Downtown Chicago is split into four neighborhoods: Near North Side, Near South Side, Near West Side, and the Loop (epicenter of downtown where the Willis Tower can be found). From 2000 to 2010, near north side grew by 10.4%, near west side grew by 18.2%, near south side grew by an astounding 121.6%, and the loop grew by 80.3%. In that same timeframe, the nation as a whole grew by 9.7%. From 2010 to 2015, near north side grew by 6.5%, near west side grew by 12.5%, near south side grew by 4.7% (much less impressive than the prior decade), and the loop grew by 14.2%. In that same timeframe, the nation as a whole grew by 4% so each of the downtown Chicago neighborhoods grew faster than the national average.

The near west side is starting to experience a building boom:
https://chicago.curbed.com/maps/west-loop-construction-development
Click to expand...

The thing about Chicago is that the Voodoo Economics have pretty much run out of MOJO, taxes are skyrocketing, departures are imminent.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
The thing about Chicago is that the Voodoo Economics have pretty much run out of MOJO, taxes are skyrocketing, departures are imminent.
Click to expand...

Mostly that will get middle and upper economic class people who retire, young people who leave for college or the military never to return, and parents who reach the economic ability to get their children out of there. The poor, unemployed, those of the welfare class, homeless, druggies and alcoholics, and who otherwise can't or won't are who remains - ever costing more while per person increasingly contributing less in a downward spiral.
 
joko104 said:
Mostly that will get middle and upper economic class people who retire, young people who leave for college or the military never to return, and parents who reach the economic ability to get their children out of there. The poor, unemployed, those of the welfare class, homeless, druggies and alcoholics, and who otherwise can't or won't are who remains - ever costing more while per person increasingly contributing less in a downward spiral.
Click to expand...

Chicago is an imminent disaster for the same reason Detroit is a disaster.....many many years of crap leaders who should have never been installed or tolerated.

Note: In Chicago's case the staggering debt of the schools to include pension gets added to staggering moneys owed by the city proper...there is approximately zero chance that all this can get paid while keeping the city functioning...Hard times are acoming.
 
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Downtown areas in the rust belt seem to be making a comeback
Click to expand...
It'll be a good thing if they do.

Basic economics playing out exactly as indicated.
 
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