I was looking around for something to blog about today, and for those looking for a "day in the life of" type entry, sorry but you will be disappointed. As will those that are looking for some tanatlizing political commentary, because it isn't here. Rather we are going to go to an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, one that would seem to have a positive spin on the region. The article in question is this, "Census Finds Pittsburgh Is Growing Younger".
Sounds relatively good, doesn't it? Except it's not. See the funny thing about the City of Pittsburgh is, well, it has been losing population since the 1950s. And by strictly age, it is still one of the oldest in the country. So while the population may be skewing younger slightly, that is attributable at least in small parts to death, because eventually the elderly do die, despite our best efforts to keep them in some sort of zombified-vegetative state for as long as is humanly possible just so we can say they aren't dead yet and an increase in housing of college students at the city's universities (University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University, Duquesne University). The problem with that is the basis for a population is dependent on a class of people that by and large are transients. Sure they are here now, getting a degree to better themselves, but what happens when that degree arrives? Are there jobs really here for them? Or are we just training them to ship them out, only to have another group come in to take there place and have the cycle repeat itself. There is a fundamental difference between being here and living here.
As much as the article would have you believe things are looking on the up and up for Pittsburgh, there is scant evidence to support that claim. There is no evidence of overall growth of the city, only that younger people make up a bigger piece of what may very well still be a shrinking pie. At one point in time the Pittsburgh region was the 5th largest media market in the country. While a media market also includes the outlying areas and not just the city proper, it is a good tool for determining the growth or lack thereof of a region. Pittsburgh is now #25 on that very same list, planted firmly between Charlotte and Riverside/San Bernadino. So let's not go cutting cake and popping champagne because some old people died, skewing the age curve ever so slightly. Chances are old people will continue to die and unless the city comes up with a plan of retaining younger people beyond a 4 year college stay all this means is that the last college graduate will be responsible for turning out the lights before they leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment