Well, it seems that all the attention to Cincinnati's precipitous population loss, which attention this blogger vigorously poo-pooed, was so much Chicken-Little behavior.
The US Census Bureau now estimates that Cincinnati didn't lose population faster than any American city. No, between 2000 and 2005 it gained 27 residents.
In sum, the city challenged the original numbers, saying that the estimate undercounted the number of new housing units in the city. And the obliging folks in Washington adjusted their numbers accordingly.
Of course, the very fact that Cincinnati went from worst (in the nation) to first (or nearly so in Ohio, where it joins Columbus as one of two major cities to add people) makes one disbelieve the entire enterprise of guessing how many people live in a city.
Nevertheless, we stand by our earlier assertions as to what suburbanites are missing by not living closer to the action and what the city needs to do to create better perceptions and reality about the quality of life within its borders.
Not least, we call again on our cowardly and balkanized local leaders to sacrifice their tiny municipal fiefdoms and reorganize the entirety of Hamilton County to become the City of Cincinnati, like its successful neighbors within the 100 mile radius of interstate highways.
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That's the good news. The bad news is that the latest statistics rank Cincinnati as the 18th most dangerous city in America (according to Morgan Quitno Press). Cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Washington, Newark, and Columbus all rank lower in violent crime.
By the way, the top two most crime-ridden cities (according to the study) are St. Louis and Detroit. It makes you wonder if steroid use somehow figured in the results.
Agreed, and in our usual civic spirit of boosterism, we've chosen not to comment on these awful statistics.
We will say that the aforementioned dangerous cities have not experienced the recent urban renaissance to the degree that the aforementioned safer cities have. Hence, there are higher concentrations of folks with social problems in the cities without the renaissance.
Cincinnati: safer than Gary, Indiana!
The good news is that the violent crime in Cincinnati is fairly well contained. That is, unless one is involved in drug trafficing in OTR or Price Hill or gang activity in Avondale, he is actually quite safe in this great city. As a former city coroner revealed of his substantial career in that office, he could count on one hand the number of murders in which the victim was not an aquaintance of the murderer. Lesson: know no murderers and don't get murdered.
However, when one's purpose in life calls him to make friends with murderers and, say, tax collectors this advice is rather useless. Yet, it is my experience that those who choose to follow such a calling are usually prepared to take up some sort of death-instrument and do what is necessary.
The point is that violence in Cincinnati is (thankfully?) lmited to circles already involved in criminal lifestyles. This is not good, but it s stll better than living in a city where violence is so often indiscriminate (L.A., Detroit, Belfast etc.) These situations are actually much more dangerous to law abiding citizens than a city like Cincinnati even though the Queen City has more violence by volume. This is like the difference between fats and trans fats (so I'm told).
We should throw a party for those 27 people. It wouldn't cost too much money. I'd like to meet them, shake their hands, learn their names, and thank them for salvaging the eternally important reputation of the city of Cincinnati. Way to go guys and gals!
On 2nd thought, I think those 27 people might be additional jailbirds that Heimlech has squished into the Hamilton County jail, beyond it's normal capacity.
Since the drug business is booming in Cincinnati, we keep attracting new residents, especially inside the jail. When the new jail is built we can get out the party favors and kazoos. The population of Hamilton County and the city of Cincinnati will explode.
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