Today's Enquirer continues coverage of population loss in Cincinnati (motto: "Are they leaving because we eat goetta?") with a glimpse of the 'burbs. Seems that with a couple of exceptions (e.g., Green Township, with much undeveloped land to which sewers have recently been extended), pretty much every established community is losing population. Mariemount and Wyoming--without question the communities in Hamilton County with the most charming homes, most outstanding schools and most miniscule crime rates--both showed percentage drops equal to or greater than the city proper.
Even the toniest have decline: will the last person out of Indian Hill and Terrace Park please leave a note for the pool guy?
So what's the story? Part of it is, in the words of one official: we're built out.
But some suburban government administrators are questioning the census bureau's figures, which are estimates based on such things as housing permits. A flaw in the foundational data supplied by the state (and who would suggest that the alert and efficient government of the State of Ohio might have made a mistake?) or a flaw in the method of the estimate can yield a highly flawed result.
Those with a memory of the previous actual census in 2000 will recall the heated discussion about "surveys" versus direct censuses, communities complaining about being undercounted with the actual census, and the very obvious corrections that physically counting everyone in a community made to the estimates made in the years between the official census.
Or let's put it differently. It seems that we no longer trust the CIA to tell us how many WMD a nation has unless they've actually seen them. How much should we trust the Census Bureau to conduct its own clandestine surveillance of Cincinnati?
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