The steepness of the drop prompted a skeptical reaction at Cleveland City Hall. "We believe it is a significant undercount"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 03/10/2011 - 02:44.

Data provided by U.S. Census Bureau.

Cleveland Sees Plunge in Population, reports the Wall Street Journal today, announcing: "A larger-than-expected exodus from Cleveland during the past decade shrunk the city's population by 17% to about 397,000, according to U.S. Census data released Wednesday." That's right, Cleveland's population has crashed below the 400K floor for the first time since around the start of the 20th Century, which triggers all sorts of unsustainable, shrinking, un-re-imaginable financial and political realities for leadership and citizens here.

Perhaps the only silver lining is that this proof of Cleveland political and leadership failure will have a significant price of leaders' heads. From the Wall Street Journal:

Political observers said the decline could tilt the balance of political power in one of America's most hotly contested swing states.

"Ohio is expected to lose two congressional districts, and this big decline in Cleveland suggests that both could come out of northeastern Ohio," a Democratic stronghold, said John Green, a University of Akron political-science professor.

On his FaceBook page, Cleveland City Councilman Cummins posted:

"Cleveland City Council, as expected, will be decreased from 19 Wards to 17 for the 2013 election, with the redistricting taking effect Jan. 2014. Now we have confirmation of where we stand, we need to take more significant action on City, County and Regional reform."

Leadership in Cleveland Mayor Jackson's Happy-Virus-infected City Hall seems to have different plans: living in denial... and asking President Obama for a recount of our homeless, it seems...

The steepness of the drop prompted a skeptical reaction at Cleveland City Hall. "We believe it is a significant undercount," said City Planner Robert Brown."

We very much question the accuracy of the count," said Mr. Brown, the city planner.

City officials said Wednesday that the foreclosure crisis struck particularly hard, forcing many residents to leave and prompting others to take shelter in places where they failed to gain the notice of census takers.

In a turnabout from the 1990s, Cleveland had a net loss of blacks during the past decade, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, adding that Cleveland received a smaller bump from incoming Hispanics than did many other Midwestern cities such as Chicago.

Mayor Frank G. Jackson said the census figures failed to reflect the laying of groundwork for a residential renaissance downtown as well as a continuing evolution of Cleveland—a quintessential Rust Belt city—into a center of medicine, finance and biotechnology, alongside a base of manufacturers

So... to the sophisticated readers of the global WSJ, our city leaders blame Clevelanders for being poor, foreclosed-upon, leaving, and taking shelter where we failed to be noticed (e.g under bridges, homeless shelters, in the woods by the river)... making Clevelanders seem like pathetic idiots-by-proxy, as usual.

Whereas, any citizen who has watched Mayor Jackson et al lead this city and region, for the past decade, has seen "leaders" waste $billions in Federal tax funds on sprawling the wealth and good-living away from Cleveland, with minimal, window-dressing-Gentrifying "groundwork for a residential renaissance downtown"... while constantly, brutally poisoning, ripping apart and demolishing the largely-black East Side and other impoverished urban environmental injustice communities where leaders consider residents unworthy of public service - driving black residents into poverty, poor health, foreclosure and out of town.

"It is what it is", as the leader of all that redlining and blighting, Mayor Jackson, loves to say... as the 2010 census numbers prove the impact of his redlining is "Cleveland had a net loss of blacks during the past decade".

Demographers inside and outside of Ohio expected the 2010 population to drop to about 430,000. Its actual fall to below 400,000 is humbling for a city once ranked as America's fifth largest, with its population peaking in 1950 at 915,000.

The drop also shatters the turnaround hopes that arose when Cleveland lost only 5% of its population during the 1990s, following a 12% drop in the 1980s and a 24% drop in the 1970s. The latest drop of 17% is second only to that '70s decline.

From Cleveland Plain Dealer coverage of the bad census news - 2010 census population numbers show Cleveland below 400,000; Northeast Ohio down 2.2 percent - and perhaps more disturbing than Cleveland's 80,000 resident drop... Cuyahoga County's population declined to 1,280,122, down 8.2 percent from 1,393,979... a reduction of OVER 112,000!

Perhaps some smart, financially-mobile Cuyahoga County residents noticed the taxation-without representation and other political stupidity and corruption here and moved AWAY.. perhaps?!?!

"The latest numbers show the eight-county Cleveland-Akron metro area has 2,881,937 people. This is a 2.2 percent drop from 2000."

A site called reports declines in population for the inner-ring Cleveland suburb of Cleveland Heights are similar to Cuyahoga County:

The population in Cleveland Heights dropped by more than 7 percent during the past decade and became more diverse, according to data from the 2010 U.S. Census released today.

Cleveland Heights lost 3,836 residents, going from 49,958 people in 2000 to 46,121 in 2010. The white population decreased by 12 percent or 3,245 residents, and the black or African-American population dropped by 6 percent, or 1,286 residents.

White residents now make up just less than 50 percent of the population, and black or African-American residents comprise 42 percent. 

While the white and black or African-American segments of the population dipped, the number of Asian residents almost doubled, and the Hispanic or Latino population grew by 14 percent.

By contrast, from the Census Bureau website, from 2000-2010:

  • the population of Ohio grew by 1.8%
  • the population of the Midwest grew by 3.9%
  • the population of the USA grew by 9.7%, to nearly 310,000,000.

Data provided by U.S. Census Bureau.

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Whoever is bargaining union public-sector jobs in Cleveland

Whoever is bargaining union public-sector jobs in Cleveland - road jobs - public works jobs - we need you to collectively fire about 20% of everyone, in every job classification, to match the declines in our population.

20% fewer teachers... police... firemen... FEWER GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATORS - FEWER BUREAUCRATS - FEWER WONKS - collectively, 1,000s of surplus government workers have got to go. NOW!

City Hall - collectively fire 50% of those losers - even higher percentages in Cuyahoga County government, where the leaders just collectively spent nearly $200 million of our dollars on a new, unnecessary Justice Center.

Sell that to the Cleveland Clinic... it's nicer than their old hospital buildings.

Time for some justice to be taken out on the collective government workers who failed here... and that means firing lots of little people who have looked the other ways and allowed corruption to eat the soul and life out of the community...

All this is the price of political corruption... decades of corruption... and pollution.

Disrupt IT

so - we'll be left with what? trust fund babies?

so - we'll be left with what? trust fund babies?

and the population will drop to 200,000.... who will work for you people?


you know, its not the people who punch a time clock every day that you have to worry about - its the ones who DON'T.

They left and turned the lights off long ago

They left and turned the lights off long ago - the first to go... they don't live with pollution.

Disrupt IT

More Jackson Gems: "We're going to stay on our game"

From ongoing, uplifting Plain Dealer coverage of 80,000 people be leaving Cleveland in the past decade - Despite Cleveland's population plunge, civic leaders see encouraging signs - our civic leaders discuss our renaissance... with the Plain Dealer observing: "city officials may contest the headcount and pressure census officials to look for more residents, arguing the economic crisis created a mobile, hard-to-count community.":

"We knew there was going to be a loss. We did not think it was going to be this many," said a surprised Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

"We're going to stay on our game," Mayor Jackson said.

"Without the foreclosure crisis," he said, "we believe the population loss would have been minimal."

"That's something we didn't have in 2000, open jobs," said Baiju Shah, BioEnterprise president and chairman of the initiative.

"From a purely demographic standpoint, Ohio's just not getting the Hispanics that other, even Midwest states are getting," said William Frey, a national census expert with the Brookings Institution.

"You don't want to be perceived as a shrinking city," Brown (Policy Bridge) said. "There's just a fear that those are the cities people don't want to move to, that businesses don't want to go to. We certainly have a lot of work to do to turn this around."

Mayor Jackson said... "We're going to continue to invest in our neighborhoods and invest in education, which is the key variable.

I find Jackson's comment that "education" is the key variable is disingenuous, as we know very well that failure of our education and citizens is directly correlated to high lead poisoning rates here, and Jackson has not done nearly enough to address either... and the results we have are expected - lead poisoned, toxified disaster - being a major reason families flee from Cleveland in the first place, and few choose to move here from near or far.


An honest, intelligent person will recognize those circumstances - outcomes of lead poisoning - will have great impact on the performance of a child in school - harm the learning of students around him/her - disrupt sub-optimal general learning systems - resulting in the failure of lead poisoned students and their classrooms and schools, and so their communities.

As for Clevelanders... as I reported, with "In honor of the Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference, reflections on lead poisoning and vacant property in Cleveland":


And, as of 2008, from Environmental Health Watch:


Making lead poisoning in Cleveland the worst in the nation.

You'll notice the correlation of ongoing lead poisonings above to failing Cleveland schools, summarized in the chart below, from CMSD (reproduced from the PD):




While Northeast Ohio industrial powers-that-be shall determine who shall replace Sanders, it is safe to say they don't currently have a clue who that replacement should be - Sanders' retirement was completely unexpected. So, all options are open in the search for CMSD's new CEO, who must carry forward heavy-handed Cleveland Foundation and Greater Cleveland Partnership et. al. industrial transformation objectives (or not get hired) while improving significantly upon Sanders performance by every standard.

I believe the #1 criteria for choosing the next CEO of CMSD is to insure he or she shall make Cleveland #1 in the world in educating lead poisoned children, and preventing lead poisoning of future generations of Clevelanders, as lead poisoning is the #1 cause of the failure of our schools and economy.


Disrupt IT

Oh my poor Jewel on the Erie

Oh my poor Jewel on the Erie lake

Is anyone left there who could make

A difference, for Cleveland's sake?

In the Fifties you were a Great Land's Fifth (largest!) city

Now--not even the Top Fifty?!?--Oh---the pity!

From Edgewater, to Gordon Park, to Euclid Beach!

What do the schools there teach?

Is it all crime and grime, all the time?

Where have nearly 600,000 Clevelanders gone?

Did they flee?  Or only put themselves and their families first?

Did they tire of the race-baiting?  The endless racial politics?

Did they know their investments weren't safe?

Did they know that they and loved ones weren't either?

Education and safety-----is it more clear than that?

What kind of mother or father wouldn't STRIVE to get away from a place that didn't have good public schools or safe streets? 

That's right---let's rant about the pollution!!

Let's pat ourselves on the back when we "Speak Truth to Power!"

Here's the realdeal, REALNEO:  Y'all just want your government pie.  Now, sit back and enjoy.

That's right---let's rant about the pollution!!

That's right---let's rant about the pollution!!

People who can afford have been leaving Cleveland because of pollution for over 100 years... just follow the McMansions... last generation, moving to tax havens as far from our smokestacks and as warm as may be.

And they turned out the lights and heat on the people they left behind.

Note how you can barely see MetroHealth across the polluted valley

Disrupt IT

Don't "snuff" us....

greatboldworld....remember, didn't Mama teach you not to "throw stones?", that a rock don't fall on your head.  We aren't ranting. We believe action speaks louder than words...and we "DO What We Can...God Bless You and Yours.'re no fun! Every're no fun!

Every city kid went down the alleys picking up stones and pitching 'em at garbarge cans, poles, whatever was handy.  Yeah, that last one may have crossed the line into vandalism once in a while, but, it's a phase.

As for a rock, ah "falling"--thanks for the heads-up.  I got to think realneoans know about that.  But, I just don't see the action that you speak of.  "Writing grants", and "how to hold meetings" probably does work when you're trying to get someone else to pay for your projects though.

Is "mytown" a reference to that great Michael Stanley song with the Harley-Davidson kick start intro?  Great tune!

And, ah....Ricardo Valenzuela (Ritchie Valens)......didn't steal "La Bamba" from anyone.  And so what if he did?

Keep doing what you can--with your own effort and money.

God Bless you and yours

Social Pollution sent 'em

Social Pollution sent 'em packing

Industrial pollution didn't send all the rich packing.  And it certainly didn't do it for the middle and lower-middle classes.  Large homes on Walton Avenue housed West Side business owners.  Millionaires Row on Prospect housed more.  Then there were the estates off the Lake along Edgewater and Clifton.  New York City was full of horses___ in the street, and the rich "fled" all the way to the upper east side.  Yep--polluters destroyed the Cleveland of the mid-twentieth century!

We can only hope that people who believe this don't breed.

So, because some people worked their tails off to get out and provide a better life for their kids you say they went to tax havens!???!!....Do you mean the suburbs? Where they can pay three times as much, or four times, etc. for a house of comparable quality to a Cleveland home?  And then pay taxes on those kind of assessed values?  Yeah, that sure sounds like a tax haven to me. 

Worse, the nearly 600,000 people who got out turned out the lights and heat on everyone left behind!!???....WHAT is that supposed to mean?....Are the exiles not paying the utility bill for the town, now?  Look--that bill gets transferred to the new residents. Or, the ones who stay there.  Everyone knows that.

Deadly streets, non-functioning schools---and realneoans go on about pollution and the McMansions of ex-Clevelanders.  If it weren't sad, maybe I might laugh.  Just keep nodding, congratulating one another and drinking the Kool-Aid.  Meanwhile, ex-Clevelanders will come to a game or a concert, and head right back out to their safe neighborhoods in the burbs, with a little sadness as they head out of town.  How can anyone blame THEM?

You're killing me, here.  Just busting my chops.

Does anybody remember the song from the '60s--Clean Up Your Own Backyard?

My backyard is in East Cleveland and has chickens

East Cleveland Chickens

My backyard is in East Cleveland and has chickens.

We have a large garden, gravel drive, cleaned up the lead, and educate others on all that - and I put my life and family on the line to shut down the MCCO coal power plant in MY BACKYARD.

You are an industry troll and revolting.

You are a pollution denier and personally responsible for poisoning 1,000,000s of children and old people in my backyard alone - KILLING THEM - SHAME ON YOU.


Disrupt IT

Yum, yum!....  they look

Yum, yum!....  they look like tasty little fellers in your backyard....why, you even managed to have diviersity chickens!!   You should be so proud.  There's a black one, and a brown one, and ....a lilywhite one!  Maybe he has never even visited your backyard in East Cleveland (Yikes!). 

No, I don't know the Cleveland that you seem to know.  My Cleveland was filled with hard-working people who took care of their property and their families.  They lived within their means.  They did what they could to have the means they needed.  They got up every morning.  They took jobs that were hard, dirty, and often dangerous.  They made sure their kids were educated. 

Your Cleveland seems to be waiting for 40 acres and a Gov'ment mule.  The people on this site seem angry that they don't hav some cushy gov'ment job.  I doubt you grew up in Cleveland, or graduated from a Cleveland public high school.  Did you ever work in a factory?  A foundry?  On the ships at the waterfront?  No, you're a paperpusher with a degree or two, I figure.  Like me, now. 

So, you admit to having a gravel driveway...How green!!1....So, you do drive?  How do you ever manage to sleep at night?  I mean, you are someone who "educate others on all that".

As for "putting my life and family on the line"--positively heroic!!!  Are you all OK?  However, most men that I know would never choose to put their family on the line, whatever you mean by that.  They are much too important.  That's kind of why 600,000 Clevelanders have fled, with their families and their dreams.

So, I'm a troll, and revolting.  I guess your gloves are off!!  Thank you for reminding me of the millions of children and old people I've poisoned in your backyard alone.  But, really, whatever you're on, maybe it's a little self-aggrandizing. 

No, the worst pollution if the old town doesn't come from smokestacks.  Enjoy your "new Cleveland".

GreatBoldWorld--please identify yourself.  Your comments are not all off-base.  The personal attacks though indicate that you are part of the old Cleveland model.  RealNEO is not perfect--but it has provided a much needed dose of media reality in NEO.  None of us are perfect here.

Norm talks about the site--an AOL project--it currently employs a bunch of out of work journalists from the Plain Dealer etc. and it provides no coverage whatsoever of Cleveland, proper--as if the city disappeared like Atlantis.

I wish we did have some of the working class/work with your hands mentality you talk about in your post.  We sure could use some real men and women in NEO.  Some real artists, too.  Not the bullshit artists we are living with today--REimagining....


imcshane---maybe...not now,

imcshane---maybe...not now, as to "please identify" for a new Cleveland model and an old one...let's just say that growing up in a working class city always meant that you were expected to keep your B.S. detector on "high" and to call things as you see 'em. 

Our teachers weren't afraid to say "That's a stupid idea.".  Our parents would ask "What, are you stupid?".  They did us a favor.  And, our self-esteem got over it.  There were a few basic values in play.  It was okay to say about someone "she's a bum", if, indeed, she was.  Maybe you don't have to dwell on it.  But, please don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.  No, I'm not a big fan of one-way Kum by Yah (sic) correctness.  It's dangerous to not have our eyes wide open about the agendas around us.  What's an agenda?  Basically, it's what you have whenever you get people plotting to get others to pay their bills.  It's that simple. 

Take a look back at personal attacks.  Sure, I was critical, even sarcastic about some ideas here.  But, as usual, it was one of the chosen, knowing few who started tossing the names.  ("troll, etc.).  No surprise there.

So, those ex-PD staffers are getting paid at AOL?  Nice going.  Hope they can do some good work.  I'll check out the group.  Thanks.

Your point about artists and tradesmen is on the money.  They are the shipmates that a successful vessel needs.  Mostly, they just don't see the point to endless blah, blah, blah.  And, when they do, they see the agenda.  Artists and tradesmen are doers.  Self-interested agendas tick 'em off, I think.

Let's face it.  Of the less than 400,000 souls in Cleveland,  tens of thousands of them are bloodsuckers.  Thousands are criminal predators.  The remaining law-abiding working stiffs there have to navigate around them.  It ain't easy.  God bless 'em. 

Good weekend.  Spare a thought for N.E. Japan. 


You are doing a stand up job gbw

Even when it ain't easy huh??

Cleveland can come back, but NOT with some these crooks in office (+ some of those police that are power hungry ) and courts run the way they do.  They need to get it safer - those are a start.

Japan is going to need alot of prayers

[TAKAJO, Japan — Japanese police say the official death toll from last week's massive earthquake and tsunami has risen to 2,414.]

and they and surrounding are not done yet, very serious situation for millions.     

As some 200,000 people are evacuated from the area, is Japan facing a nuclear disaster?   [//]

There can be food and fuel shortages.......Betty





Shouldn't Cleveland City Council Drop to 16

Shouldn't Cleveland City Council Drop to 16... the Plain Dealer indicates 1 council member per 25,000 residents, and we are below 400,000 = 16 x 25,000 - Cleveland's shifting population could lead to loss in black City Council members:

With Cleveland's new population at just under 397,000, City Council will have to reduce the number of seats from 19 to 17 in time for the 2013 election. The City Charter mandates a reduction if the city's population falls below 425,000.

It will be council's responsibility to redraw the boundaries. By charter, each ward is supposed to hew as closely as possible to a population of 25,000.

The East Side population plummeted 22.3 percent between 2000 and 2010 while the West Side dropped by 9.5 percent. While many black East Siders no doubt fled the city altogether, a sizable number ended up on the West Side, which has a reputation for having better schools and more stable neighborhoods.

So we should get rid of three of the current council seats - and replace most of the council people keeping those seats warm and ineffective through this disaster.

Of course, the Plain Dealer just assumes the same 19 losers will just have a run-off for the 17 seats they will be allowed now, so the same people may preside over the next 80,000 departures... and then there should just be 12.

How much money did taxpayers save by reducing council from 21 to 19 council members?

Were there any job reductions from that at all, besides salaries for the two elected officials we eliminated?