713,000

[mwilbert]

I would take issue with a lot of stuff in that article, but the chronology is silly.

[maxx]

from the Sowell article:
Detroit is perhaps the most striking example of a once thriving city ruined by years of liberal social policies. Before the ghetto riots of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent.
It was not despair that fueled the riot.

Oh, no? Then what was it? Too much vacation time? If you want to talk about the Detroit riots ---which were not started by affluent people who felt like gov. prey---
then talk about the causes and stop conflating them with liberal policies.



Detroit is perhaps the most striking example of a once thriving city ruined by years of liberal social policies. Before the ghetto riots of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent.
It was not despair that fueled the riot.

http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/d_index.htm

[schulzte]

The losses in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and St. Louis are all comparable to Detroit, and I think these cities are probably the best overall comparisons. For some reason Pittsburgh is touted as revitalized when it continues to lose big chunks of population [[faster than even Metro Detroit).

As for NYC and Chicago, they really are quite different cities from one another, and from Detroit. Both cities have revitalized, but NYC has had a much stronger and more sustained revitalization. Really all of NYC has revitalized, while only the downtown/yuppie portions of Chicago have revitalized.

This can be seen in NYC's strong population growth and low unemployment, while Chicago has severe population loss [[numerically almost as bad as Detroit) and high unemployment.

IMO, if Detroit is one end of the spectrum, and NYC is the other end, then Chicago is probably somewhere in the middle, with characteristics of both cities.

As for Detroit, I am surprised at the Hispanic population numbers. I have heard anecdotally that they are moving Downriver, but SW Detroit sure seems more Mexican to me than in years past.

All of these cities have declined similarly, though Detroit at a faster pace the past 10 years.

City 1950 2010 % change
St. Louis 856,796 319,294 -62.7
Detroit 1,849,568 713,777 -61.4
Cleveland 914,808 396,815 -56.6
Buffalo 580,132 262,310 -55.0
Pittsburgh 676,806 305,704 -54.8

http://www.newolympia.blogspot.com

[vetalalumni]

More on the subject from Thomas Sugrue's March 26, 2011 OP-ED in the NYTimes.

Titled "A Dream Still Deferred" [[read here) --> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27Sugrue.html


Excerpt from second paragraph -

... In the Detroit metropolitan area, blacks are moving into so-called secondhand suburbs: established communities with deteriorating housing stock that are falling out of favor with younger white homebuyers. If historical trends hold, these suburbs will likely shift from white to black — and soon look much like Detroit itself, with resegregated schools, dwindling tax bases and decaying public services.

[iheartthed]

Oh, no? Then what was it? Too much vacation time? If you want to talk about the Detroit riots ---which were not started by affluent people who felt like gov. prey---
then talk about the causes and stop conflating them with liberal policies.



Detroit is perhaps the most striking example of a once thriving city ruined by years of liberal social policies. Before the ghetto riots of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent.
It was not despair that fueled the riot.

http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/d_index.htm

What's funny about that is he cites the homeownership rates of black Detroiters and then doesn't make a point about it... Because if he did then he would also have to say that black Detroiters in 2011 also have the highest homeownership rates in the country.

[April1982]

713,000 sounds about right, I was thinking it would be somewheres around there. I live in the city in the Dexter/Davison area and the amount of vacant homes around here is crazy, there are at least 15 on my street alone.