BY TOM WALSH
DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST


Think of the 2010 census numbers as the "thud" moment for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.

Michigan has been a slow-growth state since the 1970s. Detroit's population has been dropping for 60 years.

But while the trends may be familiar, the stark numbers for the first decade of the 21st Century are jarring evidence of a city and state hitting bottom. With a thud.
Or so we hope.

Maybe, just maybe, future historians will note that Michigan's revival began after it was the only state in the union to lose population from 2000-10, a period when Detroit alone lost 25% of its people -- and the state's auto industry employment plunged 50%, from 1,130,000 to 566,000.


Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110323/COL06/103230448/0/FEATURES13/Tom-Walsh-2010-census-may-final-thud-before-comeback?odyssey=nav|head