Livingston County - Michigan's richest County

[Dexlin]

But the growth is all on the fringe. The fastest growing parts of the metro area are the same as always, on the fringe. the fastest declining parts of the metro area are the same as always, in the core. How is there a change?

Seriously? Look at the numbers I gave for Livingston's growth. This is not debatable. I wasn't arguing that sprawl had ended, just that it's slowed way-the-hell down in the fringe counties. I'd point you to the housing permit numbers and bi-annual population figures estimates at SEMCOG. Look at where the change is. Fewer than a handful of out-county tri-county municipalities are growing at double-digit rates. Some of the fastest growing communities are in the urban parts of the tri-county, now. This was not even the case ten years ago. Growth is very clearly different than it was a decade ago. I'm not arguing from some emotional standpoint. Look at the numbers. You're the one who popped up like I showed a bat signal the moment I even so much as suggested that sprawl may be slowing down or recentering in the more urban counties. This is something you are wont to do, I've noticed.

Could you point me to one of these counties? I don't think there's one urban county nationally with worse population loss [[by number or %).

So, now you're trying to qualify it with "urban county" after I'd done that? You can't keep moving the goal posts for your emotional arguments. You didn't qualify county with anything in your original response.

Please, don't try to pretend that you don't have a hardline agenda, here. Just own it, and quit misrepresenting other people's responses. You guys are going to have to offer more than anecdotal stories. Some things are hard to measure; housing permits are pretty unassailable points of data. Livingston County is not anywhere near returning to its previous ridiculous growth rates, nor are the out-county in Oakland and Wayne where things are picking back up, but where there is also now competing urban growth where there wasn't in the previous decade.