"Shrinking" Cities and Stress
Here's another index, this time not of sustainability but of America's most troubled cities developed by a consortium of business journals, with percentage of vacant homes one of the key indicators of city stress:
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/02/07/daily39.html
The seven factors included in ACBJ's study were:
Percentage of people living below the federally designated poverty level
Ratio of households with low annual incomes (below $25,000) to those with high incomes (above $100,000)
Unemployment rate
Percentage of adults (25 or older) who didn't graduate from high school
Percentage of households defined by the Census Bureau as "linguistically isolated," meaning that no one older than 13 speaks English well
Percentage of families headed by one adult, with no spouse present
Percentage of homes sitting vacant (not including vacation homes)
Hartford ranked 1st among large cities, followed by Newark, Brownsville, Miami, and Buffalo.
Experts cited in the article claim that stressed cities are there because of undealt-with, long-term problems:
""Typically, the cities at the worst end of the scale have been there for a long time," says Montiel, one of the authors of the institute's report. Four cities with the highest stress levels in ACBJ's study -- Hartford, Newark, Miami and Buffalo -- have consistently done poorly on the Rockefeller Institute's index. Each has ranked among the nation's 15 most-troubled cities ever since the institute began its rankings in 1970. Their fate, says Montiel, can serve as an object lesson for cities everywhere. "When we study urban hardship, we're giving a warning," she says. "We're saying that there are certain factors that cities need to pay attention to. If they don't, they could have serious problems in 30 or 40 years."
Based on this information, do you think San Diego might become a "stressed city"? Why or why not?
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/02/07/daily39.html
The seven factors included in ACBJ's study were:
Percentage of people living below the federally designated poverty level
Ratio of households with low annual incomes (below $25,000) to those with high incomes (above $100,000)
Unemployment rate
Percentage of adults (25 or older) who didn't graduate from high school
Percentage of households defined by the Census Bureau as "linguistically isolated," meaning that no one older than 13 speaks English well
Percentage of families headed by one adult, with no spouse present
Percentage of homes sitting vacant (not including vacation homes)
Hartford ranked 1st among large cities, followed by Newark, Brownsville, Miami, and Buffalo.
Experts cited in the article claim that stressed cities are there because of undealt-with, long-term problems:
""Typically, the cities at the worst end of the scale have been there for a long time," says Montiel, one of the authors of the institute's report. Four cities with the highest stress levels in ACBJ's study -- Hartford, Newark, Miami and Buffalo -- have consistently done poorly on the Rockefeller Institute's index. Each has ranked among the nation's 15 most-troubled cities ever since the institute began its rankings in 1970. Their fate, says Montiel, can serve as an object lesson for cities everywhere. "When we study urban hardship, we're giving a warning," she says. "We're saying that there are certain factors that cities need to pay attention to. If they don't, they could have serious problems in 30 or 40 years."
Based on this information, do you think San Diego might become a "stressed city"? Why or why not?
2 Comments:
This doesn`t necessarily have anything to do with this particular topic, but i couldn`t find a better place to post this. I found this interesting article on how ecoterrorism is setting its sights on housing and development, right here in the ever growing SD region. Pretty interesting stuff. Check it out:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0806/p01s02-ussc.html
By mw, at 11:51 AM
While any city can eventually become a "stressed city," for the time being, San Diego looks safe from such a title. First of all, the report indicates that it is the older cities that are typically the most in danger. San Diego only took off as a city 60 years ago during WWII. Most of the factors taken into account in the rating system are related to economic shifts, such as deindustrialization and San Diego hasn't experienced any significant economic down-terns. San Diego is safe from becoming stressed because of its diversified economy. Tourism, the high-tech industry, military, manufacturing, etc. will keep San Diego up. For instance, back in the early 90's when the Cold War ended and much of the high-tech military industry was shut down here, San Diego felt minimal effects from the resession. The high-tech industry is becoming an increasinly important industry in the U.S. with its expansion and high-paying jobs. San Diego already has a stronghold in this area.
On the other hand, the expansion of the tourist industry in the region has raised some concerns about the increasing amount of low-paying jobs being created. As San Diego becomes more and more expensive, people working in tourism are hit hard. In addition, the increasing availability of these low-skilled jobs is attracting an increasing number of poor immigrants whos demand for services and education will be a financial drain on the city and result in more "linguistically isolated" households.
People also point to the ever-increasing median home price in the region as evidence the city may be in trouble. And although people are being priced out, the overall problem is blown out of proportion. First of all, while prices may be high, low interest rates are making buying a house more affordable than the prices would indicate. In addition, rent prices in the city are not increasing at near the rate of the cost to buy homes, therefore allowing most to live here even though they can't afford to buy. The fact is that home ownership for the most part has been obtainable only for the middle-class (and above) and will probably continue that way no matter what we try to do. Prices have been climbing for a while now and yet we still don't seem to be moving towards a stressed state.
Scott
By Scott, at 11:18 PM
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