Tube City Almanac

June 28, 2007

Last One Out, Turn Off The Lights

Category: default || By jt3y

New U.S. Census Bureau figures indicate that Our Fair City has lost about 1,600 residents since 2000. (Townships, Cities and Boroughs)

The latest estimates peg the city's population at 22,408, down from 24,040 at the decennial census, or 7.3 percent. The situation is the same wherever you go in the Mon-Yough area, and even tiny gains in places like Rostraver and North Huntingdon are offset by losses in the surrounding boroughs and townships:






































































































































Population Changes For Mon-Yough Communities
  2006 (est.)

2000 count

%

change
City of Clairton 7,963 8,491 -6.6
City of Duquesne 6,778 7,332 -8.2
East McKeesport borough 2,171 2,343 -7.9
Glassport borough 4,612 4,993 -8.3
Homestead borough 3,486 3,569 -2.4
Liberty borough 2,473 2,670 -8.0
Munhall borough 11,358 12,264 -8.0
North Versailles township 10,414 11,125 -6.8
Swissvale borough 8,909 9,653 -8.4
West Mifflin borough 20,957 22,464 -7.2
       
Washington County      

City of Monongahela

4,502 4,761 -5.8
Union township 5,450 5,599 -2.7
       
Westmoreland County      
Irwin borough 4,145 4,366 -5.3
North Huntingdon township 29,432 29,123 +1.1
Rostraver township 11,735 11,634 +0.8
Trafford borough 3,077 3,236 -5.2
Tube City Almanac / Source: U.S. Census Bureau


(Editor's Note: West Mifflin's population is down 7.2 percent. No wonder those schools are so overcrowded!)

I haven't sat down and really parsed the data yet, but my gut reaction is that I don't think people are actively fleeing like they did in the 1980s.

Instead, I suspect we're losing population mainly because residents are dying and no new people are moving to the region.

Hey, if people don't want to live here, that's fine with me. That's more kielbassi and iced tea cartons for the rest of us. We're going for quality, not quantity in the Mon Valley, and if this trend continues, the Mon Valley will become an exclusive artists colony rivaling the Left Bank of Paris.

Paris Hilton, that is.

. . .

Speaking of the Unspeakable: According to a story in last night's News (no story online), a North Versailles woman wrote a fan letter to Paris Hilton and received a personal reply. She's going to auction the letter on eBay to benefit the Cathy G Charities.

The story reports that Hilton is going to try to turn her life around.

Step 1: Wear underpants.

. . .

Quality, Not Quantity: In case anyone was wondering how important the Tube City Almanac really is, yesterday The Burgh Blog linked here and my readership tripled.

Yes, I had three readers. (Rimshot.)

At least the pecking order between The Burgh Blog and the Almanac should be clear. In terms of Web popularity, this site ranks somewhere between the blogs of the Washington County Rock Salt Association and the Muslim Committee of Wilmerding.

A couple of people are accusing me of "outing" or "stalking" PittGirl. Oh, puh-leeze. I narrowed her location down to 27 square miles based on photos of obvious local landmarks. Good Lord, someone get a restraining order against me before I reveal other sensitive details, like the location of the Monroeville exit of the Turnpike.

Even if I did know her identity, I wouldn't reveal it. If she wants to remain anonymous, that's fine with me. I can respect that. But as a guy who writes about the McKeesport area, I thought it was interesting to see that another writer with such a big following is from nearby. That's all.

As for the small size of my readership, it's not the size, it's how you use it. Tube City Almanac strives for readers of quality, not quantity.

As an Almanac reader, you are in a very select group of literate, politically active, and keenly astute people who are interested in the Mon Valley, and who also are very susceptible to flattery.






Your Comments are Welcome!

I can’t believe youd idn’t go for the South Park reference in Paris’s rehabilitation.
Step 1. Wear underpants
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Profit!
Vince - June 28, 2007




A link from PittGirl IS golden, for sure — but man, you should see what a link from The Comics Curmudgeon’ll do for you. I probably still get a dozen or so hits a day from links on there that are over a year old.

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve never before considered North Huntingdon and Irwin to be part of the Mon Valley. I’m sure they ARE, but I just never thought of them as such. I think, to my Monroeville-centric mind, the eastern border of the Mon Valley ends where Route 48 meets Route 30. Or maybe it’s the Westmoreland County border that does it for me. To my mind, those towns fall under the G_reensburg sphere of influence.

During my short term of employment in Charleroi, I was quite surprised to learn that Westmoreland reached to Monessen and Belle Vernon. I guess I didn’t expect any of Westmoreland to be situated south of Allegheny. (Oh, sure, a simple look at a map would’ve told me that, but still…)
Bob (URL) - June 28, 2007




And on another note completely unrelated to the other unrelated note, the Tube City Omnimedia filtering software won’t allow me to say the name of the Westmoreland county seat.

Actually, I dated a young lady or two from that town. It IS an obscene place, now that I think about it.
Bob (URL) - June 28, 2007




Most of Norwin-land is populated by McKeesport refugees.

For the purposes of Tube City Online and its half-vast empire, our coverage area includes everything from Route 51 to the west, the Parkway East to the north, Route 136 to the south and the Turnpike to the east.

I’m probably stretching things by including Mon City and Rostraver, and Swissvale really doesn’t care what happens in McKeesport.
Webmaster (URL) - June 28, 2007




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