But Wait - There's More!

[spenser1058]

Another interesting stat - it seems over half of the USA's largest metros had a higher % rateof growth in the urban areas than in the 'burbs - including Orlando. Yay us!

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/the-revenge-of-the-city/259200/

[prahaboheme]

Miami's urban growth was less than Orlando's (percentage wise)?

[spenser1058]

Another interesting stat - it seems over half of the USA's largest metros had a higher % rateof growth in the urban areas than in the 'burbs - including Orlando. Yay us!

http://www.theatlant...he-city/259200/

Someone in the comments noted, "I believe it's the difference, not the total growth. Philly gained 0.5%, its suburbs gained 0.3%, so the difference is 0.2%." As a result, I think this may not be useful as a comparison between cities so much as noting which cities seem to be picking up more urban growth. Or at least that's the best I can make of it anyway.

[prahaboheme]

Thanks for the clarification. In local terms, this certainly can speak to the county vs. city politics that have plagued Orlando for decades. If the city of Orlando is out-pacing county growth, one has to wonder if it is only a matter of time before the city finally gets the upper hand in local policy making.

[spenser1058]

Thanks for the clarification. In local terms, this certainly can speak to the county vs. city politics that have plagued Orlando for decades. If the city of Orlando is out-pacing county growth, one has to wonder if it is only a matter of time before the city finally gets the upper hand in local policy making.

The interesting part of that is, at least so far, not much has changed. The mayor of Orlando has pretty much always ruled the roost when it comes to setting the agenda for politics. The county commissioners whined but never could do much about it. The 1990 charter revision created a move toward a strong-mayor form of government in the county (ironically, so it would be more like Orlando's) to change that.

The various pundits at the Sentinel, OBJ and Orlando Magazine have regularly predicted the OC mayor would finally call the shots. (Mike Boslet, editor at Orlando Magazine, really fell prey to this initially and has had to admit it ain't happening.)

As we have seen recently in the back and forth between Buddy and Teresa, though, the county can try to prevent things from happening but the actual vision for the future continues to emanate from City Hall.

[uncreativeusername]

The interesting part of that is, at least so far, not much has changed. The mayor of Orlando has pretty much always ruled the roost when it comes to setting the agenda for politics. The county commissioners whined but never could do much about it. The 1990 charter revision created a move toward a strong-mayor form of government in the county (ironically, so it would be more like Orlando's) to change that.

The various pundits at the Sentinel, OBJ and Orlando Magazine have regularly predicted the OC mayor would finally call the shots. (Mike Boslet, editor at Orlando Magazine, really fell prey to this initially and has had to admit it ain't happening.)

As we have seen recently in the back and forth between Buddy and Teresa, though, the county can try to prevent things from happening but the actual vision for the future continues to emanate from City Hall.

Perhaps if the county realized that Orlando is the county, and not simply the competition, there would be inspired leadership at the county level as well. Orlando's growth isn't at the expense of the county - it's central to the success of the entire metro.

[klstorey]

Another interesting stat - it seems over half of the USA's largest metros had a higher % rateof growth in the urban areas than in the 'burbs - including Orlando. Yay us!

http://www.theatlant...he-city/259200/

Urbanophile had an insightful piece today that explains the data a bit more.

"Was there any new growth in cities? Not at all. Or at least there is no data in any of this to tell us one way or another. The Census basically took the growth that likely continued to be mostly in the suburbs and just assumed it was spread evenly between center cities and suburbs within counties across the nation. The result was that it all of a sudden appeared cities were growing faster (or in some cases shrinking less) than they have been in other data. In reality, the new patterns were no more than an artifact of the temporary change in the Census Bureau’s methodology for this data."

"The Census basically took the growth that likely continued to be mostly in the suburbs and just assumed it was spread evenly between center cities and suburbs within counties across the nation. The result was that it all of a sudden appeared cities were growing faster (or in some cases shrinking less) than they have been in other data. In reality, the new patterns were no more than an artifact of the temporary change in the Census Bureau’s methodology for this data. If they had ever used the same methodology in the past, namely taking county-wide population changes and distributed growth evenly across municipalities the results would have come out the same. If these municipal estimates had been calculated this way over the last decade, they would have wound up being very much different from the eventual decennial census enumeration."

Make sure to read the comments, some interesting talking points there too.

[spenser1058]

Urbanophile had an insightful piece today that explains the data a bit more.

"Was there any new growth in cities? Not at all. Or at least there is no data in any of this to tell us one way or another. The Census basically took the growth that likely continued to be mostly in the suburbs and just assumed it was spread evenly between center cities and suburbs within counties across the nation. The result was that it all of a sudden appeared cities were growing faster (or in some cases shrinking less) than they have been in other data. In reality, the new patterns were no more than an artifact of the temporary change in the Census Bureau’s methodology for this data."

"The Census basically took the growth that likely continued to be mostly in the suburbs and just assumed it was spread evenly between center cities and suburbs within counties across the nation. The result was that it all of a sudden appeared cities were growing faster (or in some cases shrinking less) than they have been in other data. In reality, the new patterns were no more than an artifact of the temporary change in the Census Bureau’s methodology for this data. If they had ever used the same methodology in the past, namely taking county-wide population changes and distributed growth evenly across municipalities the results would have come out the same. If these municipal estimates had been calculated this way over the last decade, they would have wound up being very much different from the eventual decennial census enumeration."

Make sure to read the comments, some interesting talking points there too.

Thanks for this great rejoinder. It helps to explain why praha and I were having diffculty wrapping our head around it. The Atlantic article came from Derek Thompson in their business section - they are normally a tad more rigorous in their postings than Richard Florida and his crew in "Atlantic Cities," but assuming your author is correct, they definitely let the change in methodology slip past them.

On the other hand, Beth Kassab notes in her Sentinel column this morning that values of houses downtown and Winter Park held up better than in the 'burbs during the recession:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/os-beth-kassab-housing-market-070112-20120630,0,2377420.column

Anecdotally, I also heard condos held up better in the core despite their travails than in the 'burbs - perhaps Jack knows more about that.

Whether that translates into valid numbers for Orlando and the other cities noted is I guess a bit of a crap shoot. Let's hear it for junk science?!?

[jack]

They have held up better but I have not looked at a comparison in the last couple of years.

I have a friend that is looking for a home near downtown and has been outbid every time. The houses are receiving multiple offers and many are above asking price.