Baltimore is shrinking. It has been for a long time. Since 1990, the city has shed about 14 percent of its population. From 2004 to 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the city lost 6,128 people, or about 500 people per month.
Mayor Martin O?Malley denies the loss, or at least the extent of the loss. In 2001, 2003 and 2004 he challenged the census numbers. Earlier this week, he said he intends to appeal the 2005 statistics, too. The earlier challenges showed smaller losses than the census first revealed. But they have never showed a gain.
A growing Baltimore would certainly help O?Malley?s campaign speeches.
Maybe the census numbers are wrong. But they certainly reveal that people are not clamoring to move to Baltimore.
Signs point to the fact that more people want to live in the city, however. The losses have slowed from up to 1,000 per month in the ?90s to about 500 per month. The downtown skyline includes a view of a sea of cranes building high-end condos. Developers wouldn?t build them if they did not think people would move in, right?
It?s right for O?Malley to challenge the numbers if he thinks they are wrong. But just like SAT scores, population estimates do not reveal total worth.
O?Malley should focus his time on improving the things that do matter, like schools. Manhattan Institute scholars Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters revealed only 48 percent of students graduate from high school in Baltimore in a recent study. That is “substantially fewer students than other urban school districts such as Philadelphia, Long Beach, Calif., and Miami.”
Improving that number would be something to talk about on the campaign trail.
