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2010 U.S. census figures show population boom in Suffolk
Hampton Roads will lose legislative power due to census shift
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region must reinvent itself
More people are leaving Hampton Roads than moving here. The little growth the region experienced was due to natural increase (higher number of births than deaths). This is a trend that has been going on for 15-20 years now. Why are so many people leaving? Is it because of the terrible job market and very low wages? Exiting military flood the local job market increasing competition and driving down wages. The cold war ended 20 years ago and defense spending has dropped. The federal government is broke from the trillions borrowed and spent for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I suspect in the decades to come the population of the Hampton Roads region will drop due to lower military spending unless the region reinvents itself.
Norfok and Norfolk CSB's Goal Of Becoming The SE Virginia
Mental Health Center will quickly force Norfolk's middle class and professional's to make an exodus out of Norfolk. The crime in Norfolk's nice downtown neighborhoods is getting worse: increasing larcenies, increasing burglaries and with the increased mentally ill homeless population that is being brought into Ghent, Ghent Square and the surrounding area, increasing violence. A Ghent Business Association owner was attacked by a mentally ill homelessman in broad daylight at his business establishment; another mentally ill homeless man pleasured himself in front of Ghent Montessori directly across from Norfolk CSB; another mentally ill man pleasured himself in a Ghent Coffee shop. When will it stop?
Re-purposing Hampton Roads
We are losing a couple of carriers, JFCOM, 2nd Fleet, Ft. Monroe and probably Oceana so there will be lots of empty houses, commercial real estate and Federal land which could be re-purposed. As this plays out, those of us who are left will be paying increased taxes, fees, levies, tolls, surcharges, reductions in services in addition to more money being bled out of us with other creative revenue schemes that our local politicians will dream up. As this region spirals downward and our industry and people go elsewhere, maybe we can make an suggestion to the Federal Government to offset our losses by building federal prisons here on former installations that could house the Gitmo terrorists, foreign criminals, and the dregs of our society. TCC and O
Simple Answer
I think the answer is very simple as to why Va Beach and Norfolk saw declines. Housing prices. Plain and simple. Anyone who moved here between 2000 and 2007 had no choice but to look in lower priced Chesapeake and Suffolk. Norfolk and Virginia Beach home prices were outrageous, over inflated, off the charts, ridiculous.
Simple as that.
Virginia Beach had an Increase, not Decline
Virginia Beach increased from a population in 2000 of 425,257 to a population in 2010 of 437,994.
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But Virginia Beach saw an increase.
natural increase
The increase was due to a higher birth rate than death rate. This is know as natural increase. More people moved out of VB than moved in due to outbound migration.
ho hum
Personally I have encourage both of my children to move elsewhere when they finish their college educations. The politicians here pander to low yield employers like restaurants (2 dollars an hour plus tips) hotels and retail (minimum wage part time. None of these jobs are worth the sacrifice made to ensure a good education.
Tidewater is slowly dying and policies that increase the population of freeloaders are driving taxpayers to outlying counties and other states. And now in the name of progressive policies we are all suppose to be in favor of more ghettoization or "urban living" as the developers say. The exodus will only continue in future years and with decreased Pentagon what few technology jobs we have will leave as well.
a different take on this.
It appears that the cities that did NOT sink loads of city tax dollars in public/private development schemes gained in population by at least 10% (Chesapeake/Suffolk) while the cities that sunk huge tax dollars in public/private development had very modest (around 3%) gain in population. Maybe it's time to rethink using TAX dollars to provide private developers a profit when they build projects in over-developed areas. Seems these projects either sit empty or never get finished and never provide the projected tax revenue. I guess bottom line is, if the tax dollars go to support the infrastructure the city will prosper. If the tax dollars go to support developers the city looses.
Correlation =/= causation
Not saying this comment is in fact wrong (I don't know) but it depends on a large assumption, and seems meant to promote the commenter's preexisting policy preferences.