I think the time would be better spent to determine not why people want to live in the suburbs, rather why people do not wish to live in the core cities.
Tom:
There are many reasons that population might decrease in the core cities that have little or nothing to do with whether or not people want to live there.
The availability of housing stock, the type of housing stock, specific development patterns, tax policies, government investment in infrastructure - all influence where people live.
Here is an extreme example - but, suppose the government gave everyone who moved from the suburbs $10,000 a year to do so. Now suppose, because of this population decreased in the core cities as folks moved to the suburbs to collect the cash. Can you really say, that the problem is that people don't want to live in the core cities - OR is the problem that government has given too many incentives for folks to move away from the core cities.
While this was intended as an extreme example, I think that something like this has happened. Through tax policies, zoning laws, land use planning - we have for a long time given people huge economic incentives to move to the suburbs. We have also created social incentives, by creating artificial conditions which have made suburban school districts APPEAR more attractive, families that might otherwise have stayed in the city have moved in search of a higher quality education for their children. Many of them move back to the city as their children grow up and move away.
City life isn't for everyone, but I think that you'll see the population of St. Paul grow quite a bit in the coming years - as the housing market responds to the demand that this there. St. Paul can never grow as fast as the suburbs, because we just don't have the room to grow. Also, IT IS TRUE, that MANY people WANT suburban life and not urban life.
But, its not fair to say that short term decrease or a long term slow down in growth in the inner city means that people don't want to live there. There are many other factors to consider.
Best wishes,
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Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722
[EMAIL PROTECTED] iChat/AIM: stpaultim
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