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New Census Numbers are Good and Bad News for Northeast Ohio Cities

North Ridgeville Mayor David Gillock says aggressive housing development led to a population increase.
City of North Ridgeville
North Ridgeville Mayor David Gillock says aggressive housing development led to a population increase.
North Ridgeville Mayor David Gillock says aggressive housing development led to a population increase.
Credit City of North Ridgeville
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City of North Ridgeville
North Ridgeville Mayor David Gillock says aggressive housing development led to a population increase.

The latest Census figures show both good and bad news for Northeast Ohio cities. Cleveland is still losing population, but at a slower pace, while some nearby cities are growing considerably.          

Cleveland lost 8,743 people between 2010 and last year. That’s after losing nearly 90,000 residents since 2000. Greater Cleveland’s biggest population increase is in NorthRidgevillein Lorain County at just over 3,000. Mayor DavidGallickattributes most of the growth to a major sewer project on the city’swestside.

“And we installed a main interceptor in that half of the city in 2000.  Part of the way we paid for that (was) through developers, created planned community developments. One was 1,400 homes, the other one was 1,600 homes. And we’ve been averaging over 200 new homes a year ever since.”

Under the plan, developers paid about 70 percent of the sewer-construction costs. The new Census figures show Akron lost just over 1,500 people between 2010 and last year.                                           

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Kevin Niedermier
Kevin was raised in New Washington in rural North Central Ohio. He attended Bowling Green State University and Ashland College (now Ashland University) before beginning his career in commercial radio news.