Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Growth spurt

One of the items in the news last week was the release by the United States Census Bureau of the latest population estimates for Lincoln. The newspaper's headline, Lincoln may reach quarter million mark in coming year, is itself a year too late. We've already topped a quarter million. By my estimate, we are now at 252,226.

Here's why: the Census Bureau population estimates (which are quite scientific, by the way) are always a year behind the release data. The information last week was the population estimate as of July 1, 2007. The city has continued to grow in the past year, and assuming we've been growing at the average rate for the last decade, 1.4%, we're now at 252,226.

In the 2000 census, Lincoln's count was 225,581, so over the past eight years we've added 26,645 souls. That would make a pretty big city itself, by Nebraska standards. Our added population would be sixth, right behind Kearney, and right in front of Fremont and Hastings

Our new population estimate makes us the 73rd largest city in the United States. We jumped up one spot from the previous year, passing St. Petersburg, FL. Seems like that ought to be large enough for a P.F. Chang's.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree chief. PF Changs needs to come to lincoln. Great food! We need to get those developers on it.

Anonymous said...

You are going to make mouths water with that last sentence. :-)

Anonymous said...

Are the numbers you state factoring in the non-citizenry, the temporary or frequent rail riders who happen to live off the generosity of towns folk where ever the train my stop that day?

Lincoln is growing by leaps and bounds, this is why the family will be moving back to Osceola next year! I might be getting older but I sure miss the sound of quiet after 7pm. I guess what I really miss is the small town attitude, neighbors that know each other, kids and parents walking or riding bikes together. Just some things you see in a small town that you dont see in Lincoln anymore.

Something Lincoln has lost many years ago, Small Town Values!

Just my two cents.

Anonymous said...

But have not a lot of those small town values been brought to Lincoln via the student influx?
Have the students been seduced by the "big town ways" and help produce more problems and issues to be handled by the law enforcement agencies? i.e (underage drinking/driving, assaults, fights loud music, speeding) oh heck, the list could go on and on.

Anonymous said...

does that last comment mean that I can get out of a speeding ticket by bribing a LPD officer with a PF Chang's gift card?

Anonymous said...

yummmmmm! Lettuce wraps :-)

Anonymous said...

Salt 'n pepper calamari!

Anonymous said...

I like to eat at Pirate Chang's.

Anonymous said...

I think I recently read an incident summary which noted that an LPD officer lost a baton during a foot pursuit. Did it look anything like this?

Anonymous said...

Agreed. PF changs should open a store here. tired of drivin to omaha!

@ just my two cents....
maybe lincoln has lost a little of that small town feel, but it's still a great place! i have a very good friend who's lived in several of the towns noted in the stats and he's from great bend, ks. however he still considers Lincoln his "home" although he's moved to KC. he's definitely not the only person i know who says that either!
food for thought...

Anonymous said...

Our batons look like this.

Reading is fundamental.

Murph said...

PF Changs? Heck, we can't even get a Hooters. What we really need is a [URL="http://www.tiltedkilt.com/"]Tilted Kilt![/URL]

Anonymous said...

There used to be a Hooters in the complex next to the Hy-Vee at 70th and O. It was in the building the Bonanza used to be in. Both of them failed. I figured the Hooters would make it in a college town.