Population Woes

The lastest news on West Virginia's cities is not encouraging. The 2005 Census Bureau estimates have only 14 cities and towns in West Virginia having a population over 10,000 and only two of those cities, Morgantown and Martinsburg, have had an increase in their populations since 2000. It can be argued that the only real organic growth came in Morgantown, as Martinsburg continues to grow primarily as a bedroom community for the D.C. metro area. The success of Morgantown in its growth (and for someone who went to school there for seven years in the 1990's, the very notion of Morgantown booming is shocking) can be attributed to the university (of course) and the input of some visionary business leaders. In Morgantown, there is true growth in high tech and bio-tech jobs, as evidenced with the news yesterday that a company was setting up shop in Mo-town to scan and categorize the lumber industry in West Virginia for a possible world-wide market platform.

But for the rest of the state, the drumbeat of shrinking municipal populations is growing louder. Even if there is not a overall drop in population, the fact that the cities are losing people, at a time when nationally more people are returning to urban environments, is a possible deathknell to the economic comeback for the state. Leave aside the issue of losing federal funds because the cities' population has dropped below 50,000 (Huntington appears to be headed for that outcome, and Charleston is not far behind). A region's vitality, its economic power, comes from the strength of its cities. Cities for thousands of years have been the catalysts for human economic, cultural, and educational growth. If West Virginia loses its ability to foster and grow its cities, then it doesn't matter how many subdivisions and Applebee's are built in Putnam and Berkeley counties.

The solution? The cities have to sell themselves to their own citizens, and those that live around them. The cities are getting caught in the deadly cycle of people leaving, which means that the cities lose that tax base, then they have to raise taxes to maintain services, which drives more people out of that city. The cities must market themselves, and make themselves more attractive to its existing citizens and prospective dwellers alike. New schools, new businesses, lower property taxes. They can and must be used to bring in more population. Because if the drain from the cities continues, the likelihood of West Virginia's economic renaissance will be greatly diminished.