Sunday, July 03, 2005
Great outlook for small business
The Bowling Green Daily News published this article on their website this morning and I wanted to comment on it though little comment is necessary. So instead, I edited the article to offer some relevant links. I am doing this without their permission however, I will write the editor and if he says no, then I will remove it. This article underscores the great business climate we enjoy in here in Bowling Green and SOKY.
The "Barren River Area Development District" encompasses 10 counties mostly surrounding Warren County and the "BRADD" website offers so much great information I was overwhelmed. From economic information to elected official contact information. I'm still looking for that perfect "map" of state reps jurisdictions but this site offers the names and addresses of all the politicians who influence the market strategic area. I have book marked the website and plan to write more on this later. The article also underscored the "Kentucky State Data Center" and once I found its website, I enjoyed the economic and demographic information available. I really liked their long term projects all the way to the year 2030. I read their methodology and am curious if they have added the influence of the new Kentucky Transpark and Magna. I remain convinced that the local market is going to grow much faster than predicted if their predictions did not include those influences. Time will tell.
Trends pushing people toward BG
City's population grows by more than 1 percent, gaining on Owensboro
By Jim Gaines, {removed email address} -- 270-783-3242 Article source: Trends pushing people toward BG
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Bowling Green (Link 1) continues to grow, and does so more rapidly than similar cities in Kentucky (Link 2), according to population projections released by the U.S. Census Bureau (Link 3).
As of July 1, 2004, Bowling Green is estimated to have had 51,294 residents. On the same date in 2000, the city's population was estimated at 49,44[4], according to the report released Thursday. [unable to locate the report source]
That's an increase of almost 4 percent in four years, and 1.4 percent of that came in the last of those years, said Ron Crouch, director of the Kentucky State Data Center (Link 4) at the University of Louisville (Link 5). The census bureau's annual releases always run one year behind.
The four small cities in Warren County (Link 6) – Oakland, Plum Springs, Smiths Grove (Link 7) and Woodburn – showed practically no growth, or lost a few residents over the same period.
Owensboro remained ahead of Bowling Green, with 54,900 residents – but that only amounts to 1 percent growth since 2000.
Owensboro doesn't have an interstate highway connection, which is a major factor fueling Bowling Green's growth, Crouch said.
For years, demographers have "talked a lot about what we call the 'Golden Triangle,' " he said, referring to the wealthier, more populous and developed area between Louisville, Lexington and Cincinnati's northern Kentucky suburbs.
That area is still growing, but is also spreading.
In describing state population trends, Crouch has begun referring to "the land between the 5s," he said: Interstates 65 and 75 have attracted people along their lengths, filling up the intervening area.
"That's good news, because that expands the Golden Triangle south to you-all," he said.
All of the counties between the interstates, with the exception of Monroe and Clinton, showed significant growth in the last few years, Crouch said. At the same time, counties in extreme western and eastern Kentucky have lost population.
Elizabethtown, with 23,190 residents in July 2004, marked a 3 percent increase over the four-year period.
Paducah lost almost 3 percent of its population, dropping to 25,545 residents. And Covington, which started the period with 43,406 residents, lost 9 percent of its people.
Those cities that have lost population may have kept people in their area, since sprawling suburbanization continues around larger towns, Crouch said.
"McCracken County is growing, but Paducah is losing population," he said.
A good part of Kentucky's overall growth is attributable to national trends: People are leaving the northeast for the southeast, Crouch said.
In the last few years, Ohio and Illinois have sent the most new residents to Kentucky. But next in order in contributing residents to the Bluegrass are California, Michigan and New York, he said.
The southeast part of the country will likely become America's "new economic engine," while the southwest becomes "the new Appalachia," filled with poorer and less educated residents who are largely immigrants, Crouch said.
"Kentucky's right on the edge of an area that's really booming," he said.
The segment of the population growing most rapidly is the age group over 45, Crouch said. That change may reverse the trend of suburban sprawl, where most people looked for homes on large lots in the countryside and commuted to work, he said.
As baby boomers age, they may head back to town, wanting smaller, low-maintenance houses and yards. Especially since so many older people will continue to work in coming decades, they will want to be closer to workplaces, Crouch said.
And the younger segments of the population will be more likely to be minorities, who tend to favor city living as well, he said.
"So the whole concept of high-density living ... is going to have more and more support," Crouch said.
That fits perfectly with Bowling Green's strategy for revitalizing its downtown (Link 8), Mayor Elaine Walker said. It plans to target "empty-nesters" or retirees who want convenience in entertainment, dining and shopping instead of yard work, she said.
"If everything goes as planned, our idea is to have a downtown where you can walk everywhere," Walker said.
The city's finances are growing on pace with its population, and Bowling Green continues to attract jobs from other states and countries, she said.
"This is exactly what we need to do to be a healthy, vibrant economy," Walker said.
The city's increased revenue has been directed back into expanded city services, she said.
"Which clearly, then, is helping our growth - because people want to live here," Walker said.
End of article
Link reference numbers
- Bowling Green official website http://www.bgky.org/
- Kentucky official website http://www.kentucky.gov/
- U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/
- Kentucky State Data Center http://ksdc.louisville.edu/
- University of Louisville http://www.louisville.edu/
- Warren County http://www.warrencountygov.com/
- Smiths Grove official website http://www.smithsgrove.org/
- Downtown Redevelopment Authority (DRA) http://www.downtownbg.org
Other relevant links
- Bowling Green Daily News http://www.bgdailynews.com/
- Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce http://www.bgchamber.com/
- Barren River Area Development District http://www.bradd.org/
- Kentucky Transpark http://www.kentuckytranspark.org/
