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 NorthRidgeville in Lorain County at just over 3,000. Mayor David Gallick attributes most of the growth to a major sewer project on the city’s westside.
“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.
