Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The first step is Denial

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's response to a US Census report citing a population drop in the city of Milwaukee:
"'There they go again,' Barrett said. 'I've been down this road before. My view is that the U.S. census data is historically unreliable."
The report claims the following:
"Milwaukee lost 4,257 residents, or 0.7% of its population, from 2004 to 2005, the fourth-largest percentage decrease among American cities with more than 500,000 residents. Madison gained 1,402 people during that time."
If I were Mayor, I wouldn't want to believe it either!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should call your blog Knee-Jerk Stupidity. There was a substantive argument to his position and Milwaukee has been under-counted in the past. Then again, whats the truth to a season-ticket holder in the bleachers? Last time I pass through this junk.

John said...

The Mayor can argue the specifics all he wants - whether Milwaukee loses .7% or .3% or 10%, the fact is, the city is losing population for REASONS. As Mayor, he needs to address why he believes those reasons are incorrect or why his plan will reduce or eliminate the reasons to leave. Instead, he's quarreling about whether the numbers are accurate!