South Bend officials feel like they've been mugged by Newsweek:
City leaders dismissed a new Newsweek list describing South Bend as one of the nation's 10 "dying" cities, and said they aren't worried it will hurt the city's reputation.
The magazine's website, citing Census Bureau annual population estimates for cities with populations larger than 100,000, Saturday ranked South Bend No. 8 among 10 cities with "bleak futures ahead." The cities garnered the label by having the largest percentage declines in total population and population younger than 18 from 2000 to 2009.
South Bend's total population fell 3.9 percent over the decade, and its under-18 population dropped by 2.5 percent, according to the annual population estimates, the magazine reports.
Other nearby cities making the list include Grand Rapids, Flint and Detroit, and New Orleans was No. 1. Use of percentage of population drop alone to justify a term as strong as "dying" seems a little drastic, especially when in Gary Indiana has a city so near dead if has to depend on a bakruptcy bill being considered by the General Assembly to survive.
