# Survey: Washington DC, Detroit, New York Among The Worst-Run Cities InU.S. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716 "2018-07-11T15:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/21 "2018-07-11T22:08:23Z")
I read the methodology and individual sector (financial stability, safety, education etc) rankings on the linked ‘WalletHub’ page. That gives a bit better idea though still hard to gauge the details within each sector or item in a sector I don’t think it’s as simple as small v large though there’s an obviously fairly strong correlation there just looking at the results. Stuff like commute time is an almost direct function of that, but some of other things aren’t really as much. I think there’s some merit to the criticism that the study purports to measure well _run_ but many of the metrics are a function at least in part of city demographics rather that city govt directly. Minus the cheap shot on OP about race, I actually find it a bit refreshing if many posters on this left leaning forum realize that issues like racial disparity in educational achievement and health are not simple functions of ‘inadequate public services’ or some simple thing ‘racism’ which can be just be combated by calling everyone who disagrees on any policy or political question a ‘racist’ until they ‘stop’. It’s a very intractable problem. It can be _ameliorated_ by reforming govt policies (agreeing which ones is the rub obviously), but not necessarily ‘solved’ by them. Another is cost level. NY for example, ranking very well in safety, a very important thing some big and medium cities struggle mightily with, besides education and finances gets dinged for relative cost of public services. As with education, this is to some degree a function of even the reformist GOP/quasi-GOP (Guliani/Bloomberg) mayors of recent times having limited appetite to engage the unions, DeBlasio has zero interest in that. But even if that was done, it’s still just expensive to hire people in NY to do basic jobs because they have to buy or rent property somewhere relatively near…and that’s expensive. In short I find it less than ‘complete BS’ to rank city govt’s this way. It’s plausible that smaller cities particularly in some regions of the country are better run than most big cities. The counter assumption that all US cities are run about equally well and matters entirely beyond the city govt’s control account for all differences in outcome _would_ be complete BS IMO. However how much the lower ranked cities could ameliorate their weaknesses strictly at the local govt level (and as with education _how exactly_ you’d do that) is open to wide debate. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/22 "2018-07-11T23:45:36Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Minneapolis MN has brutal winters and yet its population has grown around 10 percent since 2010. Chicago has stayed flat. Has any of that been by annexation? I know Columbus, OH has expanded by gobbling up previously unincorporated areas. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/23 "2018-07-12T00:00:20Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Their top-25 best run cities: > > 1. The survey is so obviously skewed towards small cities and bedroom communities that it best highlights _ **why these type of comparisons are useless** _. > > 2. 8 of the top 25 are in Idaho, Montana, or the Dakotas. I’ll, uh, take San Antonio (#99, baby! Top 100, yeah!) any day. Or LA. Or NYC. This. New York City has a population greater than all those cities combined. Hell, it has a population greater than 37 American States. More than some countries, fer crying out loud. None of those cities has to face the challenges that NYC does. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/24 "2018-07-12T00:13:29Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Has any of that been by annexation? I know Columbus, OH has expanded by gobbling up previously unincorporated areas. I don’t see any recent annexation for Minneapolis, but “10% since 2010” is exaggerating things a tad: > **[Census: Minneapolis-St. Paul metro adds more than 250,000 residents since 2010](https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/22/census-minneapolis-st-paul-metro-adds-more-than-250000-residents-since-2010/)** > > The Twin Cities metro continues to grow, adding more than a quarter million people since 2010, according to the Census Bureau. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is now an estimated 3,600,618 residents… “The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is now an estimated 3,600,618 residents. That is a 251,759 increase from the 2010 census, according to figures released Thursday.” (March 22, 2018 article). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/25 "2018-07-12T00:14:20Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > In short I find it less than ‘complete BS’ to rank city govt’s this way. It’s plausible that smaller cities particularly in some regions of the country are better run than most big cities. The counter assumption that all US cities are run about equally well and matters entirely beyond the city govt’s control account for all differences in outcome _would_ be complete BS IMO. However how much the lower ranked cities could ameliorate their weaknesses strictly at the local govt level (and as with education _how exactly_ you’d do that) is open to wide debate. The clickbait - I mean study - is complete BS because I live in the worst rated city on the list, but it’s actually quite well run. If DC is the worst on the list, then most other cities on that list ranked higher must have fused Japanese and German efficiency to create a supercity that runs on unicorn farts and the residents experience continual orgasms at no cost to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/26 "2018-07-12T02:09:30Z")
Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over Washington DC. That they delegate that authority to a municipal government (Home Rule Act, 1973) does not absolve them of their responsibility to govern it effectively. Congress treats the ability to meddle in the city’s government as a right only, casting all blame on the municipal government elected by its people, failing to take responsibility. It’s quite likely that the capital city of the US has certain problems that necessitate intervention from the Federal government, _especially_ where they have been explicitly been given this authority. Blaming it on the elected officials is like…well, the next city on the list… Detroit had some terrible race riots. People with the means to leave left. Who are left in Detroit are only the people who couldn’t afford to leave. Can you really expect that the remaining citizens, from whom the most talented self-selected themselves out of the citizenry, to be all that capable of turning things around? It’s certainly getting better, and electing someone with real administrative experience who knows how to run an organization, as was done with Mike Duggan, is a great first step, as opposed to electing a son of a representative who had no other credentials and promptly stole as much money as he could and has been in prison pretty much since he left office. Detroit faces a lot of issues with respect to being simply too low densely populated any more for the given infrastructure that they have. There are now blocks and blocks of open land in the city as the government manages to get people to move out of the lowest populated areas and into other areas so that city services can be shut off to those areas until development slowly creeps back to include it once the city starts growing again. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/27 "2018-07-12T02:22:02Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > The clickbait - I mean study - is complete BS because I live in the worst rated city on the list, but it’s actually quite well run. If DC is the worst on the list, then most other cities on that list ranked higher must have fused Japanese and German efficiency to create a supercity that runs on unicorn farts and the residents experience continual orgasms at no cost to anyone. That’s one opinion of one city. I live right next to a quite low on the list I’m originally from and have lived in or right near most of my life, NY, and it’s not ‘complete BS’ to say NY is fairly poorly run IMO. I was surprised to see it close to the bottom, and that might be questioned, but it’s not actually well run within the realm of human possibility IMO. To some degree it depends how you define it. A few posts ago it was said NY has challenges other cities don’t. As just a function of population it was implied; I don’t see how pure population would be an excuse, but I agree it does have challenges some other cities don’t. But some of them are IMO the result of cumulative past policies of the city govt. So, a reformist mayor/city council willing in theory to consider anything to address the issues would face a big problem of inertia and lots of pain to try to fix these problems that have accumulated. A place that had been better run along would not. I would be willing to grade on a curve somebody who truly made an effort to fix the problems, yet still in a larger sense the city hasn’t been well run. This is true also on a state level in my state NJ. The public finance problem is intractable because of past decisions. Now NJ has nearly the highest taxes of any state but still a big problem to fulfill commitments it made to public employees. Even higher taxes will exacerbate its problems as a poor business climate (unicorn farts: that’s where people deny there’s any connection between high state taxes and attracting new economic activity, it would be really cool if there wasn’t). But cutting through that knot is really hard. You can only judge whether people are making any effort. Christie made some effort I’d give a fairly low grade to. The new guy believes in unicorn farts. Some day it will really have to be dealt with. It’s not surprising the judgment calls made in evaluating ‘well run’ come down to politics. That’s what local politics is _supposed_ to be, judging if people get practical things done, and less about lofty ideology and ‘moral issues’. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/28 "2018-07-12T11:13:00Z")
Lists like these generally reflect the biases of the creator. Start with the result you want, tweak the rating factors and their scores until you get that result, and then publish. Detroit always makes these lists and I don’t see it. I go there often and think Detroit is a fine city with a lot of tech growth and new construction everywhere. I think the point of this list, and the OP, is to bash Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/29 "2018-07-12T11:29:32Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’ve lived in or near two of the “cities” on that list, and it is to laugh. They’re basically large towns, with some high tech and retail. I used to live in Lincoln and it’s basically one big sprawling suburb that has gobbled up lots of little towns as it expanded, with a university (and football stadium!) at the center of it. Population is somewhere around a quarter of a million IIRC but very little of it is what you would envision as being “urban”. I mean, I liked Lincoln a lot but it ain’t New York. It’s not even Omaha. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/30 "2018-07-12T11:44:44Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > In all seriousness, do you think Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/31 "2018-07-12T11:45:17Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Lists like these generally reflect the biases of the creator. Start with the result you want, tweak the rating factors and their scores until you get that result, and then publish. Detroit always makes these lists and I don’t see it. I go there often and think Detroit is a fine city with a lot of tech growth and new construction everywhere. I think the point of this list, and the OP, is to bash Democrats. > **[Internet Research Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency)** > > The Internet Research Agency (IRA; Russian: Агентство интернет-исследований, romanized: Agentstvo internet-issledovaniy), also known as Glavset (Russian: Главсеть), and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino (Russian: ольгинские тролли) or Kremlinbots (Russian: кремлеботы), was a Russian company which was engaged in online propaganda and influence operations on behalf of Russian business and political interests. It was linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Russian olig The ag... ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/32 "2018-07-12T13:40:09Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Minneapolis MN has brutal winters and yet its population has grown around 10 percent since 2010. Chicago has stayed flat. Who told you that? I hope three sources is enough. You’ll learn something. > **[Chicago Has Lost Population For 3 Straight Years, & It's The Only Major...](https://chicagoist.com/2017/05/25/chicago_only_major_city_to_lose_pop.php)** > > Chicago Has Lost Population For 3 Straight Years, & It's The Only Major U.S. City With Losing Streak [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-population-record-loss-met-20160324-story.html](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-population-record-loss-met-20160324-story.html) [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-census-chicago-losing-population-met-20160518-story.html](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-census-chicago-losing-population-met-20160518-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/33 "2018-07-12T13:51:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Corry El > In short I find it less than ‘complete BS’ to rank city govt’s this way. It’s plausible that smaller cities particularly in some regions of the country are better run than most big cities. The counter assumption that all US cities are run about equally well and matters entirely beyond the city govt’s control account for all differences in outcome _would_ be complete BS IMO. However how much the lower ranked cities could ameliorate their weaknesses strictly at the local govt level (and as with education _how exactly_ you’d do that) is open to wide debate. > [@Ravenman](#): > > The clickbait - I mean study - is complete BS because I live in the worst rated city on the list, but it’s actually quite well run. If DC is the worst on the list, then most other cities on that list ranked higher must have fused Japanese and German efficiency to create a supercity that runs on unicorn farts and the residents experience continual orgasms at no cost to anyone. Yeah, sure, clickbait. I must admit though, I was a fan of Mayor Marion Barry. As for the city of DC, the transportation needs work, and cost of housing is out of control. Crime is an issue in some areas. Approximately 60,000 residents are ex-convicts. The public Schools aren’t very good either. If the nation’s capital wasn’t in this city, well they are lucky it is. The +'s for DC is there are some excellent museums and monuments built there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/34 "2018-07-12T16:18:29Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > People leaving Chicago has nothing to do with taxes. Chicago is a great city, but the winters can be a bit harsh. It’s not surprising that retirees are choosing to leave for warmer climates. I love Chicago, was born here, live here, and will probably die here, but taxes is absolu-fucking-lutely why a lot of people leave (and their perception of crime here runs tied with taxes). It’s not like they mostly leave to warm climes. I mean, they move across the border to Indiana, to Michigan, to the next county over. It has absolutely nothing to do with weather for the very most part. The vast majority of people I grew up with who lived in the city moved out of the city for those reasons. They’re still in the area, but not in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/35 "2018-07-12T16:28:56Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > Yeah, sure, clickbait. It is clickbait. The so-called author of the article produces his own brand of listicles: best states for women. Best states to be a cop. Best states to be a dentist. Best cities to be a biker. Best counties to fall off the turnip truck. All for a website that sells credit scores. > [@](#): > > I must admit though, I was a fan of Mayor Marion Barry. I lived here during his mayorship, and at that time I would agree that it was the worst run city anywhere. That isn’t true today. > [@](#): > > As for the city of DC, the transportation needs work, and cost of housing is out of control. Housing is out of control because this city is attracting so many people because it isn’t just a government town anymore. Why? Because the city has done a great job over the last 20 years of developing and attracting businesses. Seriously, you have to be a total idiot to think DC is the worst run city in the US. It’s an absurdly stupid assertion based on someone with no qualifications throwing some data of unknown provenance and no particular relevance together in order to drive traffic to a website selling meh services… _and the company that owns the website is based in Washington, D.C._ ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/36 "2018-07-12T17:08:23Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I don’t see any recent annexation for Minneapolis, but “10% since 2010” is exaggerating things a tad: > > [Census: Minneapolis-St. Paul metro adds more than 250,000 residents since 2010 – Twin Cities](https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/22/census-minneapolis-st-paul-metro-adds-more-than-250000-residents-since-2010/) > > “The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is now an estimated 3,600,618 residents. That is a 251,759 increase from the 2010 census, according to figures released Thursday.” (March 22, 2018 article). No annexation, but MSP did not get hit as hard by the recession than most of the rest of the country, and recovered quicker - there have been jobs here when there weren’t other places. There has been a lot of migration from outstate to the cities for economic opportunities, and we have a large immigrant population - in 2010 MSP had about 25,000 Somalis - our Somali population is now close to 75,000 - a pretty significant chunk of that number. It is, apparently, very hard for Minnesota companies to recruit people from out of state to live here - our weather reputation isn’t good. But once here, people don’t tend to leave - and even retirees will snowbird and spend everything but January and February here. (stay through Christmas for the kids, and by March it isn’t bad). ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/37 "2018-07-12T20:48:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Who told you that? I hope three sources is enough. You’ll learn something. The city of Minneapolis has grown an estimated 10.4 percent between 2010 and 2017 > **[Minneapolis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis)** > > Minneapolis,\[a\] officially the City of Minneapolis, is a city in and the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. With a population of 429,954, it is the state's most populous city as of the 2020 census. It occupies both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities, a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents. Minneapolis is built Dakota pe... The city of Chicago has grown an estimated 0.8 percent in the same period > **[Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago)** > > Chicago\[a\] is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388 in the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. > Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chica... As for the brutality of Minneapolis winter, you can just take my word for it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/38 "2018-07-12T20:53:20Z")
> [@](#): > > don’t see any recent annexation for Minneapolis, but “10% since 2010” is exaggerating things a tad: > > [https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/2...ts-since-2010/](https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/2...ts-since-2010/) > > “The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is now an estimated 3,600,618 residents. That is a 251,759 increase from the 2010 census, according to figures released Thursday.” (March 22, 2018 article). The 10 percent figure was for the city of Minneapolis proper, in response to a comment specifically about Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/39 "2018-07-12T21:53:21Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > Who told you that? I hope three sources is enough. You’ll learn something. > [Chicago Has Lost Population For 3 Straight Years, & It's The Only Major U.S. City With Losing Streak - The Chicagoist](http://chicagoist.com/2017/05/25/chicago_only_major_city_to_lose_pop.php) Instead of taking such a condescending tone, you should read your own damned cite, and maybe you’ll learn something. > [@](#): > > It should be stressed, however, that Chicago’s dip represents just a 0.3 percent decline of total population, **and it’s actually up from 2010.** Which is _exactly_ the time period in question **zimaane** is addressing. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716/40 "2018-07-13T14:49:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Instead of taking such a condescending tone, you should read your own damned cite, and maybe you’ll learn something. > > Which is _exactly_ the time period in question **zimaane** is addressing. The point was directed at Zimaane who said he thinks Chicago’s population has stayed flat. That has not been the case for the past few years. I’ll let the facts rule. I can learn something. Please tell me why these cites are doing so poorly. I said its their leadership. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-washington-dc-detroit-new-york-among-the-worst-run-cities-inu-s/817716.md?page=3)