Vallejo Is Dying

John Seiler:

Newsweek listed the Top 10 cities in America that are dying. No. 1 is New Orleans, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

No. 2 is Vallejo, which has suffered more than any other city from the Schwarzenegger Decade of misgovernment. Vallejo has suffered more even than Detroit and several other Michigan cities devastated by the decline of the auto industry.

Vallejo’s government is so badly managed that in 2008 it filed for bankruptcy, a harbinger of what’s in store for scores of cities across America’s worst-managed state, and indeed for the state itself.

Newsweek:

Vallejo, like much of California, suffered an extreme housing crunch in the lead up to the recession, and even as recently as December, one in every 113 homes was foreclosed on, one of the highest rates in the country. This has made the city a less desirable place to live and unfortunately, not much may change in the near future. One recent study found that housing markets in many of the cities in the South and the Southwest that tanked may take decades to return to pre-recession levels.

Total Population (2009): 114,622
Proportion Under 18 (2009): 24.4%
Change in Total Population (2000-2009): -1.8%
Change in Residents Under 18 (2000-2009): -3.2 percentage points

Jan. 23, 2011