Hispanic Growth Brings New State House Seat To Allentown

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Residents in parts of the greater Lehigh Valley are going to need a new score card to keep track of who their state lawmakers are.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld new legislative boundaries for the House and Senate as more geographically compact — and less politically gerrymandered — than a previous plan the justices rejected last year.

The new map goes into effect in the 2014 election.  It includes a House seat and Senate seat that are moving to the region from Allegheny County because of population declines there.

In the House, the 22nd District is moving to Allentown to reflect the city’s rising Hispanic population in its downtown and south side.  That newly created Allentown seat pushes Republican Justin Simmons, who has represented those city neighborhoods since 2010, into Emmaus, Upper Milford Township and Montgomery County.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-supreme-court-lawmaker-district-maps-20130508,0,4974852.story

Metropolitan Pittsburgh Records Population Gain For Second Year In A Row

Image via Wikipedia

For most of the span since the end of World War II, more people have been leaving the Pittsburgh region than flocking to it.

For the second year in a row, that trend has been halted. The relative health of the local economy appears to be a motivator for retaining existing Pittsburghers and creating new ones.

The seven-county metropolitan region attracted 1,430 more people than the number who left it between 2009 and 2010, based on new Internal Revenue Service migration data, according to a report by Christopher Briem, a regional economist for the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11344/1195941-53.stm#ixzz1gBpZAiaH

Philadelphia Posts Net Gain In 2010 Census

Image via Wikipedia

For the first time in 50 years, Philadelphia showed a net population gain in the 2010 census.  This is very good news for our largest city. 

City living is becoming popular among young people and many cities are courting this new emerging “urban dweller” market.  The longing for the suburbs and a McMansion is evidently losing some market share with younger people and older folks who are downsizing and moving into walkable urban areas for convenience.

Philadelphia’s out-migration has finally ended and the city showed a net gain of 8,456 people.  The official population of Philadelphia is 1,526,006 residents.  While this is not a huge gain, compared to other decades when the city lost 50,000 to 100,000 residents at a clip, this is important.

Census numbers decide things like our state’s number of representatives in Congress and how much money we get from the federal government for various programs.

I hope other cities in Pennsylvania have some encouraging numbers as well.