The City of Pueblo grew very little the last 10 years. The city now has 108,909 residents, up 1,870 since 2000. Only Pueblo West showed any population growth the last 10 years, adding 10,418 residents to 27,596. The St. Charles Mesa, the home of the Ciruli family, has 9,056 residents. It added 159 residents since 2000.
In 1970, after I graduated from high school, Pueblo was slipping from its historic position as the second largest city in the state. City population was about 97,000 in 1970, and is now at 108,000. So while Pueblo was growing by 11 percent during the last 40 years, the state grew from 2.2 million to 5 million, or 127 percent (the county grew 50% since 1970).
Pueblo will continue to lose political clout in congressional and state legislative redistricting.
Sad to hear and understand very well the adverse economic impacts of a generally poorly educated community. This town - my hometown - seems more blighted and dysfunctional every time I visit. I believe Richard Florida's theories on the "geography of cool," etc., (http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/) have certainly not been considered, or taken to heart. Other attempts at eco-dev have resulted in minimal gain to this community. Lets hope Vestas staunches some of the blight. Good analysis. Thanks, RV
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