Left In Lowell

Or as good as - the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been forwarded past the filibuster threat in the Senate by a 63-33 vote, pretty much assuring its passage.

This is a long time coming - the nation, and the military, has been ready for this for a long time. Now, we can finally allow gays to openly serve as they do in many other countries. Gays and lesbians have been on the front lines in war, risking their lives for their country. And now they will not be thrown out for being who they are.

Congrats to the activists who fought so hard for this. It is a victory that took too long, but it is a victory.

Though he’s wrong on almost every other issue, kudos on this to Senator Scott Brown for voting for our gay servicemen and women. (Note: I can’t find the role call but at 63 votes to pass, mathematically he has to be one of the yes votes.) Also kudos to Sen. John Kerry, who fought for this for a long time.

The Boston Globe web site, boston.com has an interesting series of articles, analysis and graphics on the recently released American Community Survey. Here is the link to the information on Lowell.

And thanks to Jack who brought to all of his fb friends that the New York Times, the Globe’s parent company, had a great series of maps, down to the street level, on some of the American Community Survey.

The Globe writes that this information on U.S. demographics is “ the largest single-day release of data in US Census Bureau history. The five-year survey…. provides the fullest portrait of the nation since the 2000 Census and sheds light on myriad aspects of who we are and how we live.”

The note accompanying the web sites’ graphics remind us that “The US Census’s American Community Survey numbers are estimates based on sample data collected from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009. The data are estimates, not counts.” The 2010 U.S. Census will provide the actual population count. Well sort of…if you did not raise your hand, you were not counted.

Nevertheless, the presented data should be of major interest to all of us. The graphics focus on the Massachusetts cities with a population of +65,000. There are fourteen such cities, including Lowell. Here is some of the information available:
Population: If the estimates are correct, Lowell will no longer be Massachusetts’ fourth largest City. We will be the 5th; Cambridge has surpassed us. According to American Community Survey, in 2009 Lowell’s population was 104,385 while Cambridge’s was 108,776.

Median Age: We are one of the youngest cities with a median age of 32.3 but we have gotten older since 2006 when the median age was 30.5. I think there might be something wrong with this figure. According to the data in 2008, the median age was 29.5, which begs the question, where did all the young people go in 2009?

High School Graduates: We are fourth from the bottom, coming in at 76.5% in 2009. And we have not made any progress in four years. The problem could be that we have a larger drop out rate than most other Mass cities and/or population shifts.

College Graduates: That figure has not moved in four years either. I am not sure what that means. I would expect it to move up a bit but with increased costs in higher education, the four year plan may have turned into the seven year one.

Foreign Born: Twenty-seven and half percent (27.5%) of our population is foreign born. That is about 29,000, including me. Lowell ranks third in percentage but I believe second to Boston in numbers of foreign born residents. The population who speaks another language outside of English at home is 38.1%.

Median Income: There is a discrepancy in the Globe’s data on that piece of information. Their map says Median Family Income at $56,494 and the their graph says Median Household Income at $46,774. I was able to verify the first piece of information on the ACS web site but I am not sure about the second one. And more important what is the difference between “household” and “family”’?

And speaking of households, from the ACS’ s web site: In 2005-2009 there were 38,000 households in Lowell city. The average household size was 2.6 people. Families made up 62 percent of the households in Lowell city.”
And speaking of income, again from the ACS’s web site: “In 2005-2009, 18 percent of people were in poverty. Twenty-five percent of related children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 15 percent of people 65 years old and over. Fifteen percent of all families and 36 percent of families with a female householder and no husband present had incomes below the poverty level.” Those numbers have gone up since 2000.

The population in Lowell that identifies itself as white is down from 67.4% in 2006 to 61.5% in 2009. Those who identify themselves as Asia make up 19.4%, that is a drop of 3% from 2008. Those who identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino are 15.7% of our population and those who identify themselves as black are 7.2%.

There are many other pieces of data available but I am sure those of you who have read up to here are on information overload. I do not think there is any major surprises but sometimes it is better to deal with real numbers than mere assumptions.