ESL Ribbon Cutting

I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new ESL federal credit union headquarters last Thursday. Speeches were made by ESL's CEO Dave Fiedler, Mayor Robert Duffy, County Executive Maggie Brooks,  VP of City Council Elaine Spaull, and President of RDDC Heidi Zimmer-Meyer. The speakers focused on the teamwork that went into getting the project off the ground and the commitment it represented to the Rochester community. The building is a $58 million investment which brings 350 new workers downtown. Located across from the Strong National Museum of Play, the new headquarters acts as a gateway into downtown for traffic on Chestnut St.

My work on the growth of cities

In my econometrics class I modeled the growth of the fifty largest US cities. Sadly Rochester did not fall in that list (as of the US Census Bureau’s July 2008 report it is number 99). From my research I learned that the most important factors in determining a city's growth rate are: cost of living, median household income, foreign born population, crime density, daytime population, and education. I thought it would be interesting to see how Rochester compares to the cities I examined in my model. 

Rochester (comparison)

Growth Rate: -5.9% (49 Philadelphia, PA)

Cost of Living: 84.6 (40 Jacksonville, FL)

Median Household Income: $29,975 (48 Miami, FL)

Foreign Born Population: 7.3% (36 Nashville, TN)

Crime Density: 56.75 (17 Milwaukee, WI)

Daytime Population: +35.2% (5 Louisville, KY)

Higher Education: 28.1% (40 Baltimore, MD)