With a headline like this, do you really need a story?
Child Population Dwindles in San Francisco
San Francisco has the smallest share of small-fry of any major U.S. city. Just 14.5 percent of the city's population is 18 and under.
That compares to 24 percent in New York, for example.
AP's aptly named Lisa Leff unlocks the secret:
It is no mystery why U.S. cities are losing children. The promise of safer streets, better schools and more space has drawn young families away from cities for as long as America has had suburbs.
Oh, of course. And well, there's that other reason too, but:
San Francisco's large gay population — estimated at 20 percent by the city Public Health Department — is thought to be one factor, though gays and lesbians in the city are increasingly raising families.
The disarming caveat, while technically true, is tremendously misleading, and has little to do with the premise.
Isn't there any news out there that does not carry an agenda?
2 comments:
I think the high gay population has a lot to do with that SF-specific statistic. Even if same-sex partners are "increasingly raising families" they usually make do with one token child not a gaggle of Catholic schoolchildren like "normal" families.
I will also assign blame for the dwindling population base to my old nemesis taxes, which are ever-increasing and sending both parents into the workforce, leaving no one at home to raise a large family, and less take-home pay to afford Katie Nana..
Thomas Sowell had a decent column on this issue. He works at the Hoover Institute near SF and he blames it on skyrocking housing prices that make it cost prohibitive for young families.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050419.shtml
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