Census info out

The 2010 Census info has been released for Iowa towns. The Des Moines Register has a pretty cool interactive map to see town and county reports, and change percentages. You can find that HERE.

Anyway, Roland lost 3% of its population since 2000. From 1324 to 1284. Not totally unexpected, but it is what it is.

So, what does that mean for Roland? Losing population is not a good thing from the perspective is that it puts more strain on the school system, and it makes it harder for retail or service type business to be profitable, because there is a smaller pool of potential customers.

However, in reviewing the last 10 years, all is not bad. Our residential property values have held up, and we have a high occupancy rate. Its not like people are just abandoning houses in Roland.

Our community is safe. We could have a huge apartment complex built, make it all Section 8 housing, and have our population increase by a couple hundred people, but that doesn't necessarily make Roland a better place.

Roland continues to be a city where we have a high home ownership rate, which means people living here have a vested interest in making this a good community. We have a city council interested in the future, and are willing to work on improvements of the infrastructure. And we have a tract of land available and ready to go to build houses, so we can have a chance to increase our population over the next 10 years.

Several posts ago, I had a reader competition to predict Roland's 2010 population. I think I had 1305, so I was in 2nd place. The winner of the contest is the person that predicted 1280. However that reader did not put their name down, so "Anonymous" is the winner of the "Guess Roland's Population" game. And the prize awarded was for me to name a day in honor of you.

So I, Roger Fritz, Mayor of Roland, hereby declare Sunday, February 13, 2011 as Anonymous Day in Roland. Anonymous, you can stop by City Hall, and collect your ceremonial key to the city.