population/demand question

[Trone27 0]

Hey all.  I've been reading the Omnibus articles, and trying to get a handle on the game.  However, there is one thing I've run into which I don't understand.  Commercial and Industrial demand seems overly dependent on my Residential population.  However, the residential population must be rediculously high to generate this demand.  To give an example, my large city recently had a population boom from 70,000 up to 95,000.  as it was growing the city experienced a huge rise in commercial and industrial demand.  As a result I tried to zone alot more commercrial and industrial (keeping a close eye on the desirability map).  However, despite the high demand growth was still slow.  I ended up raising my total job population (both industry and commercial) to around 60,000 during this boom before my residential buildings started abandoning like crazy (probably because of lack of jobs).  now the residential population has plummeted to 75,000 (quite fast) and demand for both industry and commercial jobs is incredibly low, even though theres still only 60,000 jobs.  Meanwhile residential demand remains sky high.  I have large landing strip, and a seaport.  Not to mention connections to neighbors via 4 boulevards, 2 railroads, and 3 roads.  Rewards placed include magnificent mayors statue, minor/major leage stadiums, disease research center, technology center, library, courthouse, city hall, radio station, and TV station.  I've read about trying not to let the residential populations grow to fast, but the only way I can ever get commercial/industrial growth is to increase population.  Tax rates are the same as those listed in the omnibus article "skyskrapers beckon, 40,000-80,000".  Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated

PS I'm running Aspyr's version for mac, with the most recent version of NAM as my only plugin.

[opbravo 0]

in my experience, total residential population never exactly matches commercial/industrial jobs. i've also noticed that my residential demand, especially low income residential, is always very high. perhaps you're getting abandonment because of long commute times. how is the traffic in your city? are you using mass transit? are your jobs too far away from your residential areas?

are all types of commercial and industrial demand very low? screenshots of your city layout can be helpful.

[PolytAffe 0]

yeah, my bet would also be on high commute time. People move in and realize there is too long way to work and move out again.