2010 Census

I am hoping we are all going to hear a lot more about the 2010 Census. It is very important to us.

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of our Constitution calls for a census to be taken every ten years.

I attended a meeting of different organization around the city at the City Council Chambers on Wednesday of this week.  Mayor Edward "Bud" Caufield spoke to us and said that the census was a "Very Important Issue."  The census is important for a couple of reasons.

1. It determines how many Representatives Massachusetts has.  We have been on the bubble of losing one of the ten for at least the last ten years, as people leave the Commonwealth for elsewhere.  Only our immigrant population causes us a net increase each year.  If we undercount and some other states go up enough, one seat will go away and since Representative Niki Tsongas is the most recent Rep, it could well be her district that is divided up to get us down to nine. That would be bad for the Greater Lowell area.  And don't think the Great and General Court can't Gerrymander.  Look at the current districts.  There are a few towns and citys that look like they belong to no one.


2. Then there is the apportionment of Federal monies.  Money for education, for example, or for fighting the current downturn. Look at it this way. Last guess had us at about 104,000 people.  Some, to include our Mayor, believe the true number was close 130,000.  That is a 25 percent increase in what me might be getting in terms of monies returned to us.  That is not peanuts.


3. Finally, an increase in Lowell population of that magnitude might help for Chelmsford get back its own State Representative and thus undue the damage done by former Speaker Tom Finneran, when he broke the town up like a soda cracker and give it four representatives.  It was an evil thing for Mr Finneran to do.

At the meeting at City Hall we got a briefing, presented by Mr Vong Ras, on process.

Since we are a City with a large immigrant population, Mr Vong made the point that Census is NOT about law enforcement.  Some of those who have come to our nation worry about things like the Census being a hidden move by the police. That is NOT the case in this country.

Another point made was that the form, which has ten questions, is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Russian. BUT, at Assistance Centers, which will be set up, there will be guides in 59 languages.  So, one way or another, we should be able to break the language barrier.

Mr Ras told us that the expected "Hard to Count" populations include:

• Renters
• People in Crowded Housing (Fear of code violation consequences)
• Immigrants in General
• Non-English speakers
• Female-headed households
• People on public assistance or living in poverty
• People in high unemployment areas
• People with low educational attainment

Obviously some of these groups overlap.

It is not that these people won't be counted, but that we have to work extra hard to make sure it happens.

You may ask, why do I care, I mail in my form in March and am all done.  The reason you care is that you can have an impact when you come in contact with someone who you think might be in a "Hard to Count" population.  You can gently ask today if their home address has been registered in the pre-survey.  You can gently ask them next years if they got their forms and filled them out and turned them in.  It isn't that hard and I am expecting Representative Niki Tsongas to be on my doorstep in March, checking up on me—her job may be riding on it.

The theme for this decade's count is "It's in Our Hands," and so it is.

The Census Bureau webpage is here.  Be warned, it has an annoying little one second click, as it counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to 1 April, the official Census Day.

Your organization can become a "partner," helping to encourage people to be counted.  Check that out here.

There will be a Lowell kickoff.  Mayor Caufield suggested Lowell's Memorial Auditorium, where many new citizens have been sworn in (I have attended such a ceremony there myself).  A good idea.  However, Ms Mercy Anampiu, of the Lowell Community Health Center, suggested an outdoor affair, which also recommends itself.  If you have any ideas, speak up.

Remember it is in all our hands.

Regards  —  Cliff