I am passing on a question from one of our strategic planners. "Where
can I find data on Mode of transportation for work trips by county,
travel time to work by county, number of commuters by community/city,
and carpool commuter activity by community/city?" If anyone knows where
to find this information (state of Utah), please let me know.
Thank you!
Julianne Sabula
Utah Transit Authority
Engineering and Construction Planner II
669 West 200 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
w. (801) 237-1973
c. (801) 867-5203
jsabula(a)rideuta.com
Earlier this week I was part of an email chain where it was discovered
that with the new 2008 ACS data which was just release there was a
national change in workers from 2007 of about 4.8 million for a growth
of about 3.4 percent. Of course this seemed odd given the year that we
have been through. I further learned that BLS was showing a loss of
workers during the same time which prompted me to pass the issue over to
Melissa Chiu our CTPP coordinator at the Census Bureau. Here is what
Melissa had to say.
Hi Ed,
I spoke with the subject matter branch chief and it turns out that the
Bureau recommends using caution when making labor force comparisons
between data from 2008 or later and data from prior years (make sure to
look at the footnote at the bottom of the labor force tables). This is
because there was a question change starting in 2008 that results in
more people responding that they worked last week. The question in use
before 2008 missed many marginal workers. Essentially the data are
better now and this also puts the ACS data more in line with the Current
Population Survey (CPS)-based BLS data. In addition, as far as labor
force estimates go, the BLS data are considered the official estimates,
and many more questions are asked on the CPS regarding employment than
on the ACS. So there may still be differences between CPS and ACS due to
this and other issues.
There is more information on this question change in the research note:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/laborfor/researchnote092209.html
The note references the following 2006 content test report that resulted
in the question change:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/AdvMeth/content_test/P6a_Employment_Status.pdf
Finally, for other information on labor force data, please start here:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/laborfor/laborforce.html
I hope this helps. If you have further questions, please let me know and
I will refer you to the appropriate person.
Thanks, Melissa
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
The most recent CTPP "Status Report" Newsletter is now posted. It is
available as a PDF at
http://www.trbcensus.com/newsltr/sr0909.pdf
or in html at
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ctpp/sr0909.htm
If you are wondering what the AASHTO CTPP Oversight Board is up to, or
what we know about the Census Bureau's plans to update Urbanized Areas,
you will want to give the newsletter a look. There are also articles on
several research efforts underway, some new data products and the latest
on the National Household Travel Survey.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
Paul--If this is the crash you get right after selecting your tables
just take the crash message box and slide it off to the side and keep going.
Last week we had a similar thread and some people were reporting
problems with Vista. I would suggest going to the archives for
additional information on the subject.
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
Agnello, Paul wrote:
> Thanks for the update Jonathan,
>
> We are still using Windows XP and have the same problem with the CTPP
> browser always crashing when creating a new file. It's good to know that
> this problem appears to not exist with Vista.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> Paul Agnello
> Travel Demand Modeling Manager
> VDOT Transportation & Mobility Planning Division (TMPD)
> (804) 786-2531
>
Paul, in response to your response. Please remember that Vista didn't
eliminate the crashing problem, it just reduced it. Also, I got a new
computer when I went to Vista, and it's possible the bug was a hidden "dll"
or other file in my old computer, which Nanda Srinivasan had said might be
the cause of my troubles.
Also, be prepared as you go to Vista, because if you also go to Office 2007,
it takes some learning. A year and a half down the road, I think the new
versions of Excel and Access are a little more efficient once you learn
them, but they're quite a bit different and will slow you down for the first
2-3 months. The new pivot table system in Excel is more fun and easier to
use - once you learn it! At least that was my experience.
Jonathan
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Agnello, Paul
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:40 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] RE: ctpp-news Digest, Vol 67, Issue 7
Thanks for the update Jonathan,
We are still using Windows XP and have the same problem with the CTPP
browser always crashing when creating a new file. It's good to know that
this problem appears to not exist with Vista.
---------------------------------------------
Paul Agnello
Travel Demand Modeling Manager
VDOT Transportation & Mobility Planning Division (TMPD)
(804) 786-2531
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
ctpp-news-request(a)chrispy.net
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:44 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: ctpp-news Digest, Vol 67, Issue 7
Send ctpp-news mailing list submissions to
ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
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or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of ctpp-news digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. RE: CTPP 2000 Software question (Jonathan Lupton)
2. Sept Issue of CTPP Status Report (Elaine.Murakami(a)dot.gov)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:52:50 -0500
From: "Jonathan Lupton" <jlupton(a)metroplan.org>
Subject: RE: [CTPP] CTPP 2000 Software question
To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Message-ID: <00a201ca3c8f$d0cb3a50$7261aef0$@org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I got Windows Vista a year or two and - to my surprise - have had fewer
problems than before. In fact, the CTPP browser's performance has gotten
better. With Windows 2000, the browser would always crash when
generating a
new file. I could still use it, because I could re-open the browser, and
the
newly generated file would appear as if nothing had gone wrong. With
Windows
Vista, the crashes have dropped from 100% of the time to about 30%, so
it's
an improvement.
Don't ask me what this means - I don't know. Just wanted to share my
experiences with the group.
Jonathan Lupton
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock AR
With Windows 2000
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Peter H. Van Demark
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:23 AM
To: ctpp-news maillist
Subject: Re: [CTPP] CTPP 2000 Software question
Ed:
>Has anyone tried to load the CTPP 2000 Browser on a Windows Vista
>machine? I just got wind that it might not work.
I want to remind you that TransCAD users have ready access to the 2000
CTPP
data. TransCAD provides Table Choosers for Parts 1 and 2, and a Matrix
Chooser for Part 3. The data for Parts 1 and 2 are available for
download
from the TransCAD User Center, and the data for Part 3 can be requested
from TransCAD Tech Support.
If you have 1990 CTPP Data CDs, TransCAD has a utility for opening Part
A,
B and C tables from the Statewide Element and Part 1, 2 and 3 tables
from
the Urban Element.
There are also TransCAD Table Choosers for ACS data. We are building the
Table Chooser for the 2008 ACS 1-year data that were released yesterday
and
will do the same for the 3-year data that will be released next month.
Peter
----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter H. Van Demark
Director of GIS Products and Training Phone: 617-527-4700
Caliper Corporation Fax: 617-527-5113
1172 Beacon Street, Suite 300 E-mail: peter(a)caliper.com
Newton MA 02461-9926 Web site: http://www.caliper.com
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news(a)chrispy.nethttp://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:14:13 -0400
From: <Elaine.Murakami(a)dot.gov>
Subject: [CTPP] Sept Issue of CTPP Status Report
To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Message-ID:
<CF032B70701A774D9ADC2FC046347BCD03607C(a)OSTMAIL04VS5.ad.dot.gov>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part
--------------
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Name: FINAL_CTPP Status Report_Sept 2009.pdf
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 67995 bytes
Desc: FINAL_CTPP Status Report_Sept 2009.pdf
Url :
http://www.chrispy.net/pipermail/ctpp-news/attachments/20090923/68ccfba6
/FINAL_CTPPStatusReport_Sept2009.obj
------------------------------
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End of ctpp-news Digest, Vol 67, Issue 7
****************************************
_______________________________________________
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Thanks for the update Jonathan,
We are still using Windows XP and have the same problem with the CTPP
browser always crashing when creating a new file. It's good to know that
this problem appears to not exist with Vista.
---------------------------------------------
Paul Agnello
Travel Demand Modeling Manager
VDOT Transportation & Mobility Planning Division (TMPD)
(804) 786-2531
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
ctpp-news-request(a)chrispy.net
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:44 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: ctpp-news Digest, Vol 67, Issue 7
Send ctpp-news mailing list submissions to
ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
ctpp-news-request(a)chrispy.net
You can reach the person managing the list at
ctpp-news-owner(a)chrispy.net
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of ctpp-news digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. RE: CTPP 2000 Software question (Jonathan Lupton)
2. Sept Issue of CTPP Status Report (Elaine.Murakami(a)dot.gov)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:52:50 -0500
From: "Jonathan Lupton" <jlupton(a)metroplan.org>
Subject: RE: [CTPP] CTPP 2000 Software question
To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Message-ID: <00a201ca3c8f$d0cb3a50$7261aef0$@org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I got Windows Vista a year or two and - to my surprise - have had fewer
problems than before. In fact, the CTPP browser's performance has gotten
better. With Windows 2000, the browser would always crash when
generating a
new file. I could still use it, because I could re-open the browser, and
the
newly generated file would appear as if nothing had gone wrong. With
Windows
Vista, the crashes have dropped from 100% of the time to about 30%, so
it's
an improvement.
Don't ask me what this means - I don't know. Just wanted to share my
experiences with the group.
Jonathan Lupton
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock AR
With Windows 2000
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Peter H. Van Demark
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:23 AM
To: ctpp-news maillist
Subject: Re: [CTPP] CTPP 2000 Software question
Ed:
>Has anyone tried to load the CTPP 2000 Browser on a Windows Vista
>machine? I just got wind that it might not work.
I want to remind you that TransCAD users have ready access to the 2000
CTPP
data. TransCAD provides Table Choosers for Parts 1 and 2, and a Matrix
Chooser for Part 3. The data for Parts 1 and 2 are available for
download
from the TransCAD User Center, and the data for Part 3 can be requested
from TransCAD Tech Support.
If you have 1990 CTPP Data CDs, TransCAD has a utility for opening Part
A,
B and C tables from the Statewide Element and Part 1, 2 and 3 tables
from
the Urban Element.
There are also TransCAD Table Choosers for ACS data. We are building the
Table Chooser for the 2008 ACS 1-year data that were released yesterday
and
will do the same for the 3-year data that will be released next month.
Peter
----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter H. Van Demark
Director of GIS Products and Training Phone: 617-527-4700
Caliper Corporation Fax: 617-527-5113
1172 Beacon Street, Suite 300 E-mail: peter(a)caliper.com
Newton MA 02461-9926 Web site: http://www.caliper.com
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
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------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:14:13 -0400
From: <Elaine.Murakami(a)dot.gov>
Subject: [CTPP] Sept Issue of CTPP Status Report
To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Message-ID:
<CF032B70701A774D9ADC2FC046347BCD03607C(a)OSTMAIL04VS5.ad.dot.gov>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part
--------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: FINAL_CTPP Status Report_Sept 2009.pdf
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 67995 bytes
Desc: FINAL_CTPP Status Report_Sept 2009.pdf
Url :
http://www.chrispy.net/pipermail/ctpp-news/attachments/20090923/68ccfba6
/FINAL_CTPPStatusReport_Sept2009.obj
------------------------------
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End of ctpp-news Digest, Vol 67, Issue 7
****************************************
Attached is a new issue of the CTPP Status Report.
The first CTPP data products using the American Community Survey (ACS)
are expected in late Spring/early Summer 2010. The Census Bureau gave
final approval of the CTPP table set in April 2009, after prolonged
discussion with the Census Bureau's Disclosure Review Board and
significant paring down of the list. This CTPP uses three years
(2006-2007-2008) of the ACS and is limited to large geographic area,
that is, it does not include tabulation for census tracts or TAZs.
Hope you will have a chance to look at the Profile sheets (see page 6 of
the status report) that use the Census 2000, CTPP2000, and 2005-2007 ACS
data.
Previous issues of the CTPP Status Reports are available at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ctpp/status.htm
Elaine Murakami
FHWA Office of Planning
Ed:
>Has anyone tried to load the CTPP 2000 Browser on a Windows Vista
>machine? I just got wind that it might not work.
I want to remind you that TransCAD users have ready access to the 2000 CTPP
data. TransCAD provides Table Choosers for Parts 1 and 2, and a Matrix
Chooser for Part 3. The data for Parts 1 and 2 are available for download
from the TransCAD User Center, and the data for Part 3 can be requested
from TransCAD Tech Support.
If you have 1990 CTPP Data CDs, TransCAD has a utility for opening Part A,
B and C tables from the Statewide Element and Part 1, 2 and 3 tables from
the Urban Element.
There are also TransCAD Table Choosers for ACS data. We are building the
Table Chooser for the 2008 ACS 1-year data that were released yesterday and
will do the same for the 3-year data that will be released next month.
Peter
----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter H. Van Demark
Director of GIS Products and Training Phone: 617-527-4700
Caliper Corporation Fax: 617-527-5113
1172 Beacon Street, Suite 300 E-mail: peter(a)caliper.com
Newton MA 02461-9926 Web site: http://www.caliper.com
For your potential use, I extracted 3 tables from the 2008 ACS data
(released by the Census Bureau yesterday) and saved as .xls file.
Of course, you could have done this yourself, and several of you have
probably already made local data sheets.
They are: C08134: Means of Transportation to Work by Travel Time
B08141: Means of Transportation to work by Vehicles
Available
C08301: Means of Transportation to work (univariate)
I used the data download feature
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DownloadDatasetServlet?_lang=en
For more information about the ACS Table List, please go here:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/users_guide/index.htm
Please be aware that not all Metro Areas will have data available for
each table, since the coefficient of variation (CoV) is checked before
release.
When the table number starts with "C" it means it is the collapsed
version. Therefore, you can use the "B" table instead with more
categories, by going back into American FactFinder, or the Data Download
Center.
For each cell, there is an ESTIMATE and a MOE (Margin of Error). The
MOE cell does NOT include "+/-" in the cell value (Hurrah!).
As a reminder, FHWA prepared transportation profile sheets using Census
2000, CTPP2000 and the 2005-2007 ACS results which are posted on the
CTPP AASHTO webpage
http://ctpp.transportation.org/profiles_2005-2007/ctpp_profiles.html
These profiles include State, County and Place, and do NOT include
Metropolitan Area totals. Because they use an accumulation of three
years of ACS, the population threshold is 20,000 and therefore, more
geographic areas are available.
We are not planning to update these profile sheets when the next 3-year
ACS (2006-2007-2008) data are released.
Elaine Murakami
FHWA Office of Planning
Focus on Promoting the 2010 Census:
News from Capitol Hill:
2010 Census "Partner" News:
Delay in Release of Some ACS Data:
The Rest of the News
FOCUS ON PROMOTING THE 2010 CENSUS
Latino organizations hold "summit" on Communications Campaign: More than
40 national Latino organizations, U.S. Census Bureau officials, and
media companies working on the targeted Latino communications campaign
met last week to discuss efforts to promote census participation among
Latinos and ways to coordinate messages about the importance of the
decennial count. According to a summary of the meeting prepared by the
Latino Census Network, attendees talked about fear of government and
concerns about data confidentiality; calls for undocumented residents to
boycott the 2010 census until Congress enacts comprehensive immigration
reform; the importance of engaging faith-based institutions in census
outreach activities; the implications of anti-immigrant sentiments; and
other challenges to achieving an accurate count of Latinos.
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
(NALEO), a member of the 2010 Census Advisory Committee, and Latino
Census Network Chairman Angelo Falcon, who serves on the Census
Bureau's Advisory Committee on the Hispanic Population, spearheaded the
meeting of the Latino Census Communications Group. The September 17
gathering was held at the National Council of La Raza offices in
Washington, DC. To sign up for updates from the Latino Census Network,
visit the National Institute for Latino Policy web site at
www.latinopolicy.org
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sCsDryE3AZLjYnGbf…].
All of the Census Bureau's official advisory committees, which are
scheduled to hold their regular fall meetings in the coming weeks, will
meet jointly on December 9, 2009, to provide final feedback to the
agency on the 2010 Census Integrated Communication Campaign. Expert
Census Bureau panel applauds paid media campaign development: An
independent panel of marketing and communications experts commended the
Census Bureau for using industry and academic "best practices" to create
the paid media campaign for the 2010 census. The agency formed the
five-member Academic Assessment Panel last spring to "evaluate the
methods used to define and develop the communications
campaign,"according to a Census Bureau press release. Panel Chairman
Dr. Jerome D. Williams, the F.J. Heyne Centennial Professor in
Communication, University of Texas, Austin, said in a written statement
that "the Census Bureau and [Communications Campaign contractor]
DraftFCB team have done an exceptional job and are to be applauded for
what has been developed so far under very challenging conditions." He
called the crafting of the 2010 Integrated Communications Campaign
"fundamentally sound." 2010 Census Publicity Office Chief Raul Cisneros
said the expert review during the development phase of the media
campaign allowed the Census Bureau to incorporate the panel's
recommendations for improvements and revisions before it finalized
advertising plans.
Modified ACS materials seek to minimize confusion in 2010: The Census
Bureau will revise current materials or add new ones in conducting the
American Community Survey (ACS) next year, to help reduce anticipated
confusion among households that receive both the ACS questionnaire and
2010 census form. The ACS samples about 250,000 addresses a month, or 3
million a year, collecting a wide range of demographic, social, housing,
and economic data previously gathered on the census long form once every
ten years. The ACS was first implemented nationwide in 2005.
ACS materials sent to homes in the sample, including a pre-notice letter
and at least one questionnaire (unresponsive homes receive a replacement
form), will advise recipients that they will be receiving both ACS and
decennial census questionnaires in 2010, and that they are required by
law to complete both. The agency also will modify packaging for ACS
materials next year, using different colors and logos on the envelopes
to distinguish them from the 2010 census mail packages.
NEWS FROM CAPITOL HILL
Senate bill would add citizenship question to decennial census: Sen.
Robert Bennett (R-UT) introduced legislation that would require the
Census Bureau to collect information on citizenship and legal status in
the decennial census, in order to remove undocumented residents from the
state population totals used for congressional apportionment. The
"Fairness in Representation Act" (S. 1688) calls for a "checkbox or
other similar option" on the census questionnaire, to determine if
respondents are U.S. citizens or legal residents. In a press statement,
Sen. Bennett said it "does not make any sense" for congressional
apportionment and representation in the Electoral College "to be
determined by a process that unfairly provides the advantage to those
communities with high illegal populations." The lawmaker praised the
Census Bureau's work but called the apportionment process "broken and
unfair."
The proposal, if enacted in its current form, would be effective
starting with the 2010 census. It takes several years for the Census
Bureau to research, develop, and test its forms for a decennial census,
and almost a full year to print and address questionnaires. For the
last several decades, the census has included a short form sent to all
housing units, and a long form sent to a sample of homes; only the long
form included a question on citizenship. The American Community
Survey, which is replacing the traditional long form in 2010, asks
respondents if they are U.S. citizens.
Article I, section 2, of the U.S Constitution requires a population
census every ten years as the basis for allocating seats in the House of
Representatives. As modified by the Fourteenth Amendment (section 2),
the apportionment is based on "the whole number of persons in each
State, excluding Indians not taxed." Congress debated whether
"citizens" or "voters" should be the basis for apportionment when it
passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866, according to a Congressional
Research Service review of similar legislative debates on the eve of the
1990 enumeration (LOC/CRS Report No. 88-62A, January 13, 1988). Since
then, lawmakers have considered (but not enacted) a number of proposals
to amend the Constitution to exclude non-citizens or undocumented
residents from the census population counts used for apportionment.
Former Rep. Thomas Ridge (R-PA), ranking member on the census oversight
subcommittee at the start of the 1990 census, led a group of
Representatives, states, and private organizations in a lawsuit seeking
to exclude undocumented residents from the apportionment counts (Ridge
v. Verity, 715 F.Supp. 1308, W.D.Penn. 1989); a federal appeals court
upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case for lack of standing.
More recently, Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) sponsored a resolution
(H.J.Res. 11) to amend the Constitution to exclude non-citizens from the
apportionment counts derived from the census.
The resolution, which has 11 cosponsors, was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary, which considers all proposed constitutional
amendments. The Bennett bill, referred to the Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, had three original
cosponsors: Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Sen.
Michael Enzi (R-WY). House oversight panel to evaluate Communications
Campaign: The House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and
National Archives (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) will
hold a hearing on September 22, 2009, to examine the 2010 Census
Integrated Communications Campaign, including "criteria for
implementation" and "measurements for success." Census Bureau Director
Robert Groves also will provide an update on preparations for the
upcoming decennial count. The hearing will start at 2:00PM in Room
2154 Rayburn House Office Building.
2010 CENSUS "PARTNER" NEWS
Census Bureau ends ACORN's 2010 census partnership: Census Director
Robert Groves told the Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now (ACORN) that the agency was terminating its Partnership Agreement
with the nonprofit organization, citing criteria for determining whether
a group can serve effectively as a booster for the 2010 count. The
director said in a September 11 letter that "ACORN's affiliation with
2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general
public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even
become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010
census efforts."Dr. Groves said the Census Bureau did not "come to this
decision lightly," citing the agency's initial hope that ACORN could
help encourage census participation among hard-to-count populations,
such as the poor, renters, and people whose primary language is not English.
ACORN's participation in the Partnership Program drew significant
criticism from Republicans in Congress. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) delayed a vote on Dr. Groves' nomination to be
Census Director based, in part, on their concerns about ACORN's role as
a 2010 census partner. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), ranking member on
the House census oversight subcommittee, urged the Census Bureau to end
the agreement last spring. In a statement calling the director's recent
action "welcome news," Rep. McHenry praised Dr. Groves' "courage" for
terminating its relationship with ACORN and said he was "sure there are
those in the Obama Administration who will not be happy" with the decision.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the senior Republican on the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee (of which the census subcommittee is a
part), said, "ACORN's partisan election efforts and its involvement in
criminal conduct rightly disqualify it from working on the non-partisan
mission of the Census to accurately and honestly count the U.S.
population." The congressman said that congressional redistricting and
the allocation of federal funds would have been affected "[h]ad ACORN
been allowed to submit fraudulent information to the Census." A
description of the Partnership Program on the Census Bureau's web site
says that partner organizations "are not Census employees and have no
responsibility for counting, collecting or processing census data."
Community-based organizations, schools, businesses, state and local
governments, and other groups may sign a "partnership agreement" with
the Census Bureau, promising to be "advocates for census cooperation and
participation," according to guidelines for the Partnership Program.
A description of the selection process says that partners should be
"visible and trusted voices in the communities they serve." Partner
organizations are asked to consider a wide range of activities that
would promote cooperation with the census, including displaying and
distributing materials, volunteering at Census Bureau events, inviting
Census Bureau staff to speak at conferences and meetings, helping to
translate census materials, providing space to test job applicants, and
serving as a Questionnaire Assistance Center or Be Counted site.
Partnership Program staff may decline to select organizations as 2010
census partners, according to the guidelines, if applicants "are not
trusted or are viewed negatively within the community" or "could
distract from the Census Bureau's mission," among other reasons. More
than 80,000 national and local organizations have signed partnership
agreements in support of the 2010 census; there were about 140,000
partners during the 2000 census. Asian American advocacy group launches
census campaign: The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), a member of
the 2010 Census Advisory Committee, has launched a national campaign to
mobilize the Asian American community in support of the 2010 census.
The effort, which includes partnerships with eight local organizations
in areas with significant Asian American populations, will rely on media
outreach, community education, and social networking to highlight the
importance of census participation. AAJC will translate many of its
census campaign materials, such as fact sheets and toolkits, into 15
languages. To access AAJC's census campaign materials, visit
www.asianamericancensus.org
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sCFtXgWIsbKDIpwlu…].
CODING MISTAKE DELAYS RELEASE OF SOME ACS ECONOMIC TABLES BY ONE WEEK
The Census Bureau will release 2008 American Community Survey (ACS)
one-year estimates on poverty, family income, and food stamp recipients
a week later than planned after discovering a coding error that affected
tabulation of the data. The agency said the mistake affected
approximately ten percent of the data tables, which it will now publish
on September 29. All other data for the roughly 7,000 jurisdictions with
a population of 65,000 or greater will be available on September 22, as
originally planned. Three-year ACS estimates, for areas with a
population of 20,000 or greater, will be released on October 27. The
coding mistake involved new check-box options for children and in-laws
in the 2008 ACS relationship question; the tabulation of data on family
income (which in turn affects poverty and food stamp receipt
calculations) failed to account for income from these sources. Members
of the press were notified of the problem late last week, when the
Census Bureau was scheduled to release the full set of one-year data to
the media on an embargoed basis. For more information on the annual ACS
data release, see the September 6, 2009 Census News Brief (#73).
THE REST OF THE NEWS ...
Report highlights importance of count of undocumented residents: The
Drum Major Institute for Public Policy has issued a report analyzing the
benefits of counting undocumented residents accurately in the decennial
census. The self-described "progressive" Institute concludes in "The
Next Economic Imperative: Undocumented Immigrants and the 2010 Census"
that, "Failing to gather accurate information about an estimated 12
million undocumented residents will make it too difficult for the
country to recover from the worst recession in decades: local and state
governments won't receive adequate funding for public services;
businesses will be discouraged from investing in new markets and
creating jobs in growing communities; costly mistakes will be made in
infrastructure, education, and health care because of incomplete
demographic data. "The nonprofit think tank also has drafted talking
points to help immigrant advocates and other groups discuss the
importance of counting immigrants. For a copy of the report and the
talking points, visit the organization's web site at
http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=98
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sC_emfJrQBlcfv0-2…].
Census Project blog tackles key 2010 census policy and operational
issues: The Census Project launched a new weekly blog to follow final
preparations for and implementation of the 2010 decennial census. If
you would like to receive new posts each week via e-mail, click here
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=censusblog&loc=en_US
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sC2KOJRHOGvp7je04…]
to sign up, or click here http://twitter.com/censusproject
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sAYnbisMSZAmbzwYk…]
to follow us on Twitter.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant specializing in the census and federal
statistics. All views expressed in the News Briefs are solely those of
the author. Please direct questions about the information in this News
Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to
circulate this document to other interested individuals and
organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan Census
Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in
Washington, DC. Previous Census News Briefs are posted at
www.thecensusproject.org
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102710602087&s=12&e=001HGlv0RwB0sDx8823CBip7P6sej…].
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
