Lake Tahoe Basin lags in returning Census forms
By Kathryn Reed
Census workers will be out in force in Lake Tahoe this month because the number of people who returned forms by mail is lacking.
Throughout South Lake Tahoe 40 percent of the forms were returned. From Ski Run Boulevard to the state line that figure drops to 28 percent. That area of town has a number of Hispanic residents. People here illegally may be fearful of being turned in.
However, the U.S. Census Bureau keeps all information private, assuming any incriminating information is even obtained. In fact, Census workers can be fined $250,000 or jailed for five years if they share information with another government entity or the police.
The reason all towns want an accurate Census count is that money from the federal government for certain services is based on population. Political boundaries are also drawn based on the numbers that are gathered every 10 years. Money goes toward education, adult education, job training, and other programs.
For Californians, any federal assistance may be even more critical in the near term. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday called for closing the $20 billion deficit with cuts to most social service programs.
“Aside from possibly losing out on federal funding, California is also in danger of losing a congressional seat because of low Census participation. The speculation as of now is that the seat will likely come from Northern California. We are about to lose a voice to fight for our rights, which is completely unacceptable,” Patty Diazm from Services, Immigrants Rights and Education Network, said in a statement.
The Census Bureau stopped receiving mailed responses at the end of April. Households that did not return their forms can expect to receive a visit from an enumerator this month. An enumerator is a Census Bureau worker who goes door-to-door to help households fill out the forms.
The enumerators will have official U.S. Census Bureau badges and may contact the households of those who did not fill out their Census forms up to six times.
The final count for the mail back response rate is: 72 percent nationally, 71 percent in California and Nevada in 69 percent.
The five counties in the Lake Tahoe Basin came in at: El Dorado 64 percent, Douglas 72 percent, Carson City 79 percent; Washoe 74 percent; and Placer 70 percent.
Nevada County, which includes Truckee, had 67 percent participation. Alpine County had 22 percent.
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When all is said and done the city will find a population of approx 16,750 residents within the city limits and the county will have approx 1,975. These are best guess estimates based on voter registartion, voter turnout and just driving around town. These estimates are mine only and not based on any government facts. We have lost a lot of residents and the city is in for a shock. They will have to redo the census in august when there are more people up here to fudge the numbers to get even close to the 24 thousand they claim live here.
The census ONLY counts residents in their usual residence-that’s why SLT is such a unique area and census workers need to go door to door. It doesn’t matter if our numbers go up in the summer months—it’s moot!! They will be counted in their hometowns NOT here.
It’s the folks who are here 24/7 that need to step up and get in the count so we get the moula that we are deserving!!!!!!!!!
We’re from the government and we’re here to help you. You can trust us.
Laurie, I realize that and you are correct. There are rumblings within the city to try and do a count in the summer so they can try and count foks who are up at second homes as residents therefore increasing the numbers as in fudging. The city is going to be desperate to increase numbers as anyone who lives here knows there is no way there are 24 thousand full time residents. We will be like Truckee with only 14 thousand residents.
The census bureau’s can get better count by just going through the Ca. drivers licensing data.
It’s that easy.
I want voice my complaint about the idiots that went through left 1000’s of pieces of Paper that ended up in our streets ,snow berms, yards, parking lots, left on 1000’s of doorknobs, do the math ,70% don’t live here, so 700 out every 1000 was a waste .(and we are worried about paper or plastic)??
On top that, it was a notifier to burglars FOR home Break Ins that signaled no one lives there.
People in our neighborhood after two weeks, we stared taking them down because we know our neighbors.
Just since the resorts closed, we watched countless people pack up move out in the middle of the night.
It’s no Joke; South Shore is really a Ghost town.
There’s more multiply families, living, crapped in, to smaller homes.
Many people in our area have picked up moved to Salt Lake area for construction jobs for the summer.
I’ve got kids between 21 to 30 living 12 in this house close to me, they are starving, I’ve given hams, and beef roast, CAN GOODS, DIRECTLY to try help out. These are our kid’s people; we need some kind grant to help the poor here, not parks, stop signs, PEOPLE!
It’s pretty damn disgusting to remember all those council blow hards telling us about the new lease on life with better high paying jobs, What a CROCK! The hole sure swallowed them up and no one stepping up to the plate, taking the fall for that Wild Turkey! When are they going to find out how much did they spend on that?(I’m sure that figure will be shocking if we ever get to known).
This city been desperate for years. I think it’s finally starting to sink in what a horrible job they done and all the money they wasted finally caught up to Them and “US.”
Nice idea but what about the unlicensed drivers under 16, illegals, peple who just don’t have a license or have lost theirs? The census is a count of people regardless of age so I don’t think that will work with only driver licenses.
Check the school enrollment,they aren’t giving money to students that don’t existence, and if illegals don’t want be counted that’s their self claim to privacy.There are many reasons why people might not get counted in the Census, including: privacy concerns, homelessness, low literacy levels and not enough time to fill out the forms or in prison,out the country or they flat disappeared buried out in the desert.
There’s always a % they don’t count.It’s actually easy to dream up numbers just like Bush did during his second term.Nothing you can do about it.
Fact is not a whole lot people live here very long , specially now.
You know that Skibum.
Yes I do know that. The number of people that are still here that I met 34 years ago when I arrived here are far and few between. Anybody who has been here longer than 30 years I have probably had some form of contact with as I was a Bartender at Carlos Murphy’s for 19 years and been in the construction business for 29. Depressing.
It’s very depressing!
I particular liked the Mountain news story about the T.R.P.A. AND L Ames Other side the story.There’s a lot truth in what she wrote.
Another thing that has bugged me and few buddies that do a lot fishing out on the lake…
We all kinda came to the conclusion that the supposed white plate they dropped in 100 feet water,said it was visible was another one Tahoe myths.
Another TAHOE PUBLIC RELATION MARKETING TOOL THAT OUT WORN IT’S USE.
There could be work for the contractors and labor work force if the rules were slacked,you might get some to commit to fixing up some blight, generate some cash flow here.
Perfect example:I know older couple that like a few small dorms put on their cabin.Yes they were honest wanted to be legal,they live on a fixed income.
The dorms could been affordable but the trpa wouldn’t allow them to do this because they had the older aluminium metal roof, the whole roof would need to be replaced to a new color.
If everyone just realized that it is totally a privacy issue. ALL info taken in the census is HIGHLY confidential and held for 72 yrs. Driver’s license data or school records is not valid nor reliable. It’s a simple process that will render a lot of that funding that ‘H’ is talking about. Soooo sad that some don’t realize the consequences and the unique situation of second homes and group renters here at the Lake. I’ve walked my neighborhood and I haven’t seen any litter and to call them idiots really indicates the level of awareness about the process that came from the framers of our constitution.
If ANYONE has a notice on their door please call the # on it so we can aid in this process. It takes about 3 minutes. REALLY!!!
You are only suppose to fill out the census for your primary residence. I’m guessing a huge portion not turned in from our town are second homes, and have rightfully not been turned in. What I would like to know is what percent of our town is vacation homes? I wonder if the census takers can get that information to us.
Last survey by the Realtors a few years back(unofficial) was 27% of the people who actually live here own their homes.
OPINION.
Filling out the Census had a better rating than the Spud Rate concerns.WHAT’S THAT TELL YOU?
Christy, I have a very close friend that writes Computer data programs for the State of Nevada DMV…
They told me that between the IRS,the DMV,they could track your id very closely.They know your credit card number,bank account, how many places you lived, how many kids and failed marriages,who you worked for,Got a pic of your mug.The government has more ways than ever to know more about you than you do,including your ancestors.
This how they track down tax fraud,child support, criminals, in all the u.s.a. and global countries!It’s not science fiction anymore.
If you like more privacy on the net, I recommend Cloakfish,as long as you use it legal, it’s not a crime.
There’s always going to be a pay under the table economy in the nation.But it’s becoming more difficult with what Bush put into the system about everyones privacy.As long there is a outside threat don’t ever believe you can’t be found.
There’s too many paper trails so easy to trace now days.
We are living in the real times of “BIG BROTHER”.
The borders at both ends,North ,South, you can just walk over the line without any problems.
TILL THEY CAN FIX THE PROBLEM THE CENSUS IS ANOTHER DATA BANK WITH DATA MINING THAT EXPOSES ALL OF US.
If you have nothing to fear send it back.
People should be more aware of the new world order.It’s a live well on a global scale.
I still think the census for more community money is nothing more than a Sting.
There’s millions of dollars in the vaults of the treasury from fake id’s from not coming back filing for a tax refund.
“THERE’S GOT BE A DAMN GOOD REASON FOR THIS”
Just had someone come by the house yesterday from the Census. She was asking about certain houses on my street if I knew anything about them. They were all second home / vacation rentals she had on the list.
OK H…. you are getting a little worked up here.
The Census maintains its own database and does NOT link it with anything else (IRS, DMV, etc) for many reasons. First, I don’t think it is legally allowed to. Second they have developed sampling methods that do NOT rely on voluntary actions (voting, drivers license, etc).
And third, and most importantly… more than anything they want good data, and if they are sharing your info with other agencies, people will be less likely to respond, and the quality of the data goes down.
Read about Title 13 data yourself.
I don’t know for certain, but all of those seemingly meaningless numbers on the forms are part of the layers of privacy. Very few people are allowed deep enough into the database to connect names with locations, or even see names.
The Census is not a data mining operation that is used to track people down, etc.
Also H, if you are so concerned with government waste… why did you collect all of those bags? You just cost the government hundreds of dollars.
You sure do talk alot for someone who doesn’t know much about the Census.
And you trust everything the government says regarding privacy because. . . . ?
What money ,the cash belongs to China.
“And you trust everything the government says regarding privacy because. . . . ?”
Title 13, regarding confidential data.
Read it. In no uncertain terms does it explain how data can be used and shared. Which is basically.. neither.
This organization, the Census, is legally bound to keep its data private… from everyone. Look at the reasons I listed earlier. ‘fear of response’ is a major threat to data quality, so the Census tries to minimize it by keeping all of their data private, shielded from every gov agency.
If you think the IRS, FBI, etc can use Census data to connect names to places… you are wrong.
It is pretty clear, even from this article. Any census employee that turns over data to any other person, agency, etc, jail time plus $250,000 fine.
Again, you talk a lot about something you know very little about, as if you know everything.
When you assume you make an……………
I assume nothing. You assume the government is worthy of your trust.
What? You assume that the Census is part of some big government citizen privacy invading big brother system. It isn’t.
I trust the Census more than any other agency.
Title 13, read it.