Sunday, January 10, 2010

2010 Census

Why is it important to be counted?

Census information affects the number of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives. And people from many walks of life use census data to advocate for causes, rescue disaster victims, prevent diseases, research markets, locate pools of skilled workers and more.
When you do the math, it's easy to see what an accurate count of residents can do for your community. Better infrastructure. More services. A brighter tomorrow for everyone. In fact, the information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like:
• Hospitals
• Job training centers
• Schools
• Senior centers
• Bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects
• Emergency services

On a local level it will conclusively show that our area now has a majority of the county population and will assist the commissions court in the redistricting process that will ensure that our city gets the representation it deserves. It will also help in the realignment of our precinct voting districts. It will also show who the “majority minority” is in our county and help reshape the “minority” commissioners district accordingly.

Participation isn't just important—it's mandatory.

3 comments:

P. Moratto said...

When you take a look around, you can see infrastructure ignored or bandaged on the fly, generally crumbling everywhere. The government is so overspent that the federal debt -- not our debt -- is irreversible. They are in bankruptcy denial. In an economically sound system, it would have been General Motors taking over the three-wing circus we call DC, not the other way around.
We now export our raw goods and import the finished products from abroad, the de facto definition of a third world country. George Orwell's 1984 isn't behind schedule. It's here.
The segment of the population that is growing the fastest is labelled "illegal," so its participation in the census cannot be expected. We even harbor them right here by declaring LC an amnesty city.
So the census is marginalized into unimportance and irrelevance except for bureau-rats and bean counters.

So why the thread about the federal census in the first place? Why aren't city issues important here?
Can't you feel the Economic Development Corporation's hand reaching deeper into your pocket? And aren't you even a little bit outraged about the boundless playground? We discussed it a lot here, and there was a serious list of objections to the original plan, suggestions for alternatives that were not challenged, and a lot of good questions. Only one person asked the parks board for the park, or spoke here in defense of it, yet the entire city is going to just hand it over to her. I don't get it. Is everybody stoned?

Chris John Mallios said...

Mr. Moratto,
The census is VERY important to League City. It will give us more than one commissioner on the court. (yes I know that Comm. Lamb has a few token small areas of League City in his precinct) The political power yeilded by one person will now have to be shared. We will now have a say in how our county dollars are spent instead of just someone who votes no and has no solutions. Once all are counted, the northern population of our county will mandate two commissions. Anything else in my opinion would be jerrymandering and could cause a challenge in the courts. It will also change the make up of the "minority" district since the majority minority will change. So what does this have to do with League City? I would say a heck of alot.

P. Moratto said...

Yeah? Then lots o' luck figuring out how you're going to get the people in those apartments on Texas Avenue at Main to answer their doors and be counted. Census takers had better not dress like INS/ICE! They'll do well to be armed before they go in there too.