[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish officials push to get residents counted in 2010 census

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish officials push to get residents counted in 2010 census
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
January 02, 2010, 10:00AM
As the federal government prepares for the 2010 census, St. Bernard Parish
plans to make a push to get its residents counted - including those not back
in their homes yet, more than four years after Hurricane Katrina.

Parish President Craig Taffaro went so far recently as to advise people
still rebuilding their homes to stay with friends or relatives in the parish
on the eve of April 1, the official census day. That way, he said, residents
could truthfully answer the question in the census that asks how many people
were "living or staying'' in a certain residence on April 1, 2010.

"If they're planning to be here (return to St. Bernard Parish), then show up
and be counted,'' Taffaro said of residents who aren't quite ready yet to
return to the parish. Federal census officials recently identified 20,106
parish addresses as eligible to receive census questionnaires in the spring.
That's almost 6,700 fewer addresses than were counted in the parish during
the last official census in 2000.

Similar to other areas hard-hit by Katrina, St. Bernard officials are
scrambling to make sure they don't get short-changed in the count. Census
numbers factor into things ranging from congressional representation to the
distrbution of federal dollars.

And in parishes hit hard by Katrina and Hurricane Rita, like St. Bernard,
the census will be used as a barometer of recovery.

St. Bernard Parish's official 2000 population, according to the Census
Bureau, was 67,229. The bureau estimated the parish had a 2008 population of
37,722 - around 56 percent of the pre-Hurricane Katrina count.

Taffaro said parish officials, basing their number on several factors
including utility permits, estimate the parish's current population at
around 41,000.

And with the Census Bureau pegging the number of housing units now at
20,106, Taffaro said he thinks the population might be even higher than
that. He said a simple multiplier of 2.6 people per address would put the
population at around 52,000. "And that multiplier is conservative,'' he
said.

"We know we're not at pre-Katrina numbers,'' Taffaro said. "But we think
we're in the 40s.''
The Census Bureau has said it will take extraordinary measures to make sure
there is an accurate population count in the areas hammered by Katrina and
Rita. Census workers will deliver forms to every household in Orleans, St.
Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, and parts of Jefferson, St. Tammany, St.
John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, as well as sections of southern
Mississippi and eastern Texas.

The Census Bureau recently identified 204,096 addresses in Orleans Parish
eligible to receive questionnaires, a decline of almost 11,000 from the 2000
census; 193,854 in Jefferson Parish (up 5,947 from 2000); 100,049 in St.
Tammany (up 24,651 from 2000); 21,365 in St. Charles Parish (up 3,935 from
2000); and 18,511 in St. John Parish (up 2,979 from 2000). A figure was not
available for eligible addresses in Palquemines Parish.

Ken Harris of the Census Bureau's Dallas office said the agency uses
multiple sources. but particularly the U.S. Postal Service, to determine the
numbers. But, he added, the numbers can change. 

"It's in a constant state of flux,'' he said.