Census uses wrong addresses as 'cost-saving' measure
Steven Doolittle is one of many Santa Rosa residents who have received a census form with a Kenwood address.
CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/ THE PRESS DEMOCRATPublished: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
A number of Santa Rosa residents are reporting that their official U.S. Census forms have them living in Kenwood, while some in Rohnert Park say their forms list Cotati as their city.
The street addresses are correct, as are the ZIP codes. The thing that's wrong is the city. Census officials in Maryland said residents need not worry — a printed bar code on the form indicates the correct city of residence.
“It's not a mix-up,” said Michael Anthony Gregorio, a bureau spokesman.
Gregorio said it's a result of a “cost-saving measure that streamlines” the way the forms are sorted and delivered by the Postal Service.
He said census mailings listing the wrong city, in most cases, show the “city next door . . . usually small towns.”
A document provided by the bureau explains that “it will not affect which city, town or block your household's responses will be assigned to.”
That means that the primary reason for the data, distributing billions of dollars in federal funds and the reapportioning of seats in Congress will not be compromised, officials said.
But some local residents are not convinced.
“It makes me wonder what other screw-ups are they doing,” said Tom O'Doul of Rohnert Park.
The bureau began mailing out census forms this week.
O'Doul, a retired mail carrier, said his census form arrived at his home in Rohnert Park, even though it listed Cotati as the city of residence.
“If they can't get the city right, what other mistakes are they making?” he said.
Several residents said census officials they contacted by phone told them to cross out the city if it's listed wrong before sending the form back to the bureau.
Bryce Velasco, manager of the Santa Rosa Census office, which covers Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties, said he didn't know why some forms listed the wrong city.
He said that in some cases mailed notices to local residents that official census form were coming soon also listed the wrong city.
But he assured residents that what matters is the bar code printed on the form. The bureau knows exactly where people live, he said.
“Their money is still going to be apportioned correctly,” Velasco said. “Your money is not going to go to Kenwood, in other words.”
Velasco said the bureau last year conducted a massive, door-to-door canvassing operation to verify each and every address in the county and across the country. Census workers checked to make sure that addresses were associated with an actual location.
The bureau document states census workers who participated in last year's canvassing operation assigned a “geocode” to each housing unit using special census maps and GPS coordinates.
The bureau also gave local officials the chance to review its address list and that “most municipal officials verified that the Census Bureau accurately coded each house to the proper municipality,” the document states.
Steven Doolittle, 55, of Santa Rosa said his census form also listed Kenwood as his home. He said he just wants to make sure Santa Rosa gets its share of the $400 billion in federal funds expected to be distributed.
“I'm concerned that another city will get the funds,” he said. “If the form they send out shows an error, will it really be applied to Santa Rosa or will it be applied to Kenwood.”
Tammy Mayo, supervisor of customer service at the main post office in Santa Rosa, said she doesn't know how many local residents received a census form with the wrong city listed.
Mayo said that Santa Rosa mail gets processed at a plant in Petaluma, where a computer reads the bar code and sorts letters and packages. The sorted mail gets put into trays that are transported to local post offices for mail carriers to pick up.
She said forms with the wrong city listed could create confusion among some local residents, but “we don't seem to be having a problem of getting it to where it needs to go.”
O'Doul, the retired mail carrier, agreed.
He said that as long as the “ZIP + 4” is correct, the mail will get to the right block. What's more, he said mail carriers know who their customers are.
Even so, O'Doul acknowledged the census count is an important undertaking: “If they want to do it right, do it right, for crying out loud.”
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.