Dick Heidt - City Magazine

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the census:
HAS IT BEEN 10 YEARS ALREADY?
The Census Bureau recently opened
its Bismarck 2010 Census headquarters.
The Bismarck office will
be in charge of assuring the April
1, 2010, event counts all the residents in
western N.D. The United States Constitution
requires that a complete population count be
conducted by the federal government every
10 years.
How will the census folks carry out this
daunting task? It all begins with a good, solid
foundation. Early census operations have
been carried out by a group of local employees
who have looked at the addresses involved
in the last census and have updated these
addresses for the 2010 count.
This should be completed by Fall 2009.
The hiring of census workers has begun, and
the actual count will be aided greatly by these
By Bill Wocken
local preparation efforts.
Why should we care about the census
count? While many are curious to find out
just how many people live in our area, curiosity
is not the only reason for participation in
the 2010 census.
More than $300 billion of federal funds
are distributed every year according to population.
An inaccurate count would result in
a loss of funds that might otherwise be available,
and those funds being given to other
cities.
In addition, many businesses use the
statistics gathered by the census workers to
evaluate their commercial opportunities.
Legislative re-districting also uses census
counts.
What kind of results are we expecting
for Bismarck and Burleigh County? This
Who: Tony Blair, Jack Nicklaus, Bill George,
John C. Maxwell, Al Weiss, Liz Murray, Linda Kaplan Thaler,
Mark Sanborn, Kevin Carrol, and Ernie Johnson
Where: Arno Gustin Hall at the University of Mary
When: May 8, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Doors open at 7 a.m.)
Cost: $50 ticket ($75 after April 1) includes lunch/breaks
Call 355-8262 or go to www.umary.edu to order now!
24 thecitymag.com