Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990 TAG: 9003112581
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That theme will bombard residents of the area until they complete and return their 1990 census forms.
It is part of the advertising campaign developed by Roanoke's Complete Count Committee to encourage the best possible response to the census.
Jan Wilkins, a former account executive with Houck Advertising and chairman of the committee, said the campaign will begin Thursday. The census count will be taken April 1.
Some 300 people already are at work in the local census district that covers 13 counties and 10 cities. The district extends from Craig and Bath to Pittsylvania and Amherst counties.
Matthew Duffy, district director, said the workers started delivering forms and updating housing maps in rural areas March 5. They are scheduled to finish that job by March 24.
The post office will deliver census forms in urban areas starting March 23.
Duffy said 70 to 80 percent of residents are expected to complete and return the forms by mail during the first few days of April.
Scanning of bar codes on the forms will determine which households are still holding forms.
Duffy said about 500 people throughout the district will go out to collect delinquent forms between April 26 and June 6.
People who work in the field earn $5.50 an hour plus 24 cents a mile for driving.
Duffy said about 30 people work in the district office as clerks earning $5 an hour. They will complete their work at the end of June.
The Roanoke Valley's 30-member Complete Count Committee will push its message on television, radio, newspapers and billboards.
Roanoke, Lynchburg and other localities have appointed Complete Count Committees.
Although the Roanoke committee's effort is sponsored by the city, Wilkins said, its theme applies to the entire valley. Because the Roanoke media cover the entire region, he added, the advertising focus will be on Western Virginia.
Wilkins said cities appointed committees in order to get as high a population count as possible. Roanoke, he said, is especially eager to keep its count above 100,000, a mark just barely reached in the 1980 census.
John Marlles, Roanoke's chief of community planning, said cities have a disproportionate share of people who have been undercounted in the past. That includes low-income, minority and disadvantaged people.
The census count is the basis for redistricting for federal and state legislative seats, he said. Population is also one of the criteria for certain federal and state aid programs.
So the city organized teams to make a field survey of the entire city, Marlles said. He said the teams identified more than 700 dwelling units that did not appear on census lists.
Dan Pollock of the city department of buildings said the units were scattered pretty evenly around the city.
Many cases involved what Pollock called questions of interpretation. One example is a single-family home that, when inspected in the field, seemed to be occupied by two families. Another might be a garage that appeared to have been converted into an apartment.
But the teams also found several mistakes.
Pollock said a group of 27 houses dating back to the 1940s and 1950s had been omitted from the maps. The reverse also was true: homes listed, for example, on an industrial track.
Marlles said the Census Bureau based its determinations on official records, such as building permits. But many buildings are altered without obtaining permits.
A field inspection shows places where such signs as two meters or two mail boxes indicate another family's presence.
Marlles said the Complete Count Committee has a special population subcommittee that will try to reach undercounted groups.
Because the census will be taken on a Sunday this year, he said, ministers will be asked to mention the forms during services on April 1.
by CNB