Posted on 05/08/2009 8:06:03 PM PDT by Libloather
Census workers going door to door
By TOM MOOR, Tribune Staff Writer
Story Updated: May 8, 2009 at 6:43 PM EDT
Sharon Sheely said she received quite the scare earlier this week.
When Sheely answered a knock on her door and asked who was there, an unknown man replied only by saying, “Census.”
Believing the man appeared “questionable,” Sheely told him to leave and closed the door.
Aside from the bad manners Sheely said the man had, what she experienced is happening everywhere.
Every residence in this region will receive a visit from the U.S. Census Bureau in the next two months as census workers prepare to verify more than 145 million addresses nationwide.
While some people may already know this, it certainly came as a surprise for Sheely.
“I wasn’t aware anything like this was going on,” said Sheely, of Lakeville.
Sheely contacted The Tribune because she’s worried many people don’t know that census workers are already canvassing neighborhoods.
The effort is part of a nationwide operation to verify, update and inquire about additional living quarters on the premises of residences nationwide — the first step in assuring every housing unit receives a questionnaire in March 2010.
“In our region, they have been instructed to knock on every door,” said Muriel Jackson, spokesman for the Chicago Regional Census Center. “There may have been some instances they didn’t, but as far as I know it’s a procedure.”
South Bend has a census office, but all media inquiries were directed to the Chicago office.
Sheely was concerned because her home had recently been burglarized and she didn’t feel she could trust a stranger at her door. Sheely also mentioned the potential dangers of elderly people being targeted by people posing as census workers.
Workers can be identified by the official Census Bureau badge they carry, Jackson said. The employees will ask only to verify a housing unit’s address and whether there are additional living quarters on the property. Workers will never ask for any bank or Social Security information.
For more information about the 2010 Census, call the Census Bureau’s Partnership and Data Services Division at (312) 454-2770.
The Census Bureau is currently recruiting managers for its new offices to open this fall in each congressional district. For more information, go to www.census.gov.
As this is a new administration and new program (these are nott census workers, they are “GPS” coordinates/address takers),
This is NOT a new program. Address listing and mapping has been a part of every census. It used to be done with guesstimation and paper maps. The only difference this time is the tool (GPS) (And, btw, the GPS system has been inthe works for something like 6 years, so it was entirely conceived in the Bush administration.)
And these workers are indeed official census workers. Many of them will be the same people doing interviewing at houses where a form isn’t sent back.
Not quite sure why this is huge issue for your; however, unless you are an expert on the census and its history, I am still gonna stick with my opinion and my post. How do you know with certainty that they were not recruited by ACORN? Whyy is it so impossible that following the election, this administration would retain them for census. No, a McCain administration would not hire ACORN to subcontract, but why not Obama? I read that ACORN got billions in the stimulus and budget packages. For what?
In my 25+ years of home ownership, I have never had anyone doing address verification—ever—I had census workers come to my door when actually taking the census. How can you say with such authority that these workers doing GPS are the same ones that will be coming to my door if I don’t mail in the questionnaire.? Do you work for Census or White House?
I am aware that the program has been in the works prior to the new administration, however, the census was NEVER ever administered ever thru the White House with the likes of Rohm Emanuel calling the shots. It is now politicized, with potentially a very different agenda.
Sorry, I am from Chicago, I know these guys and how they roll. I stand by my post.
lol, we are not even supposed to call the cops if we see illegal activities going on.
The country will survive and be here in 2012, 2016 and for centuries to come but it will not be the same country that existed since 1776 at during the Obama Presidency and many years after that. The evil of socialism will badly damage everything that our Republic has stood for for 232 years.It will take decades to destroy socialism and take our country to what it was before Obama socialism that if we can ever do it. Are you OK with that?
Address canvassers are supposed to do their work during the day, so if you work in the day, you prolly won’t see the ac workers. If you have a number on your house, they won’t even need to knock on your door. I do work for the census and I have no affiliation with acorn and acorn had nothing to do with my hiring.
I procured your sign for use, a check is in the mail
That was 2000. This is 1984.
Perhaps hiring and procedures vary in different areas. They did knock on my door, my address is on my house, I did not answer as it was early. Kind of creepy watching someone enter in a bunch of stuff about my house (at the time I did not know what it was).
So you were not hired by a temp agency but directly thru Census and you will be working thru till end of the process?
There’s no law that says anybody has to answer the door.
Oh, glad your hiring had nothing to do with ACORN, but I still find it very disconcerting that CENSUS is now being coordinated thru the WhiteHouse—Rohm Emanuel’s office. You really think there won’t be at the very least temptation to use the numbers in ways that benefit the occupant?
Well ok then! I'll just turn my 6's into 9's while I'm getting ready to disinform them 7 ways from sundown as it is my patriotic duty to do!
ok, then they were wrong. If your house was clearly not a multiple unit apartment building, they should not have had to verify.
I was not hired through a temp agency. My part of it ends on may 29th. Then they will be starting a new phase, called reporting or recording. Not sure what that is, but they will be trainig me to do it.
As of right now though, i can tell you that on the Hand-held computers (hhc), we have to verify that we are at the address, and that there is a house at the address and that the address is correct. For instance, I had to do an address correction because i knew that the street address of the house I was in front of was not “big tan house on the highway”. We are also given a map and we have to verify that the spot on the map is also correct.
bump see page
What are you laughing at? The Mormons and the Watchtower folks keep pounding on my door demanding to know where their people are. If they keep it up...
That’s fine. No skin off my nose. But these figures are used to allocate funding and the population figures are used to allocate districts, so you may end up with less representatives from your state.
You really think so? Check out the ones about FEMA!
As of right now, i have no clue how they would. we are just doing verification of addresses. such as today, i marked a house down as doesn’t exist, because county road 237 no longer exists. That is all we are doing at his time. This house exists at this location. we are not even marking down if the house is occupied or not.
I asked who the young lady was employed by? Census or ACORN?? She paused briefly, shook her tag and replied “Census”.
I won’t answer the door next time.
Last time, they sent out 'feelers'. This time, they will officially be 'trespassing'.
I'm ready.
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