From the moment the results of the 2010 Census were released New York City was questioning how exactly the Big Apple, which didn't do so well, was counted. Surprising nobody, within a week it was announced that the city would formally contest the count. But with it being illegal to go out and actually recount who lives where—specifically in some areas of Queens that were suspiciously devoid of life in the Census—the city would need to prove the lower numbers are due to a technical error. And now it looks like that may be possible.
At stake is a tremendous amount of Federal funding, as Crain's explains, "winning back 80,000 residents would net the city roughly $2.4 billion in federal funds over the next 10 years."
Anyway Tony Farthing, the New York regional director of the U.S. Census Bureau, testified to the City Council today that the issue might in fact be "more of a processing issue and not so much the population count” when questioned about the issue by Brooklyn Councilman Vincent Gentile.
If the issue is in fact about processing it make the job of Joseph Salvo, director of the Department of City Planning’s Population Division, a bit easier as he tries to work within the Census bureau's curious count question resolution process to get NYC its fair share of the pie.
Whatever the outcome though, it will take some time before it is resolved. In the meantime Farthing assured the Council that his team is “going to look at all aspects of those vacancies,” referring to the seemingly empty lots that the city finds so head-scratching. “What we can do and what we will do is look at this a little bit deeper.”
