Press Releases

Census Booth at the Home Show (4/7/2010)

OLEAN – Mayor Linda Witte and Olean Community Development Director Mary George will be giving away free hats, shirts, banners and other items Saturday in an effort to seek residents’ cooperation for a complete count in the 2010 Census.

“Each uncounted resident costs a community about $2,000 in federal aid,” said Mayor Witte. “We are sure the public will understand how important that is.”

She made an announcement during the Olean Common Council’s Committee meeting Tuesday, detailing plans to set up the 2010 Census information booth from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Greater Olean Home and Garden Show.

The area’s 2010 Census representative, Phil Stark, will also be on hand to help distribute gifts to residents and talk about efforts to increase the count of each and every resident of the city of Olean

The Home and Garden Show will be held at the Olean Recreation Center in War Vets Park, 551 East State Street, Olean. The Census booth will be set up in the foyer of the Rec Center.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, 67 percent of the city’s residents had filled out and returned the Census mail questionnaires. The city is separated into four Census tracts, with the northern and eastern sections response rate at 71 percent. Sixty-five percent of residents in the western portion of Olean and 60 percent of residents in the central portion of the city had returned the completed forms by that time.;

These numbers fall short of the city’s total 79 percent response rate seen in the 2000 Census. Mayor Witte urges residents within the four Census tracts to beat that rate by taking just 10 minutes to complete and mail the forms.

The 2000 Census counted 15,347 people living in 1,200 homes within the city’s 6.16 square miles a decade ago. Keeping that number up or recording an increase in the residential count will help Olean’s economic and political status by showing that existing population numbers justify funding and continued representation in future reapportionment efforts.

Olean residents were among the 130 million addresses across the nation to receive Census forms by mail in March. The forms, described as the shortest in history and containing only 10 questions, are designed to count citizens where they were living on April 1, 2010.

From May through July Census workers will pay follow up visits at homes of those who have not responded with a completed form, because every person matters. Census workers, wearing a Census badge and carrying a Census bag, will be making personal house calls to reach all residents of those households.