Interested observers have been sounding the alarms about the federal government's readiness and commitment level for the 2020 Census.
It seems dire warnings about the status of Census 2020 have become a sort of cottage industry among media outlets. Now Alvin Chang and the data visualization team at Vox are the latest to round up all the bad, potentially disastrous, news about the upcoming census.
Chang provides background on the historical moment—the constitutional mandate for the census, its well-documented shortcomings (especially when counting vulnerable populations), and the political forces resisting improvements to the census's methods. That's all prelude to the forthcoming edition of the census, when several issues threaten to completely undermine the process, according to Chang:
- Republicans have underfunded the effort.
- The Census Bureau is using new technology to try to cut costs — but that new technology isn’t being properly tested because of the lack of funds.
- The Trump administration also added a question about citizenship that could scare immigrants away from responding.
- Oh, and the Census Bureau has been without a leader since Thompson resigned last year.
The article goes into detail about each of these points, while also deploying a series of cartoons to illustrate the concerns.
Previous reading on the concerns about the U.S. Census:
FULL STORY: How Republicans are undermining the 2020 census, explained with a cartoon
Detailed 2020 Census Data Coming in 2023
The data release was delayed in part so that the agency could implement a new privacy policy aimed at protecting the identities of respondents.
The Republican Energy and Climate Agenda
With many polls predicting a ‘red wave’ on Election Day, we take a look at the energy and climate agenda of the 118th Congress under Republican control.
Pandemic Relief Programs Reduced Poverty, Census Finds
Robust assistance programs kept millions of households out of poverty last year.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association