Councilman Adrian Mapp raised the issue at Monday's City Council meeting, saying he thinks the city can justify the number. If the city can prove it has 50,000 residents, it can receive federal housing and social service funding directly, instead of ranking its needs and waiting for Union County to decide what makes the cut.
Mapp said he hoped the administration would get on it "yesterday," but Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs said, "We got on it last week."
"I believe we have about 55,000 people living in Plainfield," the mayor said.
Mapp suggested a partnership between the governing body and the administration, saying, "That's why it fell short." But the mayor said there were numerous meetings and forums on the Census to which council members had been invited.
"Each and every time, the council was invited," she said, calling it "unfortunate" that Mapp was now calling for partnership.
Acting City Administrator Dan Williamson said the city has 180 days to make an appeal of the count and the administration was "pulling together the process." He left open the idea of a joint effort.
The 2010 Census found 49,808 residents, up from 47,829 in 2000. In 2006, a Census estimate found 47,353 people, down 476 from 2000. Even more striking, a 2008 Census estimate found a population count of only 46,126, a gap of 3,682 from the 2010 count. The 2010 Census also found 1,441 vacant dwellings. Given the vacancies and the low 2008 estimate, getting to 49,808 seems to back the administration's claim of a mighty effort to get to 50,000. Now, it's down to finding those last 192 people or more in a recount.
--Bernice Paglia
At the risk of sounding like a heartless resident, I'm sure that many of the individuals counted as part of the last census are undocumented individuals who alreday benefit from the existing social services funded by those of us who pay property, state and federal taxes.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the administration and council of this City going to realize that providing more social services and more welfare does not help this City move forward??
I wish that some of the capable folks in the leadership of this City would make more of an effort to focus on crime prevention, business development and educational improvements that would allow residents to help themselves instead of constantly relying on the help of the government.
All you need to do is to take a look at communities that surround Plainfield (blue collar and white collar towns, middle class and upper class) to realize that something is wrong with the way this city is managed.
I cannot wait until the next election!
@ 12:59 AGREED. The way the city is managed is the problem. Even if we have more than 50k residents it will only mean more money wasted by the current leader.
ReplyDelete