With only 36 days left for Americans to be counted in the latest census, Mayor Richard Daley today pleaded with Chicagoans to take part.
He said Chicago had the worst return rate of census mailings for any major city — about 51 percent.
Daley said that each person not counted costs Chicago an estimated $3,391 in state and federal aid. “For a family of five — that’s a lot of money,” he said at a news conference at City Hall.
Daley said the amount of money lost to undercounting would be enough to resurface every residential street in the city or to build five new high schools and five new elementary schools and renovate 200 more.
“If you refuse to cooperate, it is money straight out of your pocket and into someone else’s in another city,” Daley said.
He asked Chicagoans to talk to friends and neighbors to ensure they’ve been counted, too. Daley also said Ald. Vi Daley (43rd) would meet with managers of high-rise apartment buildings to make sure that security guards or doormen allow enumerators into their buildings. Census officials recently told the city that access to high-rises has been a problem.
Daley said that if people have not filled out a census form or been visited by an enumerator they can call 1-800-471-9424 to be counted. For bilingual assistance, the number is 1-800-471-8642. Both numbers are in operation until June 22. The enumerators will continue to canvass until July 7.
Daley said he did not promote the phone number earlier because he only found out about it a few weeks ago. He said he will promote census participation at city events and through public service announcements on radio and television.
