Last evening, I noticed two Census Workers standing outside of Roosevelt Island’s Riverwalk Buildings at 405 and 415 Main Street trying to talk to residents as they were entering and exiting the buildings.
Census Workers Outside of Riverwalk’s 415 Main Street
I went over to speak with them and learned that they were Roosevelt Island residents working for the Census. According to these Census workers, unlike every other Roosevelt Island building including other Riverwalk buildings, the Related management at 405 and 415 Main Street would not allow them into their new Luxury rental and condo building to count the number of residents living in the premises. Why is that? Are these buildings and residents living in them somehow exempt from their constitutional and civic duties that the rest of us are abiding by?According to Fact Check:
…Its true that the law (13 U.S.C. 223) requires landlords and building managers to give Census workers “free ingress” to “any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house, tenement, or other building.” But Census spokeswoman Shelly Lowe told us, “This means into the building, not the residence itself, in order to be able to knock on the residents door, not into individual apartments.” And thats true; nowhere does the law require landlords to let Census workers into an “apartment” or dwelling when nobody is home.
Furthermore, the Census manual for its enumerators gives specific instructions on ” Procedures to Follow When No One Is Home ,” and these procedures do not include entering an apartment or dwelling. Rather, the manual requires workers to come back later and try again, and to ask neighbors who lives there and how to contact them. Lowe says, “We specifically instruct census takers never to ask to enter a residents home. We certainly would not allow them [to] try to enter a home if the residents are not even present.”…
Why is it important that every Roosevelt Island resident be counted in the Census? According to Census 2010:
When you fill out the census form, youre making a statement about what resources your community needs going forward.
Accurate data reflecting changes in your community are crucial in apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and deciding how more than $400 billion per year is allocated for projects like new hospitals and schools.
That’s more than $4 trillion over a 10-year period for things like new roads and schools, and services like job training centers.
The Related building management at Riverwalk’s 405 and 415 Main Street should change their procedures, follow the law and allow the Census Takers access to the building and it’s residents. It’s in the interest of all Roosevelt Islanders for this to happen.I have asked Related for a comment and will report back if and when they do. Blogger My Two Census has more on difficulties encountered by census workers gaining access to some apartment buildings:
… Were in an urban area.
My district has only apartments or condominiums. All of these have external control devices/call boxes, with the exception of one building that has a locked door and no identifying marks other than the street number.
I have been surprised by the the number of property management organizations and condominium owners associations that have actively impeded Enumerators in pursuit of the data. This includes posters from management stating do not allow Census workers into the building or stating access to the building is only available by invitation of each individual condominium owner….