This week the U.S. Census Bureau was expected to have released detailed results of its 2020 headcount.
The numbers will reveal real and significant data: which areas of the country have shown spurts in population growth and which are wasting away because of thinning herds; where the old and young people live; where minority communities flourish and where wealth is concentrated.
The information is important to a diverse gaggle of special interests. From marketers who want to know where to target their ads so that their product is seen by the right people with money, to political party honchos and campaign strategists who are promoting candidates and legislation they want to know who is living where.
The statistics will be of obvious use to the Chula Vista Redistricting Commission, which is responsible for redrawing voting boundaries and has been engaged in community outreach this summer. What kinds of people—young, old, white, non-white, economically comfortable or financially struggling—live where is the sort of information that will be of use to them when they decide who is poured into voting districts 1,2,3 and 4. That information, in turn, will be used by people planning to run for city council and mayor in next year’s election.
But there is some information the census won’t—can’t—provide:
Where do the dingbats reside? What are their migration patterns? Are there more (it feels as though their numbers have quadrupled in the last 18 months or so months) or fewer of them?
I want to know in what parts of town I can shop and not worry about having my parking space violated by a monster truck or luxury vehicle whose driver thinks they are entitled to two or more spaces.
I want to know where the entitled ones go: the people who think their dogs can walk off leash, defile a lawn and then walk away as if the help will clean up their mess.
In what parts of the city will I find people who know what they want to order before the barista asks for their order?
Where do those people live?
These are the sorts of things the census can’t tell us and, for better or worse, we have to figure out on our own.
