A message from Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

My fellow Angelenos,

I just took 10 minutes to fill out the 10 questions in my Census form, and I am encouraging all Angelenos to do the same. It critical to your community and your city that you make yourself count in this year’s Census.

Your participation will help decide the future of our City for the next ten years. The census determines the number of representatives we can send to Washington, the amount of child-care and senior centers we can have, and the level of federal funding we will receive.

Yet, with each new decade, the census still manages to miss some of our most vulnerable residents: young children in low-income homes, large families living under one roof, minorities, renters, recent immigrants, and the homeless. In the 2000 census, it is estimated that 76,8000 Angelenos went uncounted. This was the second highest undercount in the nation.

What did the undercount mean for the City of Los Angeles? The loss of $206 million. In our dire economic climate, we simply cannot afford to leave that money on the table.

All of you should have already received your census forms in the mail this week, so if you have any questions or did not receive your form, please visit one the many Assistance Centers opening across the City tomorrow. To find out where the nearest one is located, call the City Hall info line, 3-1-1.

With only thirteen days left until National Census Day, we need your help to represent the interests of four million Angelenos. Because each census form represents about $2700 in federal funding for your community, we need you to not only turn in your own form, but bring up the census to your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors, and tell them what the census means to their city and their community.

Tell them it is safe, confidential, and easy. Tell them that it will make a real difference in the future of our City. And tell them that by standing up and being counted, they will assume their rightful place in America’s story.

Thank you,
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

For more information on the Census visit https://www.lacounts2010.org

Controller Greuel, along with Councilmembers Perry, Parks, and LaBonge joined Mayor Villaraigosa to fill out and send off their census forms.