High-rises fail to get census forms in mail

Residents of Philadelphia's massive Society Hill Towers and another high-rise on the north side of the city did not receive U.S. Census forms in the mail, census officials said Monday.

Fernando Armstrong, regional director of the U.S. Census, said census workers on Monday had delivered new forms to residents of the three-building high-rise complex in the 200 block of Locust Street. The complex, with about 620 apartments, is one of the largest in the city.

He said residents of a 300-unit complex at 1221 N. Broad St. also would receive their forms.

Armstrong said the regional census office had learned of the mistake about two weeks ago when it received phone calls from residents.

On Monday, Armstrong said, census workers delivered to the management office of the towers addressed questionnaires for all occupied units.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure everyone is counted," Armstrong said.

He said people preferring to complete the form by telephone should call 1-866-872-6868. He said such calls would be taken through the end of July.

Armstrong said census enumerators would visit any residence from which no response was received. Residents at the North Broad complex will have the same options.

The towers in Society Hill stand out, but they got lost in paperwork.

"We did a canvassing last year where we canvassed every street and road to make sure we had all of the addresses," Armstrong said. "Apparently the three towers of Society Hill Towers were initially listed in the wrong block."

A field worker deleted the towers from the incorrect block, and the process of relisting the complex in the correct block "evidently didn't work the way it should have, and that is why they were not added to the right geographical location," Armstrong said.

Officials said the forms should have been delivered by mail during the week of March 15. Completed forms should have been returned last week to reduce the need for a census enumerator to visit homes.

Armstrong said residents should fill out the forms and put them in the mail by the end of this week.

Harry K. Schwartz, who lives in the towers, said: "Everybody expected to get the forms in the mail. They were surprised when they didn't come."

"This is a serious business. We need to be counted so that we have the proper representation in Congress," Schwartz said.

For every person not counted in the census, Philadelphia loses about $2,800 in federal grants, said Patricia Enright, executive director of Philly Counts. She cited a recent Brookings Institution study.

Enright said the failure to send forms to the tower residents was "extremely troubling for the city and potentially for the thousands of residents who were not counted."

She said she had learned of the problem early last week after an automated "robo-call" from Mayor Nutter was issued to encourage residents not to be late in returning their forms.

"The robo-call asked people if they never received a form to call this office, and so we got a few calls from people who live there," Enright said.

She said her office then alerted census officials.

"The bureau has been incredibly responsive in terms of finding a quick solution," Enright said. "We don't know how widespread the problem is."