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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Plainfield's Census 2010 Road Show: Did it happen?




Mockup of a Census2010 tour bus.


Plainfield's date with the Census2010 road show was supposed to be Tuesday.

But did it actually happen?

I didn't see any sign of the Census2010 Road Show tour bus.

Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs made the announcement that the Road Show was coming to Plainfield during her 'State of the City' address at the City Council reorg meeting on January 1st.

The bus, one of a dozen over-the-road tour buses outfitted to promote Census2010 and dispersed throughout the country, was said to be coming in January.

Piv, writing in his blog at the time, wondered 'will it be a show, or will it actually accomplish something?' (see here).

Nothing further was heard.

Until last Thursday, March 4, when I found a notice for the Road Show on the front page of the city's website -- announcing that it would be in Plainfield on March 9. I duly put the following notice on the CLIPS calendar --
  • Tuesday - March 9. CENSUS 2010 Road Tour. This is the event originally set for January. For further information on times and locations, check the city website www.plainfield.com/.
Today, the Ledger carries a story of the big hoopla yesterday in Perth Amboy surrounding the Census2010 (see here). How big a hoopla can be guessed from the heavyweights who were present --
...[t]he mayor was joined by William G. Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities; U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13th Dist.); state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex); assemblymen John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex); Middlesex County freeholders Mildred Scott, Blanquita Valenti, James Polos and Christopher Rafano, and Sayreville Councilman Nicholas Perrette...
Thinking there would perhaps be an updated press release on the city website, I checked back early Wednesday morning -- only to find that the notice of the Census2010 Road Tour had VANISHED. Gone. Completely. Not a trace.

And checking the blog for the Census2010 area tour bus (see here; we are part of the Philadelphia area), there is no information at all about a Plainfield event.

Maybe it's time to revise Piv's question.

Was there even a show?


PS: City Hall staffers tell me there was a small gathering at City Hall Library mid-day. Nothing outdoors. No tour bus.



-- Dan Damon [follow]

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2 comments:

active citizen said...

Unfortunately, the road show didn't happen, if the dozen or so people I asked are any indication. I got a letter in the mail stating that next week I'd get the census form in the mail. That was a waste of taxpayer money. Just send the stupid thing.

Once again our mayor was not our leader and like she did with the budget, she seems to be doing with the census. I wonder if she had orders from above to make sure Plainfield doesn't make that magic 50,000 number. I wonder.

Anonymous said...

I didn't see a tour bus, but there were a lot of people here at the high school promoting the census. In fact, every history class went down to the gym to listen to a presentation about the importance of the census.