Census Test in L.A. Area Is Halved Due to Poor Response

An interim survey of several Los Angeles County communities to test methods for the 1990 census has been cut in half because so few residents returned questionnaires, it was announced Wednesday--much to the dismay of several hundred who had been hired to do the job.

Also angered by the U.S. Census Bureau’s cutback were officials of Compton, one of the cities eliminated. The Compton City Council, concerned because allocation of state and federal revenues is often based on population statistics, voted unanimously to protest to Census Bureau Director John Keane.

Being eliminated from the test with Compton are the cities of Bell, Cudahy, Maywood, Huntington Park, South Gate and Lynwood as well as the communities of Walnut Park, East Compton, West Compton, Florence-Graham and Willowbrook.

Workers will concentrate instead on Bell Gardens, City of Commerce, East Los Angeles, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, South El Monte, South San Gabriel and Whittier.

As of Monday, said Reina Ornelas, a Census Bureau community outreach specialist, only 26.9% of the mailed questionnaires had been returned from the southern portion of the proposed test survey area, while the return rate in the northern area was 34.1%

With 800,000 questionnaires sent out, she said, the Census Bureau does not have the money to send enumerators door-to-door. She said about 100 temporary workers already on the job will be laid off and that 400 others who had been hired will never start work.