Tag Archives: Census

Our Hispanic schools

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Take a look at the future. If you want to see how profoundly the state’s population is changing, look at the faces of the children in Texas public school classrooms. In all but rural areas, Hispanic enrollment is rapidly surpassing … Continue reading →

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Knock, knock, Census calling

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

They won’t be knocking on my door, but they’ll be knocking on a bunch of other ones. When census enumerators set out this Saturday, they could encounter a range of responses at the 48 million addresses they need to check. … Continue reading →

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Not too bad a job returning those Census forms

Posted on May 1, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We did better than in 2000. Houston, Harris County and Texas each exceeded their 2000 Census mail-in return rates this year while falling short of the national rate, according to final figures released Wednesday. In Houston, 67 percent of those … Continue reading →

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Counting inmates where they’re from, not where they’re incarcerated

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve noted before that prisoners in Texas are considered for Census purposes to be residents of the county in which they are incarcerated, not the county where they were actually living at the time of their arrest. This tends to … Continue reading →

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One more reason why you should have filled out your Census form

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

From the Texas Legislative Council’s 2010 Redistricting report, on page 9: Although the total state populations for the [Census Bureau] 2009 estimate (24,782,302) and the [State Data Center] 2010 projection (24,330,612) are close, and the ideal house district populations for … Continue reading →

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A redistricting compromise?

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know how realistic this is, but if an agreement on how to divvy up the new Congressional districts can be worked out before the start of the legislative session, it would at least allow for more attention to … Continue reading →

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Census update

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This is not exactly a surprise. Households in older, single-family Houston neighborhoods are returning 2010 census forms at the highest levels in the city so far, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data. Neighborhoods with concentrations of apartments or … Continue reading →

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Population and voting trends: 2004 and 2008 Presidential election

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Taking a look at the voting trends in the fastest growing counties made me want to know more about this, so I broke out the spreadsheets and took a look. I’ll present the results in a three-part series, starting today … Continue reading →

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Where the votes are going

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Matt Stiles looks at Census data and notes a political point. Seven Texas counties — Rockwall, Williamson, Collin, Hays, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Denton — are listed among the nation’s 30 fastest-growing areas, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released … Continue reading →

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Get those Census forms in

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

C’mon people. We can do better than this. A week after most Americans received their 2010 Census forms, return rates in many urban areas such as Houston and Harris County are lagging behind those in rural communities, the Census Bureau … Continue reading →

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Where the population is moving to

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Call it the Sunbelt Slowdown. Census estimates released Tuesday capture the impact of the housing downturn and economic recession, including the critical period after the financial meltdown in late 2008, on the nation’s counties and metropolitan areas. The population figures … Continue reading →

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Counting same-sex couples

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The 2010 Census will provide some long overdue new information. The federal government and the state of Texas won’t recognize Noel Freeman’s eight-year relationship with another man as marriage, but the 2010 U.S. census will. For the first time, the … Continue reading →

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Got Census?

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Have you gotten your Census form yet? Forms, asking for your household’s basic demographic data, should begin arriving in mailboxes across Houston this week. Completed questionnaires should be mailed back to the government by April 1. Sound easy? It is, … Continue reading →

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Census forms start arriving next week

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Fill out those forms and send them back, because redistricting and all that it entails will follow close behind. Experts’ early looks at Census estimates point to a potential new congressional district in northwest Harris County. That could be alluring … Continue reading →

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The Census and redisticting

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Mustafa Tameez has an op-ed in today’s Chron about the importance of the Census from a political perspective. Remember redistricting? Redistricting is the process by which the boundaries of elective districts are periodically redrawn to maintain equal representation on the … Continue reading →

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Stand up and be counted

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Please participate in the Census. Nothing good happens when you don’t. When the new, condensed census form arrives in the mail during the second week in March, each recipient’s decision about whether to toss it in the trash or fill … Continue reading →

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Please count everyone

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves was in Laredo on Monday trying to ease some anxiety among residents there about the upcoming Census. Border counties, flush with residents fearful of being turned over to immigration agents, are historically among the … Continue reading →

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Latino population growth in the suburbs

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We won’t know all of the specifics till after the Census is completed, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone to hear that the suburbs are changing in the same ways that the rest of the state and … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Texas keeps growing

Posted on December 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Every year it’s the same thing – there are a lot more Texans than there were the year before. U.S. Census estimates released Wednesday show that Texas added more residents than any other state in the year ending July 1. … Continue reading →

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Who’s ready for the Census?

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The good news is that Houston is in pretty decent shape, at least as far as big cities go, in being ready for the 2010 Census. The bad news is that a lot of other big cities aren’t ready at … Continue reading →

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We’ve got uninsured people, yes we do

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

More than one out of four people in Harris County doesn’t have health insurance. One in three adults in Harris County lacked health insurance in 2008 while Texas continued to have the highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation, … Continue reading →

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Dan Patrick on legislative reforms

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I realize that Sen. Dan Patrick writing an article for the Texas Observer is a bit like Geneva Kirk Brooks having a byline in Playboy, but give the man his due: He raises some very good points in his piece … Continue reading →

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Murray on the Census and redistricting

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Professor Murray follows up an earlier post on the recent Supreme Court decision that narrowly upheld the Voting Right Act and considers the redistricting implications for Texas in 2011. The most interesting bit was this: Had the Supreme Court thrown … Continue reading →

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Counting on the Census

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I wasn’t really paying attention to this sort of thing ten years ago, so I don’t know how much effort was made at the time to get an accurate count of Texas’ residents for the 2000 Census. I can say … Continue reading →

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More on the City Council redistricting lawsuit dismissal

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story about the dismissal of the lawsuit, brought by Vidal Martinez and Carroll Robinson. The lawsuit argued the city was violating its own charter by refusing to redistrict and add two council districts when its population passed … Continue reading →

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City Council redistricting lawsuit dismissed

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Marc Campos mentions this in passing: This past Friday, a federal judge threw out Lopez v. City of Houston. That is the lawsuit filed by Vidal Martinez to force the City of H-Town to draw two more district council seats … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Burka on the Census and redistricting

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Paul Burka takes a look at Census figures and projections for 2010 and considers the implication for the 2011 Legislative Redistricting Board redraw of State House and State Senate lines. There is going to be carnage in rural Texas, especially … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Casey on City Council redistricting

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey provides an update on the City Council redistricting lawsuit. The burning question of whether the city of Houston must immediately expand its 14-member City Council by adding two new districts in time for November’s election, or whether it … Continue reading →

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We keep on growing

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t know how much longer we can or will keep this up, but the Houston metropolitan area just keeps growing like gangbusters. The Houston metropolitan area added more than 130,000 residents between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008, the … Continue reading →

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Interview with Vidal Martinez and John Castillo

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, I’ve been following the issue of Houston City Council redistricting with a lot of interest. After the lawsuit was filed a week ago Thursday, I wanted to speak to the protagonists and ask them some questions about … Continue reading →

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The Census and City Council redistricting

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like Mayor White has an interesting ally in the city council redistricting debate. Frumencio Reyes, the dean of Houston-area redistricting litigation, said he believes the mayor made the right decision in putting off redistricting. […] Reyes, who has taken … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed to force city to redistrict

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Former City Council Member Carroll Robinson, who has been a strong proponent for redistricting City Council boundaries and drawing two new districts now rather than waiting till 2011, has said that the city should not fear any litigation that might … Continue reading →

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Here we go again with City Council redistricting

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Or at least, here we go again with arguing about when we should be redrawing City Council lines. Mayor Bill White’s decision to delay redrawing the boundaries of City Council districts has angered numerous community activists, who say his stance … Continue reading →

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