New Orleans mayor wants Census to count displaced

NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Ray Nagin wants hurricane-displaced people who plan to return to New Orleans counted as residents in the upcoming U.S. Census even if they live elsewhere.

Unfortunately, that’s against Census rules, which call for people to be listed where they are living and sleeping most of the time when the count is taken.

It was a comment from a Nagin spokesman earlier this month that touched off debate over how residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 should be counted.

“An area of major concern relates to New Orleanians working to return here. Many are repairing their homes, and others are trying to work out other life details,” Nagin spokesman James Ross said in an e-mail to The Times-Picayune newspaper. “Mayor Nagin has called for all New Orleanians to list New Orleans as home if they plan to move back.”

Many people fled the city ahead of — and following — Katrina’s devastation, and some still haven’t been able to return.

But Census spokesman Michael Cook said Monday that there are no plans to make special accommodations for counting them if they plan to come back.

“We are mandated, per the law, to ask people to fill out the forms as per their residence on April 1, 2010, and that’s for all individuals,” Cook said.

The 10-year count that starts with surveys going out in March holds considerable weight, helping decide such things as congressional districts — Louisiana could lose a seat — and distribution of $300 billion a year in federal funds.

It’s also expected to provide the first real benchmark of post-Katrina New Orleans, where demographers estimate that about 75 percent of the pre-storm population of about 454,000 people has returned.

Demographic analyst Elliott Stonecipher said Nagin has gone “to the ultimate degree of foolishness” to openly advocate for people to be counted in a city that they hope to return to. If it happened, other cities and parishes would suffer, he said.

Ross said Monday that Nagin is not trying to manipulate the system for the city’s gain and has simply said he wants to see something happen so people who plan to return to the city can be counted as New Orleanians. When they return, Ross said, “they will need the services and political representation that will be provided as a result of the Census.

“The mayor has never advocated that anyone simply violate any rules,” he said. “What he’s done is said, there should be a mechanism for addressing this, given the reality of Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding that is occurring.”

Ross said Nagin wants to discuss with Census officials his idea to have those “in the process of returning, who are close to returning and will be here very shortly” counted as residents.

The scars of the hurricane remain visible in hard-hit neighborhoods nearly four years after 80 percent of the city was left under water. Derelict homes — some still bearing the tattoos left by search and rescue teams in Katrina’s chaotic aftermath — dot broken streets in places like the Lower 9th Ward.

City officials hope a list of infrastructure work planned or under way and other neighborhood investments will nudge homeowners who have not decided what to do with their still-vacant houses to make a decision, soon. The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority is working to put abandoned or blighted homes back into commerce, with hopes of stabilizing neighborhoods. It also is responsible for disbursing up to 4,600 properties that the state bought from homeowners who did not want to rebuild here.