East Ridge concerned about 2010 Census

East Ridge officials, after seeing a decline in the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, are determined to get an accurate representation in the 2010 count that begins in six weeks.

“We just don’t see how we could have declined,” East Ridge Mayor Mike Steele said. “Our schools are full, our apartments are full and there aren’t many vacant homes.”

The city has formed a Complete Count Committee, which is spreading the word about the census through posters and yard signs, and the city’s contracted public relations firm Waterhouse Public Relations is assisting, too.

“One of the recommendations we had from the Census Bureau is that we form our own Complete County Committee,” Mr. Steele said. “We think we are the only city in the jurisdiction to do this.”

City councilmen donned red census ball caps as the mayor spoke about the upcoming count during their meeting Thursday evening.

“The census means millions of dollars to our community over time,” City Manager William Whitson said. “We have just one message: when you get it, mail it in.”

The census count is used by the federal government for a variety of purposes, but officials tout its impact on federal dollars awarded to cities. Mr. Whitson said in 2000 he was working for a city that missed the 50,000 mark by just 2,000 citizens and that cost the city millions in federal housing dollars.

Mr. Waterhouse said Thursday the city is dispatching speakers to civic clubs and churches and they are armed with plenty of yard signs, buttons and other promotional materials that tout the importance of the census.

The census has tracked a steady decline in East Ridge’s population. In 1998, 2000 and 2008 the city’s total residents were recorded at 21,101, 20,640 and 19,642 respectively. East Ridge is still the county’s second largest city below Chattanooga with a population of 170,880 and larger than Red Bank which has 11,573 residents, according to 2008 census count.