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ShareIf your household's 2010 U.S. census form hasn't already arrived in your mailbox, it will soon. If you've already filled it out, congratulations. You can skip the rest of this editorial.
As for the rest of you: What are you waiting for?
The Census Bureau says that filling out the form's 10 questions will take you 10 minutes — and that the results will last for 10 years.
Still not sure it's worth your time? Here are (you guessed it) 10 reasons to find your pen.
1. Ease. Yeah, the form looks daunting. But it's the shortest ever, and all 10 questions are no-brainers. The hardest? Birth dates for everyone in your household. You can manage.
2. Safety. By law, the Census Bureau won't share your personal information with anyone. And that means not anybody: not immigration agents, not law enforcement, not telemarketers, not your ex-wife.
3. Money. Lots of federal programs allocate money based on a place's population as determined by the census. The last census is believed to have missed between 20,000 and 30,000 Houstonians — which means that, over 10 years, the city lost around $240 million in federal funds. Your existence, as proven by the census, is worth somewhere between $1,400 and $1,700 to the Houston area. Don't you want those tax dollars to come home?
4. Power. A higher count on the census means more representatives in Congress and at the statehouse — which means more power for your neighborhood, your city, your state and people like you. A good count means that Texas could claim two, or maybe three, more seats in Congress. And fast-growing neighborhoods will claim representation on Houston City Council.
5. Bragging rights. How close is Houston to overtaking Chicago as the nation's third-largest city? How much bigger are we than Dallas? How fast are we growing? For the next 10 years, the ultimate answers to those bar-bet questions will depend on the census.
6. Schools. What neighborhoods need new ones? Where do the boundaries go? The answers will come from … the census.
7. Health services. What neighborhoods need hospitals? Or clinics? The decisions depend on … the census.
8. Transit. Where do we need roads? Where do we need bus routes? Where do we need light rail? Planners rely on … oh, you know.
9. Stores and churches. It's not just public entities that make plans using the census; private ones do, too. And if you want your neighborhood to receive its fair share of development and investment — spiffier grocery stores, upgraded restaurants, new churches — you have to tell the world that you exist.
10. Posterity. OK, so the Census Bureau will eventually release your personal form — after 72 years, when all Americans' personal records become a permanent part of the National Archive. Genealogists love those forms. And if your great-great-grandkids care enough to look for you, don't you want them to find you?
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