Census Test in Sacramento

Re “Census Bureau Counting on Sacramento Test,” April 20: There was no mention of the Constitution. The Constitution says the people will be enumerated, which means counted. The words “estimate” or “survey” are not in the Constitution, nor are they in the definition of enumerate. The Constitution goes on to say that the enumeration will occur “in such Manner as they (Congress) shall by Law direct.” So any census has to be approved by Congress, whether it’s a survey or an actual enumeration.

Without knowing what 100% is, the Census Bureau can only guess at (or estimate) what 90% is. If they actually count 87% of the population, but think they’ve counted 90%, they will underestimate the total population. Conversely, if they actually count 93% of the population and think they’ve counted 90%, they will overestimate the total population. Since most surveys that are taken now have error margins of plus or minus 3%, the chances are quite good that the Census Bureau’s estimate will not be 90%, but will be some value between 87% and 93%. Any mistakes that the Census Bureau makes in the actual enumeration of the sample population will be included and expanded upon in the final estimate of the total population.

GREG GREEN

Lake Forest

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For a newspaper covering the second-largest metropolitan area in the country that can’t so much as keep a single major league football team, I don’t feel it’s fair to condemn Sacramento as “a rather sleepy, dust-in-your-shoes farm town that couldn’t so much as attract a major league baseball team.”

Sacramento is, by any standard, a significant urban area. Its population makes it the 25th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. I’m not sure where in the city these reporters were walking to get dust in their shoes since, much to the probable disbelief of many residents of Southern California, Sacramento does have paved roads and concrete sidewalks.

Sacramento County actually has fewer farms than Los Angeles County does. Why does this perpetuation of the state capital as a backward cow town persist in your paper?

MATT ROSENBERG

Santa Clarita