No point in even thinking about reviving
the long form. I'm sure our Congress folk haven't forgotten yet the
outcry they got not from us bureaucrats but from "real people"
back in 2000. I don't even recall long form data being that great
either - even by 1990 the non-response and obvious mis-response were getting
pretty high. I'm at the point now where due to this plus the timeliness
of CTPP I'm developing metro travel models virtually all from SF1 and "secondary
source" information, with long-form data only for control totals or
relative adjustments to the totals from other sources. I'd rather
see the Census Bureau concentrate first on getting the short-form numbers
and the geography right, that'll be plenty enough of a challenge in 2010
and beyond.
Sam Granato
Ohio DOT, Office of Technical Services
1980 W. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43223
Phone: 614-644-6796, Fax: 614-752-8646
"I think there is some methodology in my travels." - George W.
Bush
Of all the things that you outlined for alternatives
to replace the ACS, I
would say bring back the long-form. I know it is not easy to reverse
the
decision that was made by the CB two years ago. Although not perfect,
the
responses to the long-form will be more reliable because it will be
conducted with the decennial census, which is respected by almost everyone
in the country. I think that FHWA should take the lead in promoting
this
effort and tell the country that the ACS data are not acceptable for the
transportation community since the margin of error is very large. I
really
don’t know the effective channels of communication to have the long-form
back in Census 2010. But I think the ACS issues should be brought
to the
attention of decision makers within AASHTO, APTA, NARC, TRB, Public Data
Users, 2010 Census Advisory Committee, AMPO, 2010 Census Advisory Committee,
AMPO, House Subcommittee on the Census, and other organizations. Of
course
political pressure is always needed. The other options you outlined
are not
really alternatives to the long-form. Improvements to the ACS county
program will help a little but won’t solve the problem. Large surveys
similar to the surveys conducted in the 1950's and 1960's are out of the
question.