What do the U.S. Census and LA city parking rules have in common? Often, not too much…but today – October 15 – is a big landmark for both. As of today, the recent relaxation of many local parking restrictions has ended and parking enforcement resumes…and today is also the last day to respond to the U.S. Census.
Parking
Back in March, because many people were being forced to work and attend school from home during the first round of COVID-19-related shutdowns, the city relaxed many kinds of parking restrictions so residents would not have to worry about parking tickets on street sweeping days, and in some other specific situations.
The relaxation order was originally set to expire on June 1, but it was extended several times after that, most recently when the latest October 1 deadline was extended until today, October 15, to help the city get the word out that normal restrictions would resume soon.
While some people may have been holding their breath, however, hoping yet another extension would come at the last minute, no such reprieve was granted, and as of today, the normal enforcement of things like street sweeping restrictions, abandoned vehichle towing, peak-hour and anti-gridlock zones, and oversize and overnight parking restrictions are back in force, as are the usual deadlines for paying tickets for parking violations (though late payment penalties on citations will still be postponed until October 22).
Which is all a long way of saying that if today is your normal street sweeping day, and you haven’t moved your car yet…it’s definitely time to do so!
U.S. Census
From the beginning, when potential questions about national origin and immigration history were hotly debated, the 2020 Census has been fraught with political controversy. The most recent argument, about when the count should end, was finally decided by the Supreme Court this week, with a decree that ensured the last day for counting will be today, October 15.
The decennial census is the official count of U.S. residents, which is used to determine government representation, funding for schools and other vital programs, and distribution of many kinds of government services, in every state and city in the country. Many municipalities with relatively low response rates so far, such as Los Angeles, have been working to extend the deadlines so they can get as many people counted as possible before the census ends…but we have now finally run out of time.
As you can see from the map below, which uses warm colors to represent the areas with census response rates to date below 56 percent, and cooler colors to show area with higher response rates, our local neighborhoods are doing better than some parts of the city. But we do still have large swaths in which the local response rate is only 56 to 64 percent, which will produce official counts far lower than the actual numbers of people who live here.
So if you – or anyone you know – has not yet filled out the U.S. census, please make sure you or they do so today. It’s quick and easy, it takes just a couple of minutes at https://2020census.gov/ …and this is your very last chance.
We all count…so please make sure you’re counted – TODAY!
