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Updated 04/01/2010 11:02 AM

Mailing Glitch Causes Census Form Absence On UWS

By: NY1 News

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have not yet received their U.S. Census forms even though today is the deadline to return the 10-question forms.

Residents of one residential building on the Upper West Side known as The Ansonia say no one there has received their forms.

City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who represents the area, says the building is not the only one. She says she has received phone calls from many others who haven't gotten their forms either.

A representative from the City Planning Office says a similar glitch occurred in some apartment buildings, especially those with concierges, in 2000.

The problem has also been seen in apartments that were converted from warehouses and marinas.

Brewer says the U.S. Census Bureau told her that they will issue more and do a second mailing.

"We contacted the Census Bureau we have an email from them and what they stated is that the mailing, there must have been some mistake in the mailing," Brewer said.

As many as 300,000 city residents, or 127,000 addresses, have not yet received their census forms because their addresses were not in the Census Bureau's database, according to the City Planning Department.

"I keep thinking it's going to come, you see all the ads on TV and I don't know, at a certain point I was going to really get worried, I was starting to get worried," said one Upper West Side resident

"I want to participate in the census, I'm excited about the census that's how you know who lives where when," said another.

The City Planning Department estimates the city could gain $900 million if those residents who were not originally in the system filled out their census forms, as federal funds are doled out based on population.