The importance of counting
By: J. David Chapman/March 19, 2020
The biblical account of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem describes the story of a people-counting tradition that survives even today. This historical narrative tells us they had to register in the Roman ruler’s census. Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph and was expecting their first-born child. Joseph belonged to the house and lineage of David and was required to register himself and dependents in Bethlehem, the town of David. While they were there, you guessed it, their baby was born.
The Census of Quirinius was taken by the Roman governor of ancient Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, upon the direct imposition of Roman rule. The leadership understood the importance of registering citizens in an attempt to collect taxes in an orderly fashion. At a national level, census information is used to plan the provision of heath care, education, employment, transportation, housing, and other services. The census is also an important economic tool.
Just as in the day of Governor Quirinius, state and city leaders are concerned that constituents in their jurisdiction will be undercounted and therefore they will not get their share of political power and federal resources tied to the national head count. The time has come and the counting has begun. Now is the time for our cities to judiciously avert an undercount. Oklahoma City, for instance, has a large immigration population that is hard to include in any census. The 2020 count will be made even more challenging by tough talk from politicians, making it even harder to count legal and undocumented residents, who often live in the same household.
The built environment plays an important role in the documentation of residents. Their residence is the easiest and most logical place to make the contact. The problem is there are residents living in units that are unpermitted, with no recognized address. Many hidden households have extra satellite dishes outside, curtains over basement windows, and mail slots in garage doors – all hints that additional people may be occupying structures. Without questions of housing code enforcement, Oklahoma City employees, and those responsible for counting citizens, must locate and count these residents if our city is going to get its full share of the political power and federal resources tied to the national head count.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).