When a census worker later came to her house to have her fill out a long form, she said, she refused because she didn't have time. Gonzalez thinks something similar happened to a lot of people. Joseph Da Rold, co-chairman of the task force, said too many things were going on at the same time in April 2000. The Census Bureau also sent American Community Survey forms to 133 places including Plainfield, he said. Resident Mahendra Budhan knows the needs in his West End neighborhood and tried to talk his own tenants into cooperating with census workers to get an accurate count.
People are probably just skeptical about giving information out.
While Plainfield tries to figure out how to deal with a suspected undercount, Piscataway's new status has Mayor Brian Wahler pondering how the township will now deal directly with federal officials. The township's population jumped more than 7 percent and is now 50,482. Wahler said the township will be seeking advice from both county and federal officials to make the transition. To Lynn Hoff of East Amwell, the population growth in Hunterdon County means the quality of life she moved there for is changing. That is something she missed in school when she was one of 2,000 in her high school graduating class.