That's not even the total picture. Those are numbers the city can ill-afford to lose. The U.S. Census Bureau determines the population by verifying addresses with the Postal service. Beginning in early 2000, the Bureau will send letters that citizens may respond to by mail or telephone. Census takers visit those who do not respond to the survey.
Officials concede that some people are leery of government officials, and the forms they bring.
But part of the public education process will be to demystify that aura, City officials say. Census numbers also determine the number of representatives a region has in its congressional delegation. Atlanta joined other cities in successfully suing the Bureau for its computational errors. But cities have to be doubly sure the population numbers are correct this decade around. The federal government has also outlawed such suits in the future, Wallace said.