Aiming to maximize federal grant money and offer proof of his city's recovery, Mayor Ray Nagin is urging Hurricane Katrina victims still living elsewhere -- and longing to return -- to record New Orleans as their home when the U.S. Census Bureau conducts its decennial head count next spring.
Problem is, that strategy doesn't mesh with census rules, federal officials say.
In an e-mail response to questions about the much-anticipated count, Nagin spokesman James Ross said this week: "An area of major concern relates to New Orleanians working to return here. Many are repairing their homes, and others are trying to work out other life details.
"Mayor Nagin has called for all New Orleanians to list New Orleans as home if they plan to move back, " he said.
The unusual appeal flies in the face of a federal policy dating back more than two centuries that requires people to be counted, with few exceptions, at the address where they are "living or staying" on the official census day, which falls next year on April 1.
"The residency rule is what it's been since 1790, " said Gabriel Sanchez, director of the Census Bureau's regional office in Dallas, which oversees Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. "We need to count people where they live, not where they plan to live or where they want to live."
Mayor Ray Nagin's advice breaks census rules - NOLA.com
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