CENSUS MONEY IN LIBERTY CITY

As I was mentioning in my past blog, Liberty City needs money to improve in many ways, be it on police patrol as officer Luis Cerra said, or in education as Pamela Dukes, said. Liberty City has a difficult reality, and surely some funds can ameliorate that situation. The census, the decennial population count by the federal government, could be a way out.

The 2000 census population of Liberty City was 32,191.  Based on this number, the traditional estimate of the census for 2008 would be 32,312. That is 50 percent less than the accurate population of Liberty City for 2008: 48,681.

How do I know this? While looking for the amount of federal funding allocated in Liberty City based on the census, I stumbled across stories on Liberty City repeatedly saying that the problem of Liberty City with the census and the funding that come with it, is that it’s undercounted, a non-surprising fact. But what it was surprising was a meticulous study on Liberty City (and other sectors) by a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C.

The study was successful in getting a more accurate count of Liberty City because they used different methods from the census in counting people. Social Compact “Draws from real-time transactional local market sources like local tax assessment, building permits and utility usage. It also profiles informal, or cash, economy model, integrates data on banking penetration, bill payment patterns and consumer expenditures,” according to their website www.socialcompact.org. 

This is where I got the info on the city’s populations among other things.

The study explained how the numbers of the census are what dictate the economic health of a city because it’s what attracts investors and businesses to the city, and obviously the numbers of liberty city are not appealing to investors. That’s why if you go to Liberty City, you will not find a full service grocery store around the corner, as a matter of fact there are 1.4 full service grocers per 10,000 households in Liberty City, with an average distance of 0.57 miles, this means a lot of walking if you don’t have a car, and a lot of miles if you just need a gallon of milk. Same thing happens with banks, with 1.4 banks per 10,000 households, with an average distance of 0.68 miles, which explains why 83 percent of the residents of Liberty City pay all their bills in cash making it hard to have an accurate picture of the city’s economy.

What investors ignore is that there is an immense unmet demand in liberty city.

Because there are not a lot of options in the city, people spend their money in other cities resulting in more than 90 million leakage. The lack of groceries it’s what most affects the economy with a 33.2 million leakage, followed by apparel with 12.4 million and restaurants with 12.2 million.

These numbers above is what is going to help people like Elaine Black, president/ CEO of Liberty City Revitalization Trust, in selling the city as a profitable inversion.

“We are working in bringing investors to the city,” (with the study if Social Compact) said Black.

“However, the numbers of the census are the official data,” said William Porro, special projects administrator. Meaning that no matter if the census is incorrect that is the  legitimate data. 

 But there is a way to appeal this record and that is by The Census Challenge, a program that was established in 2001 in recognition of the impact of possible incongruity, allowing local governments challenge its population estimates. There have been 188 recognized challenges according to Social Compact, including one of Miami Dade in 2009, which recognized 80,500 people that were left out of the original 11-24-09 population estimate (2,398,245) resulting in a more accurate population of 2,478,745. 

The why of the undercount of Liberty City has various reasons: multiple families living in one apartment, paying bills in cash, language barriers and the most frequent one: mistrust of government.

What people need to know is that the census is completely independent from the government (not even the president has access to it), and it is sealed for 72 years. Getting counted can only do you good.

The benefits of getting counted, and accurately, is the ultimate desire of any local government because they know that there is more than 400 trillion every then years to be allocated in every city depending on its population. Representation is also in jeopardy when there is a miscount, and as we said investors would overlook communities, making them seem as dying and not with economic prosperity.

Liberty City demands more attention from investors because it has the purchasing power to handle it, and it needs it for it to be a normal city with groceries and banks and restaurants like any other city has.

Let the census speak for you, not against you. 

MLK PARADE, MY FIRST DATE WITH LIBERTY CITY

The streets were empty at 11 am with the exception of the vendors who perimeter the 62nd street right next to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park where the parade was to end, and some police officers randomly walking up and down the street. I approached one of them, Officer Dennis Segura, and talk about the violent reputation that has Liberty City in a controversial vehicle theft video game. He told me what I already knew: that it was a very dangerous city. But, Segura is not based in this city, he was sent here only for the parade, as were the other officers. Segura introduced me to his colleagues, a group of 8, and as I said, none of them is based on Liberty City, but one who had worked here before, Freddy Trillo.

“This area has always been well policed,” said Tillo, “nothing has changed.”

 Officer Luis Cerra jumped in the conversation and said that the city could be better in terms of security if politicians invested more in police force presence, but as he said “ there’s no money.”

  Cerra and Segura are based on the Robbery Unit of Dade County and said that the most popular robbery in Liberty City was armed robbery by teenagers of 15 to 17 years old. “Watch out for your purse,” both told me jokingly, probably trying to scare me off.

The smell of Latin food and chicken wings perfumed the fresh air that combined perfectly with the blazing sun. The vendors preparing their food, expected to have everything ready by 2 o’clock.

           

“This place gets packed,” said Manny Echevery the “Iceman.” “ It’s like Calle 8, but for the African Americans.”

Echevery sells ice in all events since 10 years ago. He said that as soon as the sun goes down he leaves. Last year he said he witness a shooting right here at 62^nd street around 6 o’clock when there was still sunlight.

“As soon as I finish my work I leave.” I saw the Iceman deliver the ice and leave.

 One of his customers Dr. Spice was selling coconut water, mango, and other fruits, perfect for the rising temperature. As he peeled the mango agilely, he told me with a Jamaican accent that he owns a vegetarian restaurant in Liberty City where he has been living for the past 10 years, and unlike the police officers and the Iceman, he said that the community is improving since Barack Obama is president.

“There has been a change in attitude,” he said. “No looking down no more.”

He compares Obama with Martin Luther King and Bob Marley, who he says he knew. Dr. Spice in his black-leather jacket sang little parts of the song he wrote for Obama before he became president: “ We’re going to see Barack Obama help us with our struggles… Blacks with better feelings…” Ramon Russell, his aide cut the coconut for me and told me that unfortunately there is still racism, and that your status depends on your color.  

Martin Luther King looked serene but imposing on the murals and t-shirts. Today is his day, but some people didn’t fully realize it. “It is just another holyday and we have to work,” said Julia, from the Arepas stand.

However, there were others who knew well what this day meant. Pamela Dukes is an educator and director of Outreach, an educational program for people with disabilities, said that King inspired her to be a leader and learned since early age that a “ Common voice is stronger.” She was at the parade as a volunteer of Congressman Kendrick Meek, a local politician that is running for the senate. Dukes said that she supports him because besides being a member of the community, he is actively interested in improving education, and the more educated the community is the less violent it becomes.

She believes that all the problems of Liberty City are rooted in education. Uneducated people are the first to be unemployed and this causes problems of insecurity and resentment. “We need more politicians investing in our education,” said Dukes, “and that will fix the streets of Liberty City.”

So the police said that if more money was invested in police presence Liberty City would be safer, and Dukes said that with more money put in education more people would be skilled therefore employed, therefore not causing trouble in the streets. So is money Liberty City’s only solution? How much money can buy Liberty City out of violence?

Money is a big issue everywhere, and sometimes is a wand that can turn ugly into pretty. But in this case is ironic how people demand money for their city but do not collaborate with the census. Brand Brown, a worker at the census tent said that some people are uninformed and therefore they avoid the census because they think that they can be found and prosecuted for something or even be obliged to pay child support.

So yes, Liberty City needs money, needs education, needs jobs, need to be safe, among other things, but it has leaders and its people that are working hard to fulfill these needs.

At 4:00 pm children, men and women gathered at the end of the street for the gospel music presentation with artists rapping Christian songs with a lot of style: high heels and hats, not high-neck shirts. There was a lot of talent on that stage, making people dance and sing and repeat the word “Je-SUS.”

Liberty City is JOU 3117

Liberty City is the perfect place to be. To create a newspaper based on this city it’s going to be a mutual benefit, from which we, journalism students, are going to gain real life experience on our field and at the same time we are giving back to a community that needs more voices to change its future.

This project or better defined as journey is not new to me. Since last semester Professor Reisner introduced the majority of us to this idea and we bought it. He not only threatened to teach us organizational skills, but also show us a preview of what being a journalist means. The spark of responsibility and need to be active caught fire.

At this point, where I’m still struggling writing good leads, where I have so many questions and doubts on how to be a good journalist and how to approach people and develop my ideas, I come to realize that the answer is not in words but in experience. But it’s intimidating. Beyond the fact that Liberty City is consider one of the most violent cities, the most difficult and at the same time the most exiting part for me it’s to get involved with a community that I barely know, to gain their trust and of course, not let them down.

The Martin Luther King Parade was my first experience in Liberty City. It was a good day not only because of the good spring weather, but also because EVERYONE was willing to speak. Whatever the question was, there was an answer and even a conversation. 

            “ There is change in attitude,” said Dr. Spice, a Jamaican who owns a restaurant in Liberty City about the response of his community toward the election of Barack Obama. “No looking down no more.”

(More on MLK Parade on next post)