Wimberly on ACR-188, Ensuring Complete Census Data for Legislative Redistricting Efforts

    (TRENTON) – Assemblyman Benjie E. Wimberly (D-Bergen, Passaic) issued the following statement on ACR-188:

     “District 35 has seen significant increases among the populations of African-American, Hispanic, Latino and Asian communities.

    “Without a significant multi-lingual door-to-door and community outreach, Paterson will be severely disadvantaged due to the coronavirus for a decade if we don’t have a complete Census count.

    “Paterson currently has a response rate of 48.0%.  Meanwhile, in neighboring Wayne, the response rate is 74.8%.

    “Paterson is 11.4 percentage points lower on current responses than it was ten years ago at the same point.  If allowed to stand, that would represent an undercount in Paterson alone of more than 16,000 people.

    “There’s a lot we could lose financially without a complete count. If Paterson’s census count is above 150,000, we would become a city of the first class which would mean more funding for hospitals, education, and public safety.

    “For cities like Paterson and others in my district, it is critical that we make sure everyone gets counted and the full count is included when we begin the legislative redistricting process.”