Tag Archives: Census

June 22, 2011 · 10:00 am

ANC Redistricting Ahead?

In April, GM forecasted the possible changes to the ANC boundaries that could come as a result of the redistricting process now underway. Well, yesterday the Subcommittee on Redistricting issued guidelines for ANC and SMD redistricting that put more meat on the bones and can start to color in what changes Georgetown could see.

According to the guidelines, each SMD (that’s single member district, or practically speaking the district of each commissioner) ideally must contain 2,000 residents. The SMDs can vary from this ideal measure by 100 residents in either direction. So in other words, each SMD must have between 1,900 and 2,100 residents.

By GM’s calculations, after the last Census, the SMD populations stack up like this:

  • SMD 1 – 2449
  • SMD 2 – 1919
  • SMD 3 – 2037
  • SMD 4 – 3102
  • SMD 5 – 2529
  • SMD 6 – 2308
  • SMD 7 – 2122

Note, SMDs 3 and 1 include several GU dorms, but there is no Census data broken out by dorm. So GM used the dorms’ capacities, which is actually how they did in ten years ago. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown’s Population Didn’t Boom That Much Afterall

Last Friday, GM posted a particularly breathless report on the huge jump in the population count for Georgetown in last year’s census. The overall increase was 1,791, a 21.01% increase. Moreover, He found that the biggest gains in population were concentrated on the lower west side where there was an increase of 1,351 residents from 2000 to 2010.

GM cautioned that it would take a look at the block-by-block numbers before we could be certain where the growth specifically was. Well, he did just that, and the only conclusion he can reach is that the boom was primarily a product of increased reporting from students living outside the gates in GU residences.

Below is a map showing the blocks where there was a net gain of more than 50 residents from 2000 to 2010:

Continue reading →

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March 25, 2011 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by m-a-e.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • Ward 2 is going to have to get smaller, but since Wards 7 & 8 have to get larger, it’ll probably be the eastern parts of Ward 2 that get moved to another ward. (Plus Jack Evans is on the redistricting committee, so he’s unlikely to redistrict himself out of a job, or rather second job).
  • Here’s that Vogue article with an excerpt from Carol Joynt’s new book.

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January 14, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown by the Numbers: Getting Here

Photo by theMuuj.

GM has written a bit on who lives in Georgetown and how we get around, but today he’s going to ask: how’d we get here. Well, maybe not how specifically, more like when and from where.

Here are the answers to those questions according to the American Community Survey:

When We Got Here:

According to the ACS, here’s how it breaks down as to when Georgetown residents arrived to the neighborhood (this is by household, not resident):

Moved in 2005 or later 38.36%
Moved in 2000 to 2004 28.32%
Moved in 1990 to 1999 18.21%
Moved in 1980 to 1989 10.73%
Moved in 1970 to 1979 1.57%
Moved in 1969 or earlier 2.81%

So most people got here since 2000.  Unsurprisingly, owner-occupied units tend to have been occupied longer than rental units:

Continue reading →

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January 11, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown By the Numbers: Transportation

A while ago, GM wrote about the car situation in Georgetown and argued that a small amount of residents were having an outsized impact on the supply of cars in the neighborhood. In writing this article, GM relied on the census data from 2000. Now that the American Community Survey five-year estimates are out, GM can circle back and see whether the stats he relied on are still holding up.

So without further ado, here’s how Georgetown gets around:

Car Ownership

When GM first looked into this, GM found a surprising amount of households in Georgetown without any cars. That number has increased.

Here are the numbers from 2000:

  • Total Households without any car: 20%
  • Total Households with just one car: 57%
  • Total Households with two or more cars: 23%

Here are what the ACS was the average from 2005-2009:

  • Total Households without any car: 22%
  • Total Households with just one car: 50%
  • Total Households with two or more cars: 28% Continue reading →

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January 6, 2011 · 10:00 am

Counting Georgetown

Last December, an event happened that GM has been waiting for for years: the release of the five year estimates from American Community Survey. Sounds terribly dry, yes, but what it means is that data on a host of questions and categories has been released at the census tract level.

With this data, we can start to get an idea of what Georgetowners actually look like, and act like, and live like, etc. Before this release, the most current source of this information was the 2000 census.

Yes, those familiar with this data set be quick to point out that the margins of error on some of these statistics is huge. So you should take them with a grain of salt. But they’re certainly good enough to start the discussion, and they’re certainly the best we’ve got. (Also, it’s really important to keep in mind that these numbers are meant to be averages over the last five years, not a snapshot of today).

So that said, on to some of the first numbers! Continue reading →

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April 27, 2010 · 10:01 am

Georgetown Census Participation Good, Not Great

GM was tipped by DCist today to check out the Census participation for Georgetown. You can look up on the Census website and find out how good each census tract is about answering those ten questions. Georgetown’s is already better than it was 10 years ago, but it’s still lagging behind the national average.

Here are the stats:

Continue reading →

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September 9, 2009 · 10:00 am

The Great Georgetown Bugaboo Part II: How We Really Get There From Here

Last week GM explored the question of cars and parking in Georgetown by digging into the Census records to determine what the actual car ownership levels are in Georgetown. The somewhat surprising results demonstrated that the parking problem in Georgetown may be caused more by multi-car households than it is caused by a density of residents. This week GM looks into what we do (or don’t do) with those cars every morning.

GM first started thinking about these questions after the last ANC meeting. At one point Commissioner Bill Skelsey argued that when he has to drive around for a half an hour at the end of the day looking for parking, that’s time he can’t spend with his kids (a point made in critique of a proposed curb cut). GM left the meeting wondering: is that the experience of most Georgetowners, or is Skelsey a minority? Should the ANC be worried about Georgetowners spending time away from their loved ones while circling around the block, or do most of us get to work some other way?

The interesting results after the jump: Continue reading →

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September 4, 2009 · 9:00 am

The Great Georgetown Bugaboo: Cars and Parking

At Monday’s ANC meeting there was a near constant theme that weaves itself through just about every ANC2E meeting: cars and parking. It is the received wisdom that parking is a scarce commodity in Georgetown that needs to be defended against all threats of a cut in supply or an increase in demand.

For instance, on Monday night a resident came applying for permission to construct a basement exit to her house. The conversation soon turned to how many square feet the butler’s pantry was in the basement. What does that have to do with a basement exit you ask? A basement with a kitchen and an exit could be turned into a completely separate basement apartment. And in the minds of Commissioners, and many residents, another apartment means another car and another car means one fewer parking spot.

This is how the great Georgetown bugaboo, cars and parking, guides many of the decisions of our elected officials.

But are they basing their decisions on a fair picture of the neighborhood or are they letting their own flawed perceptions and the voices of a loud minority guide them?

GM dug into the numbers and found that the true picture of cars in Georgetown is complicated. The problem is felt by fewer than you’d think and the bulk of the problem may come from the choices of surprisingly few. Find out why after the jump.

Continue reading →

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March 8, 2009 · 11:03 pm

Kids and Georgetown

Kids On Georgetown Street

Kids on the street - Georgetown 1935 - Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

 It is often said that there are are few children in Georgetown these days. It is easy to see where people might get that idea: most homes large enough to house a family comfortably (even by townhouse standards) are too expensive for young families to afford.  Plus, you just don’t see that many kids running around the neighborhood that often. With that in mind it’s interesting to look at the numbers and see exactly how many kids there are in Georgetown and how that compares to other DC neighborhoods of similar demographics.

Continue reading →

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