CENSUS PROPOSAL MAY TAKE THE VALLEY OFF THE MAP.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN

Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The San Fernando Valley could be wiped off the U.S. Census map under a proposal that threatens its recently granted designation as a distinct demographic region.

Claiming that few people use the data, the U.S. Census Bureau is seeking to completely eliminate the nationwide category under which the Valley was granted its federal statistical status just two years ago.

But the move has prompted outrage from lawmakers and others who battled for five years for the designation and hailed it as giving the region the detailed demographic information needed to achieve the economic and political clout it has sought for decades.

"We feel very strongly that this is again the Valley being snubbed, plain and simple," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.

On Wednesday, Greuel introduced a resolution opposing any effort to eliminate the San Fernando Valley designation. Council members also wrote a letter to the Census Bureau expressing their concerns.

"After all of our hard work ... I am not going to stand by and let this data be taken away," Greuel said.

The proposal was part of an April 6 notice in the U.S. Federal Register asking the public for feedback on Census County Divisions (CCDs) -- the statistical category under which the Valley was designated as a specific place.

Created in the 1950s at a time when there were no census tracts, the designations are used to identify entities such as townships that do not have well-defined civic divisions.

But census officials said Wednesday that the subset appears to have fallen out of use with researchers and others who access federal data.

"We weren't seeing a lot of evidence on our Web site of people requesting the CCDs," said Michael Ratcliffe, chief of the U.S. Census Bureau's Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch.

Ratcliffe, who was instrumental in helping create the Valley's census designation, said the bureau posted the notice in the register because it felt obligated to find out whether regions still wanted the bureau to collect the data.

"If interest no longer exists and data are not used, or the geography introduces unnecessary complexity in the hierarchy, the Census Bureau will consider eliminating CCDs for the 2010 Census," the notice in the register reads.

But Ratcliffe said officials were aware some areas would not want the bureau to stop collecting the data.

"We knew when we made the proposal that at least one county in the country would be very interested in protecting the CCDs," he said, citing the Valley. "What we didn't know is if anyone else would be interested."

Greuel said the city's chief legislative analyst found the notice recently and realized it could devastate the San Fernando Valley.

Greuel said she feels the Census Bureau is being too quick to write off the designation.

For now, census officials seem to agree. Ratcliffe and Census Bureau geographer April Adnayam said the agency has received about 10 comments from public health officials and others around the country saying they find the data valuable.

While the public comment period extends through July 5, Ratcliffe said Wednesday he already is confident he will recommend that the Valley category be kept.

But Southland elected officials said they aren't taking any chances. With the Valley now a geographical entity, they say, academics have finally been able to examine the region's social and economic conditions while business groups and government agencies are now able to tap into economic and housing data that could lead to increased federal funding.

"We fought hard to get this information. It's one of the most valuable things the census does for us," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks. "You can be sure that I'm going to be fighting to ensure we keep a CCD for the Valley."

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