I am on a committee in our small city that needs to make a phone
survey of all of our citizens regarding our new recreation center. 
Since everyone is paying for this facility, we want to hear answers
and opinions from as broad a spectrum of the community as possible and
not just the registered voters. I need to know names, addresses and
phone numbers.  Also, we would like to have a better idea of the
percentage of senior citizens in our fair town.   Can I access the US
Census reports for a particular city in the U.S? If so, how and if
not, is there any other way to get this information free or at least
at a very low cost.

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 16 Feb 2004 10:16 PST

MR4698 --

Majortom-GA is exactly correct in noting that Census data is private. 
It will be released after about 70 years (the 1930 Census became
available about a year ago) but that's a bit slow for you, I'm sure.

The solution is to find out who provides "total market coverage"
services in your area.  These are the mailers who put reprints of
weekly grocery ads in your mailbox each Wednesday.  Often it's a
subsidiary of a local newspaper publisher.  For example, the Chicago
Tribune has TMC services for Chicago:
http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2002/02-02/nt/02-02_ctribune.htm

They should be able to give you by-household access.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by mr4698-ga on 16 Feb 2004 14:59 PST

politicalguru-ga - you are assuming that we have a "department of
social services or a department of senior citizens"  As I said, we are
a small town - population 12,100.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 16 Feb 2004 15:05 PST

The information you're seeking may be available, but it's hard to say
without knowing what the town is.  If you are comfortable making its
name known (and don't forget...this is a public forum) then perhaps we
can help you out.

Census data is available in statistical aggregate form only. There are
very strong privacy guarantees that cover the gathering of census
data. It is my understanding that the names, phone numbers, and
addresses of individuals are never made available. Guarantees in this
regard are meant to reassure people that answering the census is safe
and will not result in any violation of their privacy.

Here in the UK, there is a thing called Info-CD which lists pretty
well everybody above a certain age, probably 18.

It gives their addresses and phone numbers where not ex-directory.
Most people are ex-directory.

I guess that there must be a similar service for your 'fair town' but
I would have thought that such info was already available, otherwise
how could you collect their contributions ... if 'everyone is paying
for this facility'?

How about conducting a referendum, or a newspaper poll/survey? 

Regarding the percentage of senior citizens, suerly department of
social services, or a similar body that caters the senior population
would have estimates or real figures.

If you want to see what is available from the census online, try
American Factfinder:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPeople?geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on

this link will take you right to a page where you can look up age
statistics, among other things.  Put your address in the form and hit
go.

As far as the rest of your question is concerned, I would be surprised
if anyone would offer specific information about unlisted individuals
for free.  Of course, the local telephone directory will work for
anyone who is not unlisted.

This is a silly point I'm sure, but if someone doesn't care enough to
be registered to vote, why would they care enough to comment on the
facility and why would you care to gather their opinion?