Quote Originally Posted by adaniel View Post
While you make a good point I strongly disagree with this statement. City populations are very important and if you don't think so just remember how many places fought the Census in 2010 to dispute their official count. This is how we determine pretty basic things like how much representation or tax funding a city gets.

Yes we all know that Atlanta has more recognition and economic importance than Mesa Arizona even though Mesa is bigger. All the census is trying to do is count how many people are in a muncipality, nothing more.
I get both sides of the argument. In terms of getting Federal (or State) funding, the population within a city's borders is extremely important. However, when talking about retail collection areas, transportation planning, etc., city borders don't matter, the region does.