As I pointed out the last time the city did a survey, the media and the city council used the results to go on a campaign of half-truths to push their agenda;
A recent survey by the Parks Department reveals community interest in an indoor pool. Sixty percent of the respondents said the city needs indoor swimming opportunities.
Another partial fact the ED Board throws out there. If you look at the ratios of that survey, 1 in 7 of that 60% support an indoor pool subsidized by taxpayers, the other 6 want it paid for by user fees. We know how the city operates these facilities, they will NEVER be self-sustaning.
But the mayor wants you to know he is listening to the little guy;
“This is good old fashioned government, I think at its best. It is where you can actually pay more attention to the citizens of your community than those special interest groups or those power players, in terms of prioritizing your government,” Mayor Mike Huether said.
Is this the same Mike Huether I know? Who took our mayor and replaced him with Kermit Staggers? Mike has said some pretty hypocrital things, but that above statement takes the freaking cake.
UPDATED: I just caught this little tidbit on the survey.
What a crock. What is the ‘higher fee’ we will be paying for snowgates? I do not ever recall getting a bill in the mail for snow removal from the city. It seems the city doesn’t even understand that you BUDGET for snow removal out of the 1st penny. There are NO fees involved with that budget, except for the penny you pay in taxes. It is unbelievable that while city hall says the sky is falling because we have to spend a couple of extra million a year on snowgates but when it comes to an Events Center the talk was NO NEW TAXES.
My question is, what kind of a survey is only asking 3,000 people in Sioux Falls? That’s not even 10%. I’m not very up on what a good percentage of surveys should be sent out, but I would think it would be at least 10%.
James – it depends on the margin of error you are comfortable with, but 10% would be considered a HUGE survey for a population of any size.
If this is a statistically random survey, AND if it is not using leading questions, then 3000 people for the Sioux Falls metro area would give a margin of error of around 2.5% with 99% confidence.
You can get a 5% margin of error with 95% confidence with as few as 400 people.
You can find some simple survey calculations @ http://www.custominsight.com/articles/random-sample-calculator.asp
This survey could be very beneficial in deciding whether a politician should run for mayor or governor.
Winston – LMAO.
Anthony is right, 10% sampling is actually kinda high.
As of now the worse case yearly cost is thousands of dollars, not millions. It appears SubPrime is going to use the snowgates surprise to charge us fees to pay for one of his projects. This way he wins no matter what happens.
Since the city is going to struggle to pay for the EC debt he needs to fee us for basic necessities of life in our little city.
Their survey was 3,000. Petition signers were 8,400. Which is the more accurate survey? The city has snowgates on their 6 plows. It’s the private contractor who refuses to add them to 26 others. How about a competitive bid looking for a new contractor? Guess what, someone else will use snowgates and the price will be cheaper than without snowgates now. Problem solved but Huether may have to sacrifice his 5 figures kickback from the present contractor.
That is why water rates were jacked up so they could pay for upgrades thru rates instead of out of the CIP. He wants to free up the 2nd penny CIP as much as possible so he can build more recreational facilities. Pickleball, Pickleball, Pickleball.
But I hate pickles!
Did you see today’s press conference? Don’t expect to see any scrutiny of City Hall from the Argus:
http://www.argusleader.com/interactive/article/20130116/MULTIMEDIA/130115021/Replay-Argus-Leader-Media-city-announce-Tour-Sioux-Falls-event
Yep, that’s the way to get the support of the Argus. Create a bike event!
The argus has already manipulated this story. I read it and damn near choked when this came up.
Don Grebin, 80, was born here, served in the Air Force and returned to teach history and government 37 years. He said if the city lacks anything, maybe it’s a new indoor tennis center, as now proposed. Other than that, he said, “I don’t think there’s any part of Sioux Falls I could find fault with.â€
Don Grebin??? Give me a frickin’ break. ANYONE who has been around SF for any amount of time at all knows Don Grebin is a tennis junkie, just like sub prime mike’s wife. So you really believe Grebin’s name was one of the 3000 names RANDOMLY pulled out of a hat for this survey???
As per usual, the argus falls for this line of BS, HOOK, LINE, and SINKER.
One other thing. Sioux Falls has OVER 100,000 eligeable voters. I’d say they sampled LESS than 3% of those who have a voice in such matters. Yet we are to believe the Argus RANDOMLY picked out the name DON GREBIN for an opinion on matters that are critical to the typical Sioux Falls voter? I don’t know what sub prime mike has on Glenn Beck,( I mean Randall), but it must be HUGE.
Poly, as I pointed out in the last survey they conducted, manipulation. Just look at the above question about ‘fees’ and snowgates. All loaded.
Lies catch up with you someday. It’s just like the 19.99% CC that Mike used to sell to unsuspecting people, some day you have to pay up.
“It’s just like the 19.99% CC that Mike used to sell to unsuspecting people”
I think you mean 79.9% because that is one of their more popular cards. I’m not even sure they offer a card with a rate as low as 19.99%, but if they did at least it would be somewhat reasonable for people with less than good credit.