The City of SF Calendar – A huge waste of taxpayer money
l3wis It seems the mayor is on a spending spree now that he raised our taxes to give the city an extra $5 million dollars next year. His first expediture is this stupid calendar. Ironically this calendar is way more important then the $16,000 the city saved by surpressing the democratic process and implementing super precints (which cut voter turnout in half). Pretty pictures of our city: important – a functioning municipal democracy: not-important. Good priorities, Huh?
I will agree that the info in the calendar is important, but it could have easily been put in a small brochure that could have been inserted and mailed out in our water bills, a fiscally responsible city hall would have figured that out. But hey, we have $5 million dollars extra to spend, so let’s get spending.
What did this calendar cost? Well I have worked in the printing and direct mail industry for 15 years, so I’m gonna give you some estimates here on what I think it cost. Get ready to be flabberghasted:
The SF household mailing list is about 70,000 people and businesses. Postage was probably about $.22 a piece. The printing cost of the calendar was probably around $.50 a piece.
.22 + .50 = .72 x 70,000 = $50,400
My numbers are an ESTIMATE, and are CONSERVATIVE. It could have cost lot more depending on the printer and if any services or paper was donated. At the very least it cost $35,000. A simple brochure would have cost about $6,500 with no mail charges because it could have been inserted in the water bill. This also doesn’t include the money it cost to layout the calendar and photograhy which could have cost as much as $20,000. Wrong message to send in these economic times.
Am I upset about this? Sure. But it does not surprise me one bit. What is even more frustrating about the calendar is it is another example of taxpayer funded propaganda. Besides the pretty pictures the second page is full of bologna.
The second paragraph, first sentence ‘Ninety percent of you . .’ is a flat out lie. The survey was sent to 3000 people, and even if the mailing list was ‘scientific’ the science went out with the bathwater when less then 1000 households responded. I wasn’t opposed to the survey, but there should have been some kind of incentive for people to mail it back in, for example a free pool pass or something of that nature.
The line in the second to last paragraph, ‘Together, we are creating a well-rounded city that is the envy of many others nationwide.’ is partially true. Other municipal governments are probably jealous. We are one of the few communities in the nation that gets away with not only taxing the shit out our own citizens for food and utilities we are also taking money out of the pockets of people who don’t even live in our city or state. We are literally fleecing visitors to our city. It would be like going to grandma’s house for thanksgiving and she makes you pay a cover charge.
But since I am a sarcastic and cynical f’ck, let’s have some fun with this thing.
McKennan Park rock and wood thingy that has no function or purpose. This is one of the ‘improvements’ to McKennan park you paid for. What is it? Not sure. But I bet it wasn’t cheap.
If you go to city council meetings, always use this door, it probably won’t have a metal detector.
Rare pictures of a snowplows with there blades actually dropped and plowing.
A cop with a mustache – GET OUT!
Another rare picture of the city filling a pothole (they must have borrowed this photo from another city).
Your federal tax dollars hard at work. Who needs water and good roads? We have a trolley!
Mayor Minions reading ‘My Pet Goat’ (Bush’s favorite book) to the kids. This must have been excruciating. When he gave his budget address earlier this year I almost fell asleep.
A great picture of someone losing their home. No wonder they didn’t send in the city survey.
Someone getting free dental care on your dime while the rest of us pay thru the nose.
Sioux Falls celebrating diversity; White Christmas Lights. Does it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside that you are paying this electric bill?
In closing I encourage everyone who got this calendar to flood their councilors email boxes with messages of dissent about this kind of wasteful spending.
