City Spin Cycle on High

And calling up her media buddies at KELO-TV.

In less then 24 hours after I posted about the Sioux Falls Calendar mysteriously Jodi Schwagg (our very own overpaid press release writer) was on KELO-TV (trying) to counter everything I pointed out in my Sunday post about the calendar. It was so blantant, when I emailed KELO reporter Ben Dunsmoor about ‘bogarting’ South DaCola’s stories, I was literally crying I was laughing so hard.

So let’s review;

I said the mailing list was 70,000. But according to the city;

It went out to more than 67,000 households and cost thousands of dollars. For the first time, the City of Sioux Falls sent out a calendar to its residents in an effort to keep taxpayers informed. 

I said the publication probably cost $50,000 or more. They claim this;

So, how much did taxpayers shell out for the publication? The Mayor’s office put out the calendar and says it cost more than $33,000 to produce.

And Jodi just couldn’t resist to do a little stompy-stompy dance-dance on my brochure idea (which would have saved taxpayers thousands of dollars).

But, city officials believe a calendar is something residents will keep all year, instead of fliers and brochures, which typically get thrown away. 

You could of also done a magnet for a fraction of the cost that would stay on people’s refrigerators ALL YEAR LONG. I have a feeling half the calendars will get thrown away anyhow. People usually get gift calendars (Sports Illustrated swimwear for instance or Norman Rockwell) Other people use their day planners or PDA’s and some people build their own calendars with that fancy-smancy calendar software you can buy Walmart for $19.99. And instead of pictures of snowplows and mustaches they put pictures of their family and pets. And if you need a city department number, there is always the phone book or internets.

Even if by chance someone USES this calendar, it is still a waste of money. It is taxpayer funded propaganda, and nothing could be a bigger waste.

No where is there a reference that there were under a 1000 respondents to the survey – and that’s what makes this propaganda. When you mislead the public using half-truths and use taxpayer money to do so, it is always a waste – A HUGE WASTE.

Sorry, Jodi, you could have spent 1 cent a piece and it still would have been too much. Please, stop reading my blog and go back to blogging about how hip and cool SF is for young professionals.