Remember that poll about the arena that KVIA did?
Only 26% of the residents of El Paso County who were polled were in favor of putting the arena in Duranguito. 37% were opposed. The rest were still wondering what happened to Tony at the end of the Sopranos.
I wonder why City Council is still so het up to go through with it. I mean, you would think that the politicians on City Council (some of whom were against it before they were for it) would be political animals, right? That they’d care what the citizens, some of whom vote, think.
Au contraire.
They’re willing to wear that arena decision around their necks like a swimming pool anvil.
Obviously the citizens aren’t the people that City Council is concerned about.
I’ve got a theory.
Unlicensed lobbyists. I think members of City Council are being persuaded by individuals who have no skin in the game, except, perhaps, the paycheck they get for something apparently unrelated.
Some innocuous consulting, maybe.
If they’re not lobbyists, they can pretend that their only concern is the public good. Or “the will of the voters,” as they like to say about that Quality of Life bond election. Not that I’d expect any of our current City Council representatives to fall for that.
Those City Council representatives should forget about yesteryear’s voters and worry about tomorrow’s voters. But maybe they’re looking forward to a weekend in New Orleans and a sweet consulting gig when they get voted out of office.
Sorry, that position has already been filled.
If by lobbying you are thinking about all the pressure and perks that are showered on local politicos by certain rich folks, then yeah, that pretty much sums it up. My problem is trying to understand how an apparently poor but “honest” citizen gets elected even to a lowly City Council seat, and then, in a few short years, is no longer poor.
Umm… you mean the highly scientific poll of 324 people who happen to watch TV newscasts regularly? That means that this whole argument about lobbyists etc is based on the fact that 35-36 more people in that group say they are opposed vs in support of. Would you throw out all those theories if the result had been the opposite? In a city of what 800,000 people, does that seem like a reasonable number to you?
I can tell you one reason why the politicians keep going back to the election when asked about the arena. It’s because the people who actually bothered to vote matter to them more than the others who can’t get off their asses to get to the polls and you know, I don’t blame them. They have to keep voters happy. They get nothing from worrying about a random poll of 324 people. Similarly why are they going to abandon the Duranguito site when the vast majority of the people who lived there chose to take the money and go and the main opposition is coming from a UTEP professor who tends to come off as condescending and a bit obnoxious (and this considering that I support historic preservation). He’s often an ass about it and he’s very condescending to folks who don’t share his “opinion”. I bet that if they had more people siding with Grossman their attitude would be much different but most likely their friends, family, and other folks who bother talking to them are more excited about the arena than about preserving some crumbling mistreated buildings.
Last thing about this survey is that the headline could have just as easily read “Only 1 in 3 oppose the arena in Duranguito” Even then I would still have the same gripes about a survey. I am highly doubtful that a survey with the restrictions they put in place and of only 324 people is going to give you anything approaching a realistic view of the community as a whole.
One would assume that people who watch the news are more likely to vote than those who don’t, because they’re more invested in the community.
Given the discrete data, i.e., only three answers to choose from, the statistical significance can be high with a small sample.
And remember, MountainStar conducted their own non-scientific poll, but they didn’t release the results. That leads me to believe that the poll didn’t bolster their claim that the city supported the arena.
I’m in favor of putting the arena on the next ballot, and letting the voters make the decision.