A different view on the same topic
I'm all for opposing viewpoints. This appeared in the paper of record last Friday:
Are the citizens of Estes Park smart enough to recognize when they are
being duped?
The Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) recently conducted an
informal, non-scientific "survey", giving the public four choices and
the null hypothesis ("no change") for modifying vehicle traffic this
summer on Elkhorn Avenue, When the survey didn't return the results
TAB desired, they grouped the four choices together after the fact to
get enough votes to claim people wanted "something" rather than
"nothing", despite no individual change choice garnering more votes
than "do nothing". Then, to compound this logical fallacy, they
arbitrarily advocated moving forward with one particular choice which
received fewer votes than "do nothing".
Imagine a Presidential election where one major party was allowed to
run two candidates against the opposition's one, and then, after the
election, when that party lost, they were allowed to combine the votes
received by their two candidates, plus any votes cast for minority
parties like the Greens or Libertarians, to declare victory.
Imagine a town board election where the candidate who received the
most votes was denied a seat, because the other candidates were
allowed to pool all the votes they received against that candidate.
This is childish wish-fulfillment, not good governance or valid
decision-making based on stakeholder input. Choice #2 received less
votes than "do nothing", and certainly less votes than "do nothing"
Believe me, I have no dog in this fight. I don't care what TAB and
the town decide to do, but I hate to see surveys and voter rights and
results toyed with like private playthings, because it makes a mockery
of representative government. Stop assigning legitimacy to
illegitimate surveys. Better yet, stop conducting them entirely, and
take us to bankruptcy on your own dime.
Are the citizens of Estes Park smart enough to recognize when they are
being duped?
informal, non-scientific "survey", giving the public four choices and
the null hypothesis ("no change") for modifying vehicle traffic this
summer on Elkhorn Avenue, When the survey didn't return the results
TAB desired, they grouped the four choices together after the fact to
get enough votes to claim people wanted "something" rather than
"nothing", despite no individual change choice garnering more votes
than "do nothing". Then, to compound this logical fallacy, they
arbitrarily advocated moving forward with one particular choice which
received fewer votes than "do nothing".
Imagine a Presidential election where one major party was allowed to
run two candidates against the opposition's one, and then, after the
election, when that party lost, they were allowed to combine the votes
received by their two candidates, plus any votes cast for minority
parties like the Greens or Libertarians, to declare victory.
Imagine a town board election where the candidate who received the
most votes was denied a seat, because the other candidates were
allowed to pool all the votes they received against that candidate.
This is childish wish-fulfillment, not good governance or valid
decision-making based on stakeholder input. Choice #2 received less
votes than "do nothing", and certainly less votes than "do nothing"
plus all the other choices combined, yet rather than reject it outright,
or at least require TAB to conduct the necessary follow-up head-to-head
survey of "Choice #2 vs. Do Nothing" to gauge if this is what the majority
actually wanted, rather than what TAB actually wanted, staff was instructed
to "Give Choice #2 a try" to the tune of $50,000.
the town decide to do, but I hate to see surveys and voter rights and
results toyed with like private playthings, because it makes a mockery
of representative government. Stop assigning legitimacy to
illegitimate surveys. Better yet, stop conducting them entirely, and
take us to bankruptcy on your own dime.
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