22 Thoughts on “Events Center. Rich vs. Poor?

  1. Actually I brought it up first but who’s keeping track 🙂 I originally posted it on 100 eyes on the special Argus 8pm show, so I’d like to think they got the idea from me, and then the TV stations stole it from the Argus as usual, but my analysis wasn’t exactly rocket science. The other thing I pointed out was that not only does it split by yes/no in the way you would assume, but I also noticed that as you generally went outward it got more and more lopsided, where many of the precincts I would consider mixed/middle of the road were closer to 51/49 where the extreme west and south for example were 70/30 landslides. Definitely a tale of two cities. Now that its a done deal, hopefully we can make the best of it while keeping the city and its leaders accountable for the promises they’ve made. I’m going to try to be positive, not dwell on it and be a sore loser since its going forward now, and hope for the best but keep watching and asking questions.

  2. Soccer moms believed the Justin Bieber lie.

  3. concerned liberal on November 10, 2011 at 12:33 am said:

    This election is an example of how the changes in election laws in recent years, allowing for an expansion in the number of early voters, has changed the dimensions of our democratic republic. In the past, money had only twelve hours to get their voters to the polls. Now they have weeks, and the staggering of the voting removes from the election process a full analysis of all of the issues, as pertinent issues raised at the end of an election cycle can potentially not have the impact they should have.

  4. CL – I would have to agree. I have often felt that SF has been building ‘two camps’ over the past decade, and especially over the past couple of years. Just look at the map.

  5. Many low-income families and the “working poor” live in the “red” precincts.

    My own core neighborhood (Horace Mann) voted “No.”

    We are also the very citizens who will be least likely to have the “discretionary” income to ever attend events at the new facility.

  6. This campaign was all about money and message.

    I have seen voting maps that looked very similar to this in the past. The first time I seen it was in the 2004 presidential race. The second time was our most recent mayors race. Draw a line along 41st street to the south, I-29 to the west, and Cleveland Avenue to the east. Everything inside that bowl that is red now could be painted yellow if yellow represented districts within 5 percentage points.

    The money basicly came from the the king of credit card scams, and who we will ultimately name the place for. (Ironic that we are buying into a project of this magnitude with a shiny plastic credit card with no down payment)

    The message was Justin Bieber. We should not be surprised. This is the same level of victory our fee harvesting credit card mayor enjoyed a year and a half ago.

  7. CL does make a good point. I’ve been worried about the unintended consequences of early/absentee voting for quite a while. I’m not sure I actually want voting so easy and flexible, one of the reasons being what CL and L3wis point out. My default position has always been if you didn’t care enough to go to your polling place on that day I didn’t really want you voting. My biggest ‘regret’ I guess is the feeling that with the enormous turnout what turned this election was a mass of people who were not informed, they just saw a mailer or heard a radio commercial and thought ‘hey, we could have concerts here in Sioux Falls!’ and out to vote they went without actually being informed on all of the moving parts and pros/cons. If you were fine with the tradeoffs, fine, I honor that. I just highly doubt 40,000 voters were informed. In my anecdotal experience in the days before the election, the average person I talked to didn’t have a clue on the BASICS which means of course all many were probably going on were half truths or misinformation and/or one side’s position. And finally, I’m not by nature an us vs them type guy, but I have to tell the truth first. The map tells it all. It troubles me that you would have such a gulf and that you are marginalizing and creating a segment of your city who feel like they are ignored. This is old news to most of you, but since I don’t live in it geographically or economically its easy to forget it or take it for granted – I’ll admit it.

  8. Now “Stormland TV” is running an Eye on Keloland report tonight on are we going to be able to fill the EC now that it has passed.A little late to inform voters now.

  9. Alice15 on November 10, 2011 at 8:57 am said:

    As this continues, we are going to know more and more that we were sold a bag of goods. I just spoke to a freind of mine that was employed at the Sheraton Hotel. She said their hotel has NEVER sold out once for an event. This is the type of information that was buried along with hundreds of other things. Yup – I’ll support it, but there are going to be a lot of disappointed/angry people.

  10. Greg’s point – “they just saw a mailer or heard a radio commercial and thought ‘hey, we could have concerts here in Sioux Falls!’ and out to vote they went without actually being informed on all of the moving parts and pros/cons” – is so right on. The bullshit Bieber commercial I alluded to earlier is a perfect example, and the myth that Sioux City gets all of these GREAT shows. Even people that should know better somehow believe that the only thing standing between 5000 tickets and 12000 tickets sold is a nicer building.

  11. Isn’t this same geographical voting pattern also reflective of the Dem v Repub trends in the city? If so, it just goes to show who is TRUELY more fiscally responsible. Spend only what you can afford today “liberals”, vs. “just show me where to sign” conservatives.

  12. Ruf – I call them ‘Big Money Republicans’ Munson was one.

  13. Costner on November 10, 2011 at 2:31 pm said:

    This is a prime example of correlation vs. causation. The problem is, you don’t really know why groups of people voted a specific way. People have their gut feelings and their opinions, but since there was no detailed surveying or exit polling to provide any objective evidence, it is really all personal theory.

    Perhaps it was due to socioeconomic status, but it could have just as well been about age. Most of us know that the city’s core is generally comprised of older residents while the younger residents tend to move towards the perimeter because that is where the newer, bigger, nicer home are being built. This is even more apparent when you examine senior housing and retirement communities which have historically been located within the city’s core.

    As to political affiliation, there could be something to that, but when you look at the political affiliations of the state reps and senators who represent those districts, I don’t think the line is nearly as clear. If it really boiled down to a liberal vs. conservative issue, you should witness the elections being as well defined as the map for this issue.

    Personally if I had to guess, I’d say this had more to do with age than anything else. I know firsthand that many of the developments surrounding Sioux Falls are younger, and younger people like entertainment venues. Even those who live in track homes and who seem to live paycheck to paycheck. Also, as much as it pains me to admit it, young people are typically very uninformed about the financial condition of the city and they are unlikely to be able to name more than one of our council members. They just know they like concerts and the occasional sporting event so the financial aspect of it is a moot point.

    Keep in mind these are the same groups of people who buy $370k 3,500 sq ft homes with heated tile in the bathrooms and floor drains in the garage… and then they lease new SUVs and wonder why they can’t seem to find money to save for retirement. Twenty years later, these same people are yelling at their teenagers to close the fridge and getting upset when the neighbor kids ride bikes across the corner of their lawns. They are more apt to get excited about a $2 off coupon to the Royal Fork than a reasonably priced ticket to see Daughtry at the Events Center.

  14. Point taken Costner. Very well said. Your reasons are as good as any. I also wondered about age demos. I know many in my 30-40 range who are pretty well leveraged up with big homes and nice cars and don’t mind the debt. Another good point, almost all of my friends haven’t a clue on anything going on in city government, let alone its financial condition. Nor do they have a clue who their councilman is. But anyway your point is well taken, we’re grasping at straws and I’m playing amateur poli sci guy since there isn’t good polling to look into. Boy exit polls would have been fascinating. There is some gulf, whether its rich/poor, young/old etc. I chuckled at your last paragraph because its so dead on true, amen.

  15. “young people are typically very uninformed about the financial condition of the city”

    Most people are. I bet if you asked people what the city debt was right now, they would have no clue.

  16. Costner – with just a simple two variable correlation it is NOT possible to determine causation. You are right about that. BUT – with multivariate analysis methods, wherein you include several variables and use MANOVA and/or regression formulae, you can determine how much of the variability of a selected dependent variable can be attributed to each of the other “independent” variables. I.E., can come CLOSE to showed causation. That’s why I am broinging up a variety of measureable variables that can be looked at in terms of the geographical trends.

  17. You two need to start your own blog.

  18. concerned liberal on November 10, 2011 at 11:48 pm said:

    Essentially, 58% of the Sioux Falls voting population mistakenly thinks they are part of the 1%.

    But then again, most people for years have been voting against their “real” economic interest, especially in South Dakota.

  19. That’s because the GOP continues to sell the ‘dream’ to the working poor. If you work hard, blah, blah, blah. What they fail to mention is that most wealthy people in SD either inherited that money screwed someone over.

  20. I’m sure they fly over quite often though.

  21. How did the people who live in Lincoln county get to vote? That part of Sioux Falls is not in Minnehaha county.

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