September 2009

So what’s the big secret anyhoo? Are you afraid some other ‘sleepy’ city is going to steal your name?

l3wis September 11, 2009 2Comments

I think it is a great idea that the SF transit is changing their name. Many cities have abbreviated names for their transit systems. Seattle’s is called CT (Community Transit) and San Fran’s is called BART (see above) Which IMO is one of the cleanest, fastest and most efficient I have ever ridden on, and they had a funny sign above the driver’s cockpit “Safety before unneccesary conversation.” Which I have still been waiting to use in a bar conversation. But what I can’t figure out is if the new name has already been picked, why not tell us?

Sioux Falls Transit soon will have a new name, but it won’t be unveiled until the marketing campaign designed to promote it is complete.

How is telling the public ahead of time going to ruin anything? And besides, it is not like this is a private venture, taxpayers subsidize the shit out the SF transit (because for some dumb reason they haven’t raised rates in 13 years);

Sioux Falls Transit relies on government subsidies to operate. That includes a budgeted $4.5 million from the city of Sioux Falls and $1.9 million from the federal government this year.

If a new name has been chosen, we have a right to know. Right now. It reminds me of when the Sioux Falls school district destroyed all the school name suggestions after naming Rosa Parks elementary.

The committee that selected the name was made up of various citizens, including a college student and City Councilman Greg Jamison.

Oh the hypocrisy of Mr. Jamison. He is always shooting off his mouth every chance he gets about ‘transparency’ in city government, but once he has an opportunity to be transparent about something he has some crap excuse about marketing campaigns, etc, etc. This comes down to being afraid of criticism and negativity. Trust me, as a cynic of city government, I can guarantee you will get criticism whether you release the name today or two weeks down the road. Might as well pull that bandaid off now. Besides, there is no such thing as bad press. You will get more free marketing then you can handle if people criticize the name. Whether people like it or not, they will remember the name.

Secrets, secrets, secrets. The more things change, the more they stay the same in Sleepy Falls.