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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Viaduct: Let’s Vote Now!

posted by on December 20 at 15:45 PM

Via.jpg

CHS isn’t the only blog in town that can host a poll. Seattle theater treasure and Slog regular Laurence Ballard put together this poll on replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Unlike the governor’s rigged vote on just the rebuild or tunnel options, Ballard’s poll allows us vote on all four options: the retrofit, the re-build, the tunnel, and the surface option. Who needs our fuckwitted city council? Or our useless mayor? Or our cowardly governor? Let’s vote now!


Create polls and vote for free. dPolls.com

RSS icon Comments

1

Why do these polls look like this? The lines overlapping?

Posted by Dan Savage | December 20, 2006 3:52 PM
2

Because your computer sucks, Dan.

Posted by the answer man | December 20, 2006 3:54 PM
3

Okay, not bad. Not bad. But, we could probably use a larger sample.

Posted by COMTE | December 20, 2006 4:09 PM
4

I see the Stranger staff has been voting early and often.

But still, only 18% want a new ugly viaduct.

Posted by anything but a rebuild | December 20, 2006 4:14 PM
5

gee, how will a poll run by the denizens of capitol hill (and official spokespeople for the PWC) turn out? even with four options, anything less than 50% for the inane 'surface' option will be an upset.

i would at least like to thank them for being honest and not trying to call it the 'surface/transit' option since i have yet to see an actual transit plan.

Posted by jason | December 20, 2006 4:18 PM
6

Nice poll, Dan. But why no squirrels option?

Also, nerds, build us a better poll tool, please.

Posted by j | December 20, 2006 4:21 PM
7

The poll needs another option: do nothing. Think of all the money we would save. And given the popularity of all sorts of risky behavior, I'm sure that there are lots of folks who would continue to use the viaduct until it falls down on them.

Posted by Lottery Fan | December 20, 2006 4:32 PM
8

i'm all for the tunnel, but surface street is a close second - as long as there would be sufficient planning for multiple forms of public transportation.

either way, seattle-ites are too cheap to realize any engineering feat of grandeur. might as well blow down the space needle, too. don't need any symbols showing off inherent qualities that aren't to be found anywhere, except for the OMA library.

Posted by viaduct | December 20, 2006 4:32 PM
9

While I enjoy surfing the internets and blogs as much as the next guy, I'm always baffled by online polls. They are completely useless; they don't indicate anything. The people who participate in them don't represent anything close to an accurate cross section of the city/state/country. They are completely biased toward the types of people that happen to frequent the website/blog where the poll is posted. Or occasionally skewed by trolls sent by another website/blog that disapproves of the poll. They are statistically meaningless; nothing more than a popularity contest by the 'in' crowd.

So what's the point?

Posted by SDA in SEA | December 20, 2006 4:35 PM
10

Does anyone think this would be the perfect forum for testing instant runoff voting? Can the geeks amongst us make a rankable poll that would allow for IRV?

Posted by Juan | December 20, 2006 4:40 PM
11

Dan, you need to get Firefox 2.01 soonest. That or Opera.

That said, why can't I vote IRV and have 1st choice be the rebuild and 2nd choice be the surface plus transit and 3rd choice be heck no third choice?

Posted by Will in Seattle | December 20, 2006 5:04 PM
12

I'll support a rebuild, if and only if, a light rail line is built beneath it. Trash those useless parking spaces and give us some real transit to West Seattle.

Posted by keshmeshi | December 20, 2006 5:06 PM
13

To the folks who thought this was rigged, since it's on the Stranger's blog...

I actually expected the surface option to lose -- when we post about the Viaduct, the loudest voices (and most comments) belong to rebuild fanatics or retrofit-throwers. I'm surprised to see what a blow out it was for surface, frankly, and was worried when I put it up that surface would lose and we would catch hell for that. But surface won! And we still get to catch hell! Yippie!

Posted by Dan Savage | December 20, 2006 5:32 PM
14

Actually Dan, I'd be more interested in seeing from what part of town the voting took place. IF The bulk of the votes came from the western part of the city, I'd be more prone to shut up. I highly suspect the votes were not from those areas.

Posted by Dave Coffman | December 20, 2006 5:49 PM
15

The notion that this poll is in any way accurate, representative or statistically valid is absurd, and Dan's hinting that it may be is pure wishful thinking (and, for that matter, his suggestion that the majority of Slog posters aren't out and out teardown supporters is simply disingenuous).

Posted by Westside | December 20, 2006 6:45 PM
16

This shocking news bulletin just in:

SURFACE OPTION LEADS POLL RESULT OF SURFACE OPTION SUPPORTERS!!

Posted by BB | December 20, 2006 7:06 PM
17

Uh... yes, Slog and the Stranger are only read by supporters of the surface option. Like you, BB, and David Sucher. No, wait...

Posted by Dan Savage | December 20, 2006 7:14 PM
18

@15

Of course the poll is inaccurate, unrepresentative and statistically inaccurate.

But it isn't rigged. (And it's one vote per computer.)

I set it up.

Voting is open to everyone who might care to cast a choice on Seattle's Viaduct issue. Around the world. It is by definition unscientific, in that regard alone.

All we've learned is that of the people who read this Slog entry today and bothered to make a selection on the Viaduct issue - over 325 and counting - most respondents selected the surface option.

Tell your friends; poll is open for 30 days and may be found here.

@9

It's fun?

Posted by Laurence Ballard | December 20, 2006 9:02 PM
19

Of course internet polls are worthless, but Laurence is right...they are fun.

Dan you set up a straw man and then knock it down. You make a loopy assertion that the poll would be against the surface option despite the bias of your readership. And then you use BB and David Sucher anecdotally to prove your diverse readership.

Sure there are all kinds of people who read the Stranger, but your main readership is 18-35 year olds in the core of the city. Look at your ads if you need proof. Businesses don't spend money on a poor target for their business.

Posted by nice spin dan | December 20, 2006 9:39 PM
20

This poll's sample is laughably biased. And Dan's point in #13 is LOLworthy and backwards: if anything, it's the cressonas and ECBs and other surface option zealots of the world that filibuster the loudest on Slog.

Posted by Gomez | December 20, 2006 10:01 PM
21

Okay, there are two computers in my house. I think that the Viaduct has something to do with Alaska and the expensive bridge, but I never read the slogs on it and it could just be a connection that I made in my head.

I live in the Bay Area, and I totally don't care what wins. Anybody want to buy my two votes?

Posted by Papayas | December 20, 2006 10:15 PM
22

You forgot "reuse it for elevated light rail."

Posted by K | December 20, 2006 11:01 PM
23

I have no facts to back thi AT ALL.

We're getting a tunnel.

It's gonna cost an arm and a leg but it's going down.

Backlash for the monorail? maybe.

We can afford, you know why? The Sonics are hist.


Posted by I Should Know, I USed To Not Ride A Horse | December 21, 2006 5:21 AM
24

I still don't understand how the surface option is supposed to improve anything. Who wants to cross a gridlocked six-lane highway to get to the waterfront? It seems like the worst possible solution.

Posted by Orv | December 21, 2006 11:46 AM
25

If it's one vote per computer, how come it let me vote twice? I voted yesterday, and then when I loaded the page again today it let me vote again. Same computer and same browser.

Posted by litlnemo | December 21, 2006 11:46 PM

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