Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Cherriots Evening and Weekend Service Decisively Defeated

The first results are out from Marion County, and things aren't looking so hot.

At 8pm:

42% Yes
58% No

It doesn't look like there's a lot yet to count. So it would be surprising to see the results reverse.

Polk County has some votes as well, but it's also hard to see them bucking the trend.

We'll see how quickly the media call it.

Update 1 

Polk County at 8pm:

39% Yes
61% No

It looks like they're reporting 100% votes counted.

Update 2

As of 9:28, the Statesman is calling it as well. From the piece:
Dan Clem, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, expressed gratitude to voters for rejecting the proposed tax.

“We want to thank everyone who voted to protect small businesses… the results validate the position that future support of Cherriots’ needs should come from a different source than a payroll tax,” Clem said.
Validation? The only validation is that the election results validated the Chamber's effectiveness - not the Chamber's truthfulness or accuracy.

But there were other factors, surely:
  • Residual suspicion of Cherriots over the Courthouse fiasco. 
  • Proximity to the September route and schedule overhaul, which at best was "change" and at worst a disruption for some users of transit.
  • A short ballot in an off-year, with few issues to attract a broad range of folks.
We'll see if the Chamber and its minions truly intend in good faith to formulate a better funding solution. If it's just raiding the lottery, it's hard to see that happening. That's a pose more than a real solution.

Ugh. This is why we can't have nice things....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there any way to see a breakdown by precinct in Marion County? I couldn't find it on Marion County's website and I doubt the SJ will do this, but I am really curious of the percentage of Salem versus Keizer votes on Cherriots. I wouldn't be surprised if the "no" vote was much higher in Keizer.

Unknown said...

This is disappointing, but not surprising. The Chamber was effective, fully truthful or not. The Cherriots' message was absent. I found myself perplexed as to what their strategy could have been. I saw no data to paint the picture of need, I saw no evidence suggesting that every other option had been exhausted, and I received little or no feedback when I asked for information to help in painting the picture. My hope is that this ballot measure will propel the issue forward to a real solution or better and clearer communication from Cherriots.

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

If the precinct breakdowns become available, we'll update!

In the meantime, the service reductions in West Salem, South Salem, and Keizer can't have shored up support in those areas. Even apart from the Keizer v Salem question, probably there's a center v periphery difference in support that maps to the service level changes.