Mixed Results

The results are in!

Propositions P, R, and S passed. They needed about 57.1 percent to win and got 57.4% (!), 61%, and 61%, respectively.

Proposition T (the tax transfer) needed a simple majority but failed with 43.6%.

Most surprising is that incumbent Ward 2 alderman Keith Koenigsfeld lost.

Spectacularly.

Challenger Felicity Buckley won 73.5% of the vote. Congratulations to her.

For the city-wide propositions, about 830 people voted. Ward 2 (the only ward with a contested aldermanic spot)accounted for almost 400 of the votes, judging by the Koenigsfeld/Buckley race. It does seem that Ward 2 is the largest population-wise, so it's hard to tell if the alderman race brought more voters than the population in general.

My "best case scenario" that seemed possible was that P and T would fail, and that the Board would not change.

So P (barely) passed, perhaps thanks to Keith Koenigsfeld's rallying at the polls, but he lost his position on the Board.

The numbers are fairly encouraging for a couple reasons.

First, it shows that voters were not entirely swayed by the deceptive literature that they paid for. A few more votes and P would have been toast; as it is, we will all wind up paying about $40 a year on average (quick calculation) for the wasteful new poolhouse, and about $10 a year for the generator. If what the aldermen are saying is true, that we have 'experienced deficits' recently, then they will -- finally -- have some choices to make. Like a spoiled child, they have never been told "no". It would be ironic if running the generator pushed the general budget over the edge. I'd really like to see it balanced; I fear they'd dip into the reserves if something like that happened.

Second, I'm wondering if Felicity Buckley's door-to-door flyer (the second one) served to inform enough voters to vote against Prop T. T was the only one of the four propositions that she addressed directly in the flyer. If so, it's encouraging that voters can be reached pretty easily, and that living in a smaller city is a sort of check-and-balance, allowing even small groups of individuals to present their side of an issue -- even if it contradicts the "official" recommendation.