Polling results: Garbage in, garbage out
The Journal Sentinel conducts an online poll on the Summerfest fireworks issue, but manages to misrepresent the facts:
Should Summerfest and the ethnic festivals be allowed to set off fireworks from Lakeshore State Park?The fact is, the park will be closed "a few days a year" even if only Summerfest uses it for fireworks. If it is the fireworks launch site for all of the ethnic festivals, it will be closed 25 days every summer, and almost every weekend. Earlier post: What Summerfest wants, Summerfest gets
Yes ... it's fine if the park is closed for the fireworks a few days a year
No ... the park should be publicly accessible 365 days a year
Let Summerfest use the park for fireworks but make the smaller ethnic festivals find another place
I have no opinion
Are these the same people who did the Scott Walker poll showing him with a big lead in the gov's race? Finally, some sniping between Walker and Green, who calls Walker's poll "manufactured" to show him ahead.
Poll results, of course, reflect what you ask, how you ask it, and who you ask. Skew any of those three and you may get the results you wanted, but they'll be meaningless.
posted by xoff @ 4:10 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
It was Summerfest (Henry Maier and John Kelly) that took Maitland Field, a dowdy old dump, and made that portion of the lakefront not only an economic bonanza for Milwaukee but attractive, to boot.
Not the DNR; not Tony Earl, not anybody else.
Geez...twenty-five whole days! during which a pile of rocks, formerly non-existent, will be unavailable to the millions, I say MILLIONS of campers who will flock there every summer.
Balderdash, X.
That's a strange position for a conservative to take. It is BECAUSE the festival grounds are on filled lakebed that the state;s Public Trust Doctrine requires public access to the lakefront, including the lakewalk Summerfest has closed. The doctrine even predates the state constitution and was part of the Northwest Territory charter. It seems like the sort of precedent a conservative would want to respect, not rewrite.
Here's a link to a story explaining how the state park was to end the dispute over access:
Story.
And a little refresher on the Public Trust doctrine, which says the state's lakes and rivers belong to the people.
Like the 1 million visitors to Summerfest, plus the 200K+ to the ethnic festivals are not "people"?
Face it, X. The DNR's being unreasonable and silly. (Their best-practiced traits.)
No one's disputing that Summerfest and the other festivals get thousands upon thousands of visitors. I think what Bill is mad about is that Milwaukee World Festivals has reneged on every single deal they've made with the city and the public, while at the same time relying on massive government handouts for the land and infrastructure to support their activities.
Then again, it seems to be the general attitude of Milwaukee-area Republicans that government handouts are great so long as they only benefit Milwaukee-area Republicans, and to hell with everyone else.
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