Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Live-blogging the election results

Consider this your source for nerdy commentary on the school board election returns as they come in tonight. Last time around, the numbers came in so fast that I could barely keep up with them; maybe the high turnout will slow things down a bit this time. You can see the results faster here, but then you’d miss all the commentary!

I’ll be posting updates (below) about individual precinct results when I find the time. The precinct map is here; you can compare it with the elementary school attendance area map here.

The top three candidates will be elected. The final results are:

Candidate Votes Percentage*

Dorau
3738 43%

Lynch
3121 36%

Kirschling
3041 35%
Hemingway 2936 34%
Cook 2671 31%
Barron 2563 29%
Lewis 2392 27%
Geerdes 2019 23%
Tate 659 8%

*The third column won’t add up to 100% because every voter can cast up to three votes.



UPDATE 1:00 a.m.  Time to call it a night.  Congratulations to Tuyet Dorau, Chris Lynch, and Brian Kirschling.  Thanks to Phil Hemingway, Karla Cook, Sara Barron, Jason Lewis, Gregg Geerdes, and Jim Tate for running.

UPDATE 12:55 a.m.  According to the site meter, this blog had over three thousand page views today.  I’m glad it’s serving some purpose, even if it’s just to pass the time when you’re waiting for results to come in.

UPDATE 12:45 a.m.:  John Deeth with some good commentary here.  He points out one striking fact: half the precincts were won by candidates who finished outside the top three.

UPDATE 12:15 a.m.:  Does bullet voting pay?  The Save Hoover group urged its supporters to use all three of their votes, because the goal was to push as many pro-Hoover candidates up as possible.  But in other circumstances, bullet voting (i.e., using less than all three votes) made perfect sense.  Voters in North Liberty and Coralville, for example, appear to have bullet voted for the two candidates from Coralville, Dorau and Lynch.  What if they had used that third vote instead?  I experimented by reallocating the unused votes from those precincts among the remaining seven candidates, in the same proportion as those candidates received in those precincts.  The result: if those voters had used all three of their votes, they would have pushed Kirschling and Hemingway up just enough for them to pass Chris Lynch, who would then have lost by a handful of votes.  Those bullet voters had exactly the effect they desired.

UPDATE 11:53:  Over three thousand votes – more than Phil Hemingway received total – went uncast because people chose not to use all three of their votes.


UPDATE 11:40: News coverage here and here.


UPDATE 11:22:  Candidates who live east of the river got 14,256 votes; candidates who live west of it received 8,869.  But first and second place went to candidates from the west side (Coralville, actually), because the east side was divided.  Had the east side united behind three candidates, they might well have won all three seats.  In the last election, east-sider Marla Swesey came in first with 66% of the vote.  This time, the highest east-side vote-getter, Brian Kirschling, got 35% of the vote, and barely made third place.  Maybe that division was unavoidable with the number of east-side candidates running, but it seems very likely that the Hoover issue played a big role in weakening the east side’s performance.  Closing an elementary school for no compelling reason is a good way to alienate a big part of your coalition.


UPDATE 11:01:  Highest number of the night: Phil Hemingway’s 75% of the vote in Hills.  Lowest: Tuyet Dorau’s 5% in Hills. 

Strangely high number of write-in votes in North Liberty and Coralville: 29, more than the rest of the district combined.  Any explanation?


UPDATE 10:30:  Lemme’s turnout was significantly higher than any other precinct -- 22.8% -- but that was true in the RPS vote in February as well.  In fact, its share of the pie wasn’t that different than you would have predicted solely from the RPS results.  (It’s not a perfect comparison, because the RPS early voters were not broken down by precinct.)  Lemme’s high turnout seems to be a function of the demographics, not of the Hoover issue or the Cook campaign.

Lemme, Mercer Park, City, Mann, and Lincoln did make up a slightly larger share of the pie than they did in the RPS vote.  But whatever was causing the turnout to nearly double was not specific to any one precinct.

UPDATE 9:58: What to make of these results?  All three candidates endorsed by Save Hoover lost.  Yet two of the three winners (Dorau and Lynch) are supportive of keeping Hoover open.  And, for what it’s worth, supporters of the third, Brian Kirschling, spent the last few days trying to convince people that he supported keeping Hoover open, too.  (I didn’t buy it; see this post.) 


The board member who voted to keep Hoover open, Tuyet Dorau, came in first place.  The board member who voted to close it, Karla Cook, lost, coming in fifth.

Candidates who supported Hoover received a total of 15,023 votes.  Candidates who did not (including Kirschling) received a total of 8,102 votes.  Those totals closely parallel the nearly two-to-one margin by which people opposed school closures at the community workshops on the facilities plan.  That two-to-one ratio keeps coming up.

That Dorau and Lynch claimed the two top spots was not too surprising, since it was pretty clear that the west side, North Liberty, and Coralville were fairly united behind them.  That made it a seven-way fight for the one remaining spot.  Another painfully close call for Phil Hemingway.

Judging from the most recent campaign finance reports, Kirschling spent at least $2.82 per vote, while Phil Hemingway, whom he narrowly beat, spent less than $.25 per vote.

 
What message (if any) will the current board take from the results?

UPDATE 9:37:  By contrast, the voters at City High precinct used 94% of their votes, on average.

UPDATE 9:32:  A relatively low rate of bullet-voting tonight.  On average, people used 88% of their votes; usually that number is down closer to 80 -- as it was in Coralville and North Liberty.


UPDATE 9:25: More precinct-by-precinct results:

Precinct 6 (Twain School): This is southeast Iowa City, pretty much everything south of Kirkwood/Lower Muscatine Road.  It’s made up mostly of the Twain and Wood attendance areas, and is the home precinct of Sara Barron and Jason Lewis.  It makes up about 12% of the total voters.  The results:

Hemingway
204
Lewis
183
Barron
176
Cook
170
Dorau
161
Kirschling
152
Geerdes
  91
Lynch
  88
Tate
  72

Precinct 7 (City High): Close-in central Iowa City.  Mostly the Longfellow attendance area, and about a third of Hoover, and even a smidgen of the west side (near the former Roosevelt Elementary).  It makes up about 15% of the total voters.  City favored the three candidates endorsed by Save Hoover.  The results:

Barron
457
Hemingway
391
Geerdes
301
Lewis
254
Dorau
232
Kirschling
227
Cook
219
Lynch
  94
Tate
  58

 Precinct 8 (Lemme School): This is eastern Iowa City, extending from First Avenue past Scott Boulevard.  It’s mostly the Lemme attendance area and about a fifth of Hoover, plus Windsor Ridge.   It’s the home precinct of Karla Cook, and has about 6% of the total voters. 

Kirschling
504
Cook
429
Hemingway
402
Barron
329
Lewis
306
Geerdes
289
Dorau
193
Lynch
171
Tate
  53

Precinct 9 (Hills Community Center): Hills and rural areas west of Hills.  It’s about 1% of the total voters. 

Hemingway
  98
Cook
  57
Kirschling
  53
Geerdes
  38
Barron
  33
Lewis
  32
Lynch
  24
Tate
    8
Dorau
    6
  
Precinct 10 (Mercer Park Rec. Center): This is the Village Green and Mercer Park area in eastern Iowa City, and rural parts east.  It’s made up mostly of the Lucas attendance area, plus another chunk of Hoover, and is the home precinct of Phil Hemingway and Jim Tate.  It makes up about 7% of the total voters.  Like City High, Mercer Park favored the three candidates endorsed by Save Hoover Correction, misread the chart:


Cook
295
Kirschling
292
Hemingway
278
Barron
250
Lewis
218
Dorau
196
Geerdes
147
Lynch
102
Tate
  86





















Finally, the early voters: 

Kirschling
560
Cook
514
Hemingway
508
Dorau
493
Lynch
431
Barron
398
Lewis
370
Geerdes
338
Tate
134
 



 UPDATE 9:12:  Here are precinct-by-precinct results:

Precinct 1 (Coralville Rec. Center): This is Coralville.  It covers the attendance areas of Coralville Central, Kirkwood, most of Wickham, and some of Van Allen.  It’s the home precinct of Tuyet Dorau and Chris Lynch.  It has about 15% of the total voters.  The results:

Dorau
892
Lynch
814
Kirschling
242
Barron
208
Hemingway
208
Cook
199
Lewis
158
Geerdes
146
Tate
  69

Wow, quite a difference between second and third place.

Precinct 2 (North Liberty Community Center): This is North Liberty.  It covers most of the attendance areas of Penn, Garner, and Wickham, some of Van Allen, and a tiny bit of Lincoln.  It has about 14% of the total voters.  The results:

Dorau
747
Lynch
719
Kirschling
255
Hemingway
169
Lewis
167
Barron
151
Cook
146
Geerdes
143
Tate
  48

 Precinct 3 (Lincoln School): This is Manville Heights, the Normandy Drive area, and some U of I dorms.  It’s the home precinct of Gregg Geerdes, and has about 5% of the total voters.  Now that Lincoln goes to City High, this precinct really has a foot in both east and west.  The results:

Geerdes
147
Hemingway
135
Lewis
116
Dorau
111
Lynch
105
Barron
  96
Kirschling
  67
Cook
  63
Tate
  17

 Precinct 4 (Horace Mann School): This precinct starts in Goosetown and extends north toward the Coralville Dam and up Route 1.  It’s made up mostly of the Shimek and Horace Mann attendance areas, plus about a fifth of Hoover.  It’s the home precinct of Brian Kirschling, and has about 13% of the total voters.  The results:

Kirschling
427
Lewis
394
Cook
384
Hemingway
337
Barron
316
Dorau
249
Geerdes
203
Lynch
127
Tate
  52

 Precinct 5 (West High): This is the west side of Iowa City.  It’s made up mostly of Horn, Borlaug, and Weber attendance areas.  It has about 13% of the total voters.  In each of the last two school elections, the (slightly different) West High precinct was the only one to choose all of the winning candidates.  It’s done the same thing tonight.  The results:

Dorau
454
Lynch
443
Kirschling
261
Hemingway
205
Cook
195
Lewis
194
Geerdes
174
Barron
146
Tate
  62

More precinct-by-precinct results in a few minutes. 


UPDATE 9:00:  Precinct-by-precinct commentary coming soon.

UPDATE 8:59:  Cook is the first incumbent board member to lose re-election since Dale Schultz in 2002.  Schultz won in 1999 with 42% of the vote, then lost in 2002 with 56% of the vote!

As far as I could tell, twelve incumbents have lost in the last thirty-four years.  In 1987, three incumbents were turned out at once.  Two lost in 1999. 

UPDATE 8:57:  Turnout was 11.88%, not quite double what it was two years ago.

UPDATE 8:51:  Hemingway loses by 104 votes.

UPDATE 8:50:  It's all in.  The top three are Dorau, Lynch, and Kirschling.  Numbers in a minute.

UPDATE 8:48:  Kirschling beat Hemingway in North Liberty, so I would guess that he will do the same in Coralville.  But we'll see.

UPDATE 8:36:  Remember, Hemingway lost by 89 votes last time around.

UPDATE 8:35:  So we're just waiting on Coralville.  Lynch will probably leap into the top three, pushing either Kirschling or Hemingway out.  Hemingway needs to gain 70 votes on Kirschling have a chance.

UPDATE 8:33:  The Save Hoover endorsees, Barron, Hemingway, and Geerdes, are the top three at the City High precinct.

UPDATE 8:25:  Results are coming in too fast for me to keep up with.  Stay tuned.

UPDATE 8:09: Early votes, which will make up probably around 15% of the total, are in, with Kirschling, Cook, and Hemingway in the top three.

UPDATE 7:38: Might as well get ready for the votes to come in.

UPDATE 6:53: The 6:00 turnout figures are in. It’s impossible to make any projection based on them, because the auditor hasn’t reported 6:00 numbers in the past. But, counting early voters, 9.6% of the voters have now already voted. Lemme’s turnout rate is 21.3%, way ahead of its closest competitors, Hills (14.3%) and Mercer Park (13.7%). In sheer numbers, Coralville still leads, with 1056 voters already (counting early voters). North Liberty, Horace Mann, and Lemme are close behind. The west side, Coralville and North Liberty precincts, taken together, account for about 44% of the total votes so far cast.

UPDATE 6:45: So last night the school board adopted its class size policy on maximum class sizes at different grade levels. The superintendent described the policy as setting “aspirational goals” for class sizes, because, as the article says, there are “building and financial limitations that could prevent all classes from meeting the policy.”

This board’s achievements consist of an awful lot of aspirational goal-setting. The board adopted diversity goals without any discussion of what it would take to meet them, then adopted a long-term facilities “plan” that included $100 million more in spending than the board has access to, and now has set class size goals that it can’t afford to implement. Meanwhile, two years went by without the board installing air conditioning in the schools that need it, and the board has again fallen behind in the process of reviewing the Superintendent’s contract, because of the “busy school board schedule.”

UPDATE 6:30: It’s taking a while to get the 6:00 turnout numbers fully up on the auditor’s website. They won’t give us much to go by, anyway, since this is the first year they’ve done 6:00 numbers.

UPDATE 5:22: In the comments here, John Deeth points out that the newly drawn City High precinct contains some areas that have a high concentration of U of I students, who are less likely to vote in local elections. So the relatively low turnout at City doesn’t necessarily reflect a low turnout in the Longfellow and Hoover neighborhoods that are part of that precinct.

More turnout numbers shortly after 6:00.

UPDATE 5:03: In other news, I see that some schools are doing their part to prepare kids for adulthood in this era of NSA surveillance.

UPDATE 3:22 p.m.: The 3:00 turnout numbers are in. If the pattern is similar to the last two school elections, it looks like we will hit about 12.5% turnout. My guess (using my patented combination of dubious assumptions and questionable multipliers) is that you’ll need about 2,450 votes to win one of the three available seats.

Keep in mind that turnout in the last school board election was just shy of 6%, and that was considered high.

Patterns are similar to this morning. Fourteen percent of the Lemme precinct has now voted (including early voters), almost 5 percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor (Mercer Park). In terms of sheer numbers, Coralville is the only precinct to have already turned out over 700 voters (again, including early voters); Horace Mann and Lemme have broken 600.

Precincts that contain parts of the Hoover attendance area have turned out at a rate of 7.5%; non-Hoover precincts have turned out at a rate of 5.9%. (Compare that to the February RPS vote, when there was no significant difference between Hoover and non-Hoover precincts.

But this is all just reading tea leaves. It’s hard to make historical comparisons because these are newly drawn precincts, especially on the east side. And it’s hard to make comparisons across precincts, because some precincts have a lot of U of I students who are less likely to vote in local elections.

News coverage of turnout is here, here, here, and here. John Deeth’s commentary is here.


UPDATE 11:42 a.m.: The 11:00 turnout numbers are in. Looks to me like we could be headed closer to 12% or 13% turnout by the end of the day, a little higher than my estimate from this morning. If so, my guess is that you’d need over 2500 votes to win.

Turnout patterns are pretty similar to what they were at 9:00. Lemme is voting at a much higher rate than other precincts. Again, is that because it’s the home of Karla Cook and the heart of the far east side, or because it’s directly across the street from Hoover? Mercer Park is also voting at a high rate. It also includes neighborhoods most directly affected by the Hoover closure, and is the home precinct of Phil Hemingway and Jim Tate as well.

In sheer numbers, Horace Mann has turned out the most voters (including early voters) so far -- 430. It’s another Hoover precinct. Coralville is close behind, as are West High and Lemme.

UPDATE 10:34 a.m.: Based on the 9:00 a.m. turnout and the early voting, this election looks likely to break some records for turnout (at least for a school board election that is not accompanied by a bond referendum). Eight-hundred and twenty-six people voted this morning, and another 1,385 had already voted early. My rough guess is that that could put us in the neighborhood of almost 9,000 total voters, as compared to 4,492 two years ago. That would be 11% or 12% turnout.

My nerdy, numbers-crunching-informed (and probably wrong) guess is that it will take almost 2,400 votes to win one of the three available seats.

So far, the Lemme precinct has turned out at the highest rate. It’s the home precinct of Karla Cook, but also contains a big chunk of the Hoover attendance area. It’s a relatively small precinct, though, making up only about 6% of the total voters. In terms of sheer numbers, Horace Mann precinct has turned out the most – 332 voters (including early voters). Mann precinct is the home of Brian Kirschling, but it also contains a big chunk of Hoover. West High and Coralville have also turned out almost 300 voters each.

One of the things that will make numbers-parsing difficult tonight is that the Hoover attendance area is spread out relatively evenly over four precincts: City High, Horace Mann, Lemme, and Mercer Park.
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29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there a link to last year's numbers by precinct so we can compare to this year?

Chris said...

Anonymous -- Here's the 2011 election results and turnout, and here's the (more minimal) information from February's RPS election. Be careful making comparisons to 2011, though, because the precincts (especially on the east side) have since been redrawn. There are now ten instead of nine.

HH parent said...

When will the be absentee ballots be counted?

Chris said...

HH parent -- They'll be counted right away after the polls close. As I recall, all the votes were counted last time by 8:30 p.m.

Chris said...

Of course, things might take a little longer tonight, since there are so many more voters. We'll see.

Mandy said...

Maybe when my kid gets in trouble for speaking at voice level 2 instead of 1 or some other such nonsense, their answer should be that voice level 1 is an "aspirational goal". Once again, the kids in this district are held to a higher standard than the adults.onorpin

Chris said...

Mandy -- Ha. They can tell the teacher that they may not be quiet, but at least they have a Voice Policy.

Mandy said...

Hemingway loses by 104 votes on self funded campaign. Kirschling squeaks by but has well over 8k to spend.

Michael Tilley said...

Is there a referendum from City High constituents? If you exclude NL, Coralville, West High, and Hills (and early ballots too, since you can't separate those by precinct yet) to just get people primarily affected by the Hoover/City High results, it would have been Hemingway (1st), Barron (3rd), and Kircshling (2nd). That's pretty good evidence that the people most affected by the closure of Hoover and expansion of City High are not behind the Facilities Master Plan.

iclocal said...

I'm pretty sure Kirshling went to Lemme so that is probably why he won precinct 8.
I find it amazing that Hemingway did so well since he didn't accept donations and that he was low key about promoting himself (no social media, or printed signs.) Especially losing so closely to Kirshling who had raised so much money and was all over the place with media. I really wished he would have won a seat, since out of all candidates, to me, he was the best choice. I hope he continues his same pace as watchdog for the district.

JK said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris said...

JK -- If you're going to accuse someone of lying, you really should identify the lies. It's a *blog*, you know. Anytime you want to, you (or your husband) can leave a comment here correcting anything you think is misinformation.

As for cowardly, what do you call someone who doesn't speak up here until after the election is over, and then uses only initials?

As for tearing apart a district, you might look at people who voted to close an elementary school without a compelling reason and with no stated use for the property.

Get a grip. For most people, the school board election is not about you or your husband. It's about issues, and in a free country people disagree about them.

On this blog, I make arguments. I don't know what your definition of "bullying" is, but mine does not include making arguments and airing any contrary arguments that people (even anonymous people) choose to contribute here. It might include making unsupported accusations and name-calling, though.

Anonymous said...

That looks like "sit down and shut up" from Mrs. Kirschling. That reminds me of the bully tactics of the Old Guard from the east side. I think we are all quite tired of that. The turnout yesterday shows that the public wants to be and will be more engaged. Hopefully, we can do it mutually respectful way.

JK said...

My apologies, I shall in facts"get a grip" as you suggest.

Erin Kaufman said...

Here is what I honestly and respectfully do not understand. What do folks expect Hoover families to do, in light of a vote to close an elementary school for no good reason? No plans, no intent, except board talk of a parking lot. This is horrible policy. As a parent, how do I explain to my six-year-old that her school is closing because it could be needed at some indeterminate point in the future for a concrete slab? As a parent, of course I’m going to fight the closure of a school when no legitimate justification has been provided to the community. If you review the July 23 board meeting video, it’s clear that all Hoover families want is an explanation for the closure. As has been said before, our kids will go to City High. We want a great City High. But we can’t willingly sacrifice an elementary school for no good reason.

Chris said...

Erin -- I agree. Nothing could have been a more predictable consequence of closing an elementary school without a good reason and with no stated plan for the property.

“Why are you victimizing us by not slavishly supporting our agenda no matter how badly we treat you?” does not evoke much sympathy. It’s not exactly what you learn in Coalition-Building 101. If the close-Hoover people are feeling injured today – and it sounds like they are – it’s from an entirely self-inflicted wound.

Anonymous said...

It has been fascinating to watch this race as a new resident. The question that I keep coming back to is this...Why is the area not divided into 7 districts with a representative from each on the board? I have never seen a city, of this size, have 7 random members. This setup would not solve all the issues and districts might need to be redrawn occasionally, however, I do feel that it would be beneficial for all areas to feel equally represented. If anyone has any insight, please share!

JulieVanDyke said...

Chris, I have no idea what JK said but I think it's a reflection of the "bullying" JK apparently mentioned that you would entirely remove a commentator's entry but include your own following them and condemning them, pretty much ripping them a new one, without us being able to see what was said.

And then you, in your reply say, "On this blog, I make arguments. I don't know what your definition of "bullying" is, but mine does not include making arguments and airing any contrary arguments that people (even anonymous people) choose to contribute here. It might include making unsupported accusations and name-calling, though.

What does that even mean? That you will say whatever you want regardless of any evidence to the contrary, which you then even refuse to print. That we should take everything you say IYHO as fact but your commentators don't get that right.

I think that is a cowardly action on your part. If you're not going to take heat from someone who disagrees with you, I do think it's cowardly to then remove there comments but post your response...I think you should repost JK's initial response or remove your reply out of simple fairness. I would have thought better of you than an action such as you have played it.

Chris said...

Julie, JK removed her comment, not me. I will put it back up if she wants me to.

JulieVanDyke said...

Chris, If you did not remove JK's comment, my apologies, though I don't see a way to remove my comments so unless that is a function related to the type used under "Choose and Identity" so I don't seem to be able to remove mine.
Either way, I don't think you should leave your reply up with the context gone...all I see is you beating up someone who appears to have been sticking up for her husband after you beat up on her husband over a school closure that wouldn't have even happened without the RPS you supported being approved before we had the data back and a plan from our board and administration (the two reasons I opposed it though you Chris supported it) and the BLDD steering committee being persuaded they had to send the board a plan that closed schools even though all appearances implied the majority of the committee, by clicker numbers and statements, favored only the plan that most closely fit Murley's "magical spreadsheet" (with not indication that any schools would be closed) as advertised and supported by Chris Lynch before his "magical" appointment to the powerful district CEDAC Committee, along with other NC powerful, which he then used as springboards to his candidacy.

Chris said...

Julie – JK posted a comment accusing me of being a cowardly lying bully, among other things (without any examples or evidence to back up the accusations). The comment sat on the blog for hours and lots of people saw it. Who knows how many people she may have said those same things to in person. So I’m leaving my response up, partly because it shows how quickly those accusations were withdrawn as soon as I asked for specifics. JK was not the victim of that exchange, any more than Brian Kirschling was victimized by people drawing very reasonable conclusions about his positions from his public statements.

Your election analysis is ridiculous, and your determination to blame the Save Hoover people for electing candidates who publicly supported Hoover, instead of candidates who openly wanted to “move forward” with the existing plan, is just silly rationalizing. No, Save Hoover did not cause the defeat of Phil Hemingway by failing to support Brian Kirschling. But believe what you want to believe. I’m more than happy to be proved wrong about Kirschling’s position on Hoover – though, again, any time he wanted to correct anything I wrote on this blog, he was free to. So many people want to correct my statements about Brian Kirschling except Brian Kirschling.

lpsmom said...

Setting aside the comments on the blog for a minute, I'd just like to say that I'm delighted to hear that Kirschling has changed his mind and supports keeping Hoover open. That's great news.

Chris said...

lpsmom -- Me too! I just wish I heard it from him.

votedforPhil said...

Julie. JK has a blogger account, which allows functionality such as deleting posts that you later regret writing. The comment log clearly states: "This comment has been removed by the author". It does not say removed by blog admin. There is no grand conspiracy going on here.

HH parent said...

When and where did Kirschling announce his support for keeping Hoover open?

JIverson said...

Chris--I want to publicly thank you for all you've done for the Save Hoover effort. I for one appreciate your time and organizing on our behalf so much. I'm not entirely happy with how the election turned out, but it seems it could have been worse. Let's hope the board gets on the side of the community and starts behaving with some transparency and common sense.

Chris said...

Thanks, JIverson! I'm hopeful that the board will take a second look at the plan and reconsider the closure. In the meantime, we'll just have to keep making the case for keeping the school open. I think we have both time and public opinion on our side.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

Any thoughts on Jason Lewis' post-election blog post, particularly the first version?

Chris said...

Anonymous – Thanks for asking. For those who haven’t seen Lewis’s post, it’s here. In an earlier version of the post, Lewis wrote:

“I see now I was wrong about Hoover. I was as fooled as anyone and I am freaking mad. And I apologize. There’s no reason Hoover can’t stay where it is for the foreseeable future, and there’s no reason that CHS can’t expand to meet its capacity goals at the same time. I made a mistake. We have to be creative. We have to try harder. We have to demand better. And now our job will be that much more difficult.”

Although he later deleted that language, the post still says “Mea culpa, Hoover and the rest of the ICCSD.”

I don’t know what to make of the edit, but my sense is just that Lewis is genuinely rethinking whether the Hoover closure is a good idea, both in terms of policy and in terms of politics. I don’t agree with his analysis of what initially prompted the idea of closing Hoover, but I do agree that the closure vote alienated a lot of east side voters (including me) and created a division in the east side that affected the election. (See this post.) In any event, I’d welcome Lewis’s support for keeping Hoover open, and I hope his post is a sign that others might be rethinking the closure as well.