Harrison Square "Straw Poll" at Northwest Area Partnership meeting

I went to the Northwest Area Partnership Meeting tonight.

This is a group that consists of many neighborhood association officers/ Quite a few City officials and candidates generally come to the meeting...

It was a VERY interesting meeting. Councilman Didier was present as was County Commissioner Nelson Peters. Several City Council candidates were present as well...

Part way through the meeting I gave a brief synopsis of the Fort Wayne Police "Chief's" meeting that I attended.

Then I did a brief and NON SCIENTIFIC poll of those present who LIVED in the Northwest Quadrant. For those of you that support the Harrison Square Project as is the results were not a good sign...

More people opposed building a new baseball stadium downtown then even I expected. And I expected a lot to oppose it...

In favor of Harrison Square and building a new downtown baseball stadium = 2
Against Harrison Square and building a new downtown baseball stadium = 30
Not voting or on the fence = 12

So here it is by percentage and rounded to the nearest percent:
Opposed 68%.
In favor 5%.
Not voting 27%.

Note one of the two people in favor of Harrison Square and building a downtown baseball stadium was Republican City Council Candidate Marty Bender... I was a bit surprised that he was in favor of the project.

This polling was done on a group of people who attended a meeting that is intended for Presidents and other officers of Fort Wayne neighborhood associations. The only people who voted were those who attended a regular meeting of the Northwest Area Partnership. This audience was NOT stacked like the "ra-ra" sessions yesterday.

Near the end of the meeting Councilman Didier did a very courageous thing. He actually spoke up and talked about how he had not decided how he would vote yet; however, he certainly convinced most of us that he is in favor of the project. Even with 30 people against and only 2 in favor of Harrison Square he defended the project. I have to say that I am becoming more and more impressed with Councilman Didier. It took a lot of courage to stand up and support a project that so many people are opposed to... He defended it for QUITE a long time and directed most of his comments at me. I reminded him during his "speech" that he was really talking to THIRTY of us and that only two were on his side...

I have no doubt that some of the more ardent Harrison Square supporters (Several come to mind) will immediately attack these results and will babble about how I am wrong.

Let me say once again, THE POLL WAS NOT SCIENTIFIC. In my mind it was quite telling.

Let me tell you a little about the demographics of those who participated in the poll. Once again, this is not a scientific observation of those who voted; however, it is my opinion:

1. I was most likely the youngest person who voted, I am 39. I would guess that most of those who voted are between 55 and 75 years old.

2. The people who voted regularly attend monthly meetings of the Northwest Area Partnership.

3. My GUESS would be that most of the people in the room regularly vote in elections. I base that observation on my belief that if people regular attend meeting like this that they would vote. This is just an opinion...

4. My GUESS would be that many of the people in the room are on a relatively fixed income and that many are retired. This is just an opinion...

5. Many of the people in the room do a fair amount of volunteer work in Fort Wayne.

In short, this is a group of people that City Council and the Mayor SHOULD want on their side and whose opinions they should highly value. I would argue that those who serve on their neighborhood associations are an important part of Fort Wayne (Karen Goldner is basing part of her Campaign on this...).

Many of those who support the Harrison Square project have spent their time attacking the newspaper poll that showed that 73% of Fort Wayne residents oppose building a new baseball stadium downtown...

Many in the media have been reporting or at least inferring that public opinion is shifting and that more and more people are in favor of the project.

I think not...

Once again, I know several Harrison Square supporters will attack this post. This was a NON SCIENTIFIC poll!

I still believe that a strong majority of Fort Wayne residents oppose building a new baseball stadium downtown...

What do you think?

Mike Sylvester