Sunday Poll: Which mode of public transportation do you think is the safest in St. Louis?

Today’s poll is about perceptions so it doesn’t matter if you ride public transit daily, frequently, rarely, or never. It also doesn’t matter if you think all public transit is unsafe — today’s question is: Which mode of public transportation do you think is the safest in St. Louis? So if it helps you it can also be read as Which mode of public transportation do you think is the least unsafe in St. Louis?

The poll choices are:

• Bus (MetroBus)
• Light rail (MetroLink)
• Tie/equal
• Unsure/no answer

These will be shown in random order in the poll — located in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Age Demographics of Readers

After a little more than 3 hours into the Sunday Poll I noticed someone had just made repeated votes for two categories that minutes earlier had none — so I immediately stopped the poll. Here are the results prior to the vote tampering:

Q: What is your age?

• Less than 12: 0 [0%]
• 12-17: 0 [0%]
• 18-24: 1 [1.35%
• 25-34: 9 [12.16%]
• 35-44: 4 [5.41%]
• 45-54: 5 [6.76%]
• 55-64: 2 [2.7%]
• 65-74: 3 [4.05%]
• 75+: 0 [0%]

Twenty-four votes isn’t many, but this is about what’s received by that point each Sunday. Minutes later I noticed the “Less than 12” and “75+” answers each now had 25 votes, for a total of 74. I get it — not everyone likes to disclose their age — even anonymously in 10-year categories. I don’t get sabotaging the poll.

The early poll results show an older demographic than the engaged readers on Facebook — not surprising. In February I turned 48 — looking forward to AARP discounts in two years.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: What Is Your Age?

I sometimes write about different generations (Millennials, Gen-X, Boomers, etc), I’m also naturally curious about the ages of the readership. Today’s poll is a simple demographic question — your age. The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

UPDATE: I closed the poll ar 11:22am because the number of votes suddenly increased — categories that had no answers suddenly were leading

– – Steve Patterson

Half Of Readers: Ferguson’s Mayor Should Not Resign

Only one person selected “maybe” in the Sunday Poll — that person was me. I think Knowles‘ time to resign was 5-6 months ago — to fall on his sword — to clear out the old guard leadership so real change can begin. Now I hope the recall effort is successful.

Here are the poll results:

Q: Should Ferguson Mayor James Knowles resign?

1. No 21 [50%]
2. Yes 14 [33.33%]
3. Unsure/No Opinion 6 [14.29%]
4. Maybe 1 [2.38%]

Last Fall Knowles didn’t think problems existed in the Ferguson Police Department — his employer for 4 years, but the DOJ has shown otherwise. For Ferguson’s new political activists I think it’ll be much more rewarding if he’s recalled by voters than if he were to resign as others have. Conversely, if he survives the recall it’ll be a blow to those trying to bring change.

Ferguson has a Council-Manager form of government, the mayor’s annual salary is only $4,200.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Ferguson Mayor James Knowles Resign?

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, running unopposed, was reelected to a second 3-year term in April 2014.  Much has changed in the year since — following the recent Dept of Justice report we had the resignations of the city manager, municipal judge, police chief, and others.

Some feel Knowles should also resign, they’ve started a recall campaign:

Five residents notified city hall that they had formed a committee to gather signatures to force a recall election, the first step in a removal process outlined in the city’s charter. It appears the group would have 60 days to gather roughly 1,800 signatures, about 15 percent of the number of people who were eligible to vote in the last mayoral election. (Post-Dispatch)

So I ask the question: should he resign?  The Sunday Poll is at the top of the right sidebar and is open until 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson