Letter: RTA Electoral Outcome

Indulge in a little RTA math: Imagine 100 people in a room. Fifty of them leave the gathering immediately. Seventy percent (70%) of the ones who stay choose to kick back, chat, do other stuff, leaving 30% of the 50 people remaining (15 citizens) to step forward and participate in an important decision facing the populace. Sixty percent (60%) of those 15 opinion leaders want one way while 40% want the other outcome. Sixty percent (60%) of 15 is nine (9) people, less than ten percent of the original body. The 50 early opt-outs are folks who could register to vote but, for whatever reason, choose not to do so. The seventy sitting it out are non-voters in this election cycle. Thankfully, the nine who acted to secure the policy they preferred on RTA’s future were sprinkled throughout the City (all Wards approved). One wonders, though, if nine people in a neighborhood of one hundred can accurately capture public preferences.