WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. May 19, 2006: Don Hughes defends his tax analysis and explains its purpose:
John,
I am afraid the Mr. Del Vecchio was shooting from the
hip and did not really read my post. We are both saying
basically the same thing. Previously, Mayor Delfino and
I provided diametrically opposed numbers for White
Plains ranking versus other cities. I was trying to
demonstrate how this could be.
(More)
I also showed that there
were yet even more ways of looking at the data and
getting even different results. I said several times
that none of these numbers were very useful OTHER than
to indicate that there is room for improved efficiencies
in running White Plains. The point was in the closing:
'always question the assumptions behind any statistic."
Too often people accept unsupported statements as fact
without understanding the underlying assumptions - like
Mr. Del Vecchio's unsupported statement that
reassessment will give developers 'windfall profits at
the expense of the private homeownerŽ.
I do take issue with the implication that the residents
of White Plains are so easily confused that they should
only be provided easily assimilated sound bites. That
is why I have put in so much effort over the last couple
of months in trying to make as much information as
possible to the residents on my web sites, so that they
can make up their own minds based on fact, not fancy.
Don Hughes
