Earlier in the week, Houston Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman took exception to the City of Houston’s contention that some 250,000 people lined the streets for the Thanksgiving parade:
I asked a city official, where did you get that number – 250,000 people watching the parade downtown? Was there a caterer charging by the head?”
Here’s what I was told: “In the last few years, we kept hearing that more than 400,000 people were watching the parade, and we knew that couldn’t be right. So we came up with a number that was about half of that. Do you think our number was wrong, too?”
Yes, I think your number is wrong. But it’s better than the 2011 announced figure (“about 400,000 people”) and the 2012 figure (“more than 400,000 people”).
If our area’s public officials can get away with misleading the public on big things (say, the rain tax, or whether the Astrodome liability would be demolished after a no vote on a ridiculous bond proposal, or the need for a city-sponsored downtown hotel, or even two!), then why not mislead on the number of people attending a city parade (by, say 150,000 or so)?
