From the 19 April 2004 Commission meeting:  When everything is counted and costed, the City probably breaks even on the Dream Cruise. -- Finance Director Eva.

A grammar lesson?
Some LIKE, some DON'T like, some DISLIKE the Dream Cruise

Although my business, Versagi Consulting, is not on Woodward, I do live a block west of Woodward, near Lincoln.  For the first couple of years of the Cruise, wife Muriel and I ambled from Lincoln to 13 Mile, walking through the crowds at about 1 mile per hour. We stopped often to gawk, picked up a sandwich, took one of the free buses to return.

In recent years, Muriel has worked the Optimist booth selling official Cruise junk.

Most years we have watched the police shut down the Cruise and admired how effectively they handle the situation.

Through it all, we have compared reactions with others, and we can classify those reactions into like, don't like, dislike.

Those who LIKE the Cruise -- wife Muriel is among them -- love the cars, the people-watching, the hustle & bustle and justify any collateral irritation as a small price to pay for the millions of dollars they speculate comes into the area and for the world-wide image which is projected and for the sheer fun and goodwill which is easily proved when the event results in so few encounters with the police. Depending on what the promoters had for breakfast, they unscientifically estimate the crowd as ever-growing:1.2 million, 1.5 million, 1.7 million. Do I hear 2 million!

Those who DON'T like the Cruise -- count me among them -- get a little bored after seeing the first 200 cars drive by and can live with the event for a day, but the week-long parade and its attendant hoopla get a little stale. (I know, I know: there are no uninteresting subjects, only uninterested people.) The saving grace is the ability to join friends and colleagues at private or civic gatherings to relieve the boredom.

Those who DISlike the Cruise resent the intrusiveness of the event on the simple task of driving from one place to another. They question the so-called financial advantage by plugging in the cost to taxpayers of playing nursemaid to 60-year old teenagers and their toys. They fear everything from a more serious episode than the flipover in Royal Oak this year to a catastrophe because emergency vehicles are unable to get where they must go. And, yes, there are those Woodward businesses which are increasingly making noises about developing a class action suit -- against whom, they aren't certain -- based on the provable lost business caused by the Cruise.

The idea is that if even one of the communities along Woodward can be persuaded to pull out, the Cruise becomes vulnerable to collapse.

On the other hand, Cruise-lovers see the event as the area's Running of the Bulls and expect it to go on forever.
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What follows is previous writing about the Cruise.

Dream Cruise or Nightmare Trip?
Media reports about the Dream Cruise continue to focus on turf battles among the several city governments, corporations, and nonprofit groups involved.

Not much attention is being paid to that growing minority of Woodward businesses which would rename the event the "Nightmare Trip." 

Some Cruise promoters reacted with irritation when Voice conducted a survey asking more than 300 businesses to describe how they see the pluses and minuses of the Cruise. Bordering on being offensive was one email or fax which curtly demanded why Voice was doing this:

To promote my business?
As a political ploy?
Because I was asked by City Hall, by the Chamber of Commerce, by somebody?
Finally, "Are you qualified to conduct a scientific survey?"

To which the answers are no, no, no, and yes.

Expanding on those one-word answers:
Promoting my business: Muriel and I are in semi-retirement. We serve a handful of long-time clients, using temporary help at peak load. And the only promotion Versagi does is this website and supportive advertising in Royal Oak-based program books.

Political ploy: I conducted the Cruise survey long before Muriel decided to run for City Commissioner. Besides, the roughly 50-50 split for and against the Cruise suggests any political impact will be a tossup among voters who might choose the Cruise as their single issue.

Did others seek cover by asking me to conduct the survey? No. The decision was mine because I had become resentful of and irritated by the indifference shown the dissidents by Cruise promoters. By the way, my business is not on Woodward.

Am I qualified? Yeah. Come in sometime, and we'll talk sampling, statistics, and all that.

The survey was mailed to 300-plus Woodward business addresses located from 10 Mile to 14 Mile, therefore including Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, and Berkley. Returns continued to dribble in for two or three weeks after my proposed cutoff date, and I can now report:

21% of the businesses replied
51% of them favor the Cruise
49% disapprove

Some of those who favor the cruise agree with opponents that the Cruise must return to being a 1-day event.

One of the late communications was a single-spaced 2-page typewritten list of complaints which included the suggestion that city officials might harass those businesses which openly state their opposition to the cruise. Unfortunately, the group chose not to identify itself except to say that it includes a number of Woodward businesses from Nine Mile to Square Lake; they meet for coffee now and then to do what business owners do, and the Cruise is one of the hot topics.

Most of the favorable returns spoke in pleasurable emotional terms of great promotion, family event, festivity. There was a tendency among them to suggest complainers "get a life."

Most of the no-votes listed specific complaints -- with and without emotional comments. The tabulation below suggests how the concerns are rated.

64% report lost business
42% complain of too many days
26% report illegal parking on their property
26% complain of  traffic snarls, including "EMS and fire can't get into the neighborhoods."

Other complaints ranged from too much alcohol through trash and vandalism to uncaring and rude policemen.

Voice has offered to show the pro and con returns to Cruise Promoters. No takers.

What follows is the original report from the survey

Survey results --

           Dream Cruise is a Nightmare Trip for 43% of respondents

57% of Woodward Avenue businesses which replied to a survey favor continuing the annual Dream Cruise.

43% oppose.

Even some who favor the Cruise have reservations:

“The Cruise is very disruptive to our business — we need to shut down completely for two-and-a-half days. However, we view it as a positive community event so do not oppose its continuance.

“Rather than trying to increase the scope and length of the Cruise, the promoters should be looking for ways to limit it. Otherwise, those of us who tolerate it will become vocal opponents.” — A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home

Those who favor the Cruise offer rousing brief testimonials:

“It’s fun. It’s nostalgic.”

“The excitement that fills the air cannot be rivaled by anything else. It’s like Royal Oak’s own Mardi Gras!”

“A wonderful family event.”

“Great national exposure for the area.”

“Draws 10's of thousands of potential customers.”

“Our [restaurant] business triples!”

“I think it’s great!”

“It brings exposure and revenue to local businesses, not just the weekend but year-round.”

On the other hand . . .
95% of those who oppose the Cruise offer extended and specific comments, and -- whatever words they use -- their complaints fall into easy-to-identify patterns:

1. Kills business*
2. Lasts too many days*
3. Illegal parking on private business property and on streets*
4. General traffic snarls — and hazards*
5. Rude behavior — including Police (“perhaps because they’re tired and don’t like the Cruise, either”)
6. Trash all over the place — bottles, bags, butts, garbage*
7. Vandalism — some of it attributed to alcohol.

      *Complaints seconded by one or more of those who favor the Cruise.

Several examples of their own words:

“Because August is back-to-school month, we have lost a lot of business due to the Dream Cruise!”

“There are no pluses for me or my business.”

“[The visible use of alcohol] is certainly against the no-drinking-and-driving laws of the country.”

“Cars park in front of my store on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and think nothing of it.”

“The only pluses are for bars and beer stores.”

“[The cruise] is way out of control. Way too many people.”

“Endangers residents close to Woodward by delaying police, fire, and ems services.”

“[If they can’t limit the Cruise to one day] eliminate it!”

Why and how the survey was conducted

The Dream Cruise has grown from a 1-day event into a week-long “nightmare trip” in the minds of its detractors.  Proponents counter that only a negligible few complain and that the Cruise’s pluses outweigh its minuses.

Some of those “few” object -- only partly tongue-in-cheek -- that they represent a 40-plus percent minority “and don’t all minorities deserve respectful consideration?”

Still, impressions about the pros and cons are based on anecdotal clues, rather than on evidence, so Versagi Consulting decided to conduct a simple survey.  Two questions were asked:
1. Do you favor continuing the annual Dream Cruise?
2. Why? (What do you see as the pluses and minuses of the Cruise?)

The survey was mailed to 339 Woodward addresses, between 10 Mile and 14 Mile, in Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, and Berkley.
Non-deliverable returns totaled 41
Net mailings were 298
51 replies = a 17% reply, of which 27 (57%) voted yes and 22 (43%) voted no.
Most of the replies were faxed in, a handful were mailed in, and there were two or three phone calls.

What about the 83% of Woodward businesses which did not respond?

Cruise proponents suggest, “Obviously, the non-answerers are Okay with the Cruise, since you gave them a chance to vote ‘no.’”

Naysayers counter that most people don’t vote — even for President; that a 20% return provides a representative sample; that some businesses hesitate to object publicly for fear of being labeled a spoil-sport.

The above report will be sent to the press, to the Cruise Committee, and to the several involved City Halls. Anyone is welcome to visit Versagi Consulting offices to review the more lengthy comments which have been summarized here.

  What do you think?

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