Slightly off topic, but Math. Data. They need to be explained. Even then, people have to understand their fundamentals to understand the explanation. You can

Slightly off topic, but Math. Data. They need to be explained. Even then, people have to understand their fundamentals to understand the explanation. You can't make a soundbite out of math. "Chicago got suckered!!!" There, you see. No explanations necessary. You can fit it into a 20 second political commercial. You can plaster it on Social Media. Doesn't matter whether or not it's factually correct. You math and data guys are just doomed to lose every argument if you insist on employing only well reasoned and data backed introspection in public discourse. That's just not how the average US citizen works. (Nor even the average HN User to be honest. Look at the comments on this thread.) Best to try to find someway to put the analysis into a soundbite. I don't claim to know what that would look like, but it would work better in public discourse. Summarize all of what you just said, and then add in the cost of the city running the program fully on its own. (Seventy five years worth of utilities, maintenance, salaries, pensions, sick leave etc.) That way people compare cost to opportunity cost right away, and see the point you're making.