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ododancer

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  1. I need all the help I can get, so if anyone is willing to help, it is greatly appreciated! The following appeared as a letter to the editor from a Central Plaza store owner. "Over the past two years, the number of shoppers in Central Plaza has been steadily decreasing while the popularity of skateboarding has increased dramatically. Many Central Plaza store owners believe that the decrease in their business is due to the number of skateboard users in the plaza. There has also been a dramatic increase in the amount of litter and vandalism throughout the plaza. Thus, we recommend that the city prohibit skateboarding in Central Plaza. If skateboarding is prohibited here, we predict that business in Central Plaza will return to its previously high levels." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. The writer of this letter, who proposes prohibiting skateboarding in Central Plaza to decrease trash and vandalism and to increase business to its previous level, proposes an interesting argument. However, there are many questions that must be answered in order to decide whether or not to move forward with a corrective plan of action. While there could be a correlation between the factors that are brought to light, there could also be other plausible explanations as to why business has decreased in Central Plaza. An important question to ask is if things have changed over time, meaning has the economy taken a turn for the worse? This could explain why business has decreased in Central Plaza. If people are facing hardships they are less likely to spend money frivolously or on things they “want” instead of “need.” Store popularity could change over time as well—stores that were once popular in the past may not be popular now or in the future. People may have found new stores that they like to shop at rather than ones that have been around for a few years. The author of the letter also uses vague terminology, such as “increased dramatically” and “return business to its previous level”. It would be important to know how much skateboarding, trash, and vandalism have increased over the past two years and what the previously high levels of business were and what the levels are now to see how much business has actually dropped. Additionally, the writer implies that throughout the plaza the amount of skateboarders, vandalism, and litter has increased. However, it is never explicitly stated that the skateboarders have caused the litter and the vandalism, just that both have increased. So how do we know that if the city prohibits skateboarding that vandalism will decreased and business will increase? We need to know who or what is causing the increase in vandalism and litter and if skateboarding is really the problem. Maybe there aren’t enough trashcans for all the litter or the trashcans aren’t being emptied enough? Asking shoppers and store owners would be a good start to figuring out why business is decreasing and what they perceive to be the key problems. A cause and effect relationship cannot be assumed, because there are many assumptions made without proper evidence to back them up. Any owner wants their business to flourish, but in order to get to the root of the problem we must obtain information that will help make a well informed and valid decision. These are some of the questions that must be answered in order to make a proper decision as to whether or not to create a plan of action to help Central Plaza increase in business back to its previous levels.
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