Okay, sometimes I must resist posting when Mayor Good Folks says ridiculous things, like when he referred to testing snowgates as ‘Creating a Monster’ (Inside Stormland TV), but this latest quote while defending growth and development city expenditures is a bit over the top;
Sioux Falls’ main competitors no longer are Fargo and Sioux City, Iowa, but metro areas such as Phoenix and Chicago, Huether said.
Okay, I’ll play along on industry and jobs. But you also have to factor in world class music clubs and museums. And while Chicago shares our horrible weather extremes, I would much rather be in Phoenix right now.
Councilor Greg Jamison said he supports the efforts of organizations such as the Sioux Falls Development Foundation and the Chamber, but he’s not sure about the city’s new efforts.
“I’m just concerned that we might be creating another layer that’s not necessary. (The organizations) have been doing a pretty great job throughout the years,” he said.
This is about CONTROL for Mike, it’s not about whether these other orgs have been doing a good job or not, and for the most part they have. Sioux Falls is definately not stagnant. Could growth be better? Sure. But it takes more then a mayor with a big mouth and big hair to change that. It takes progressive thinking, something the business community is short on, unless they can make a buck.
Unlike the organizations, the city can rezone a property or refund sales tax as an incentive, Smith said. But he wants more incentives on the table in order to compete with states and cities offering such things as cash.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. While I am all for easing zoning and property tax discount incentives, handing over taxpayers money to a private entity in the form of cold hard cash is a slippery slope, and I hope Megan ‘Patron’ Luther was misquoting you. If not, we need to be very weary of these intentions.
BOSOM BUDDIES
What is a strange twist on this article is the political relationship between Huether and Smith. I hope you can handle all the back slapping and boot licking;
“I just think that he (Smith) was unbelievably qualified. He’s very passionate, and he’s such an informed guy,” Huether said.
Apparently not qualified enough to finish out his councilor term, but qualified enough to pick the pockets of taxpayers in a Huether administration;
Smith, who has known Huether and his wife causally for a decade, contributed to Huether’s campaign and volunteered “bad advice from time to time and he was smart not to listen,” Smith joked.
Like when you ran to Stormland TV news like a little school boy about Staggers’ fake junket trips? That wasn’t bad advice, it was just plain ruthless.
The “development for development’s sake” approach can create horribly configured living conditions for residents. Too much emphasis on speed and not enough of quality – knda like the two-year plan to build the EC next to the arena.
I think this grows out of the Mayor’s experiences/mindset from a CC biz where volume of customers and CHURN (not providing the best service)were the key to PROFITABILITY. Running a government is NOT a for profit business. It is a “for good” endeavor. Different theme – different mission – different approaches.
This is from the SF Business Journal:
Boyd Co. Inc., a New Jersey-based location consulting firm, recently reported on comparative operating costs for medical device manufacturers in 55 locations throughout North America, including Sioux Falls. The analysis found Southern California sites were the most expensive, averaging $30 million a year for a plant employing 325 workers. Sioux Falls was the least expensive location, at a cost of $22.5 million, pricier than only two sites in Mexico and Costa Rica.
Right, SF is competing w/Chicago & Phoenix. Guess again, the home of low wages is only ahead of 2 banana republics in this area.
Here is the link and look who wrote the article.
http://siouxfallsbusinessjournal.argusleader.com/article/20101215/BJNEWS03/101214036
Wow! What a shocker! Our wages only beating Mexico.
We’re competing with Chicago and Phoenix alright. They’re broke and corrupt and Huether hopes to top them.
For a Conference of about 300 or so people that a group of students I am involved with is having, we considered the Convention Center instead of the Holiday Inn City Centre. Everyone agreed we should keep it at the Holiday Inn City Centre because of the easy access to restaurants and parking for our 2 Day Conference. The Advisors for our group didn’t want students and participants to have to get in their cars and drive to different parts of the City for lunch, and preferred the Downtown Conference Centre because of it’s closeness to so much more.
That’s my $.02 just about inner city competition.
I would rather be in Phoenix right now too.
Doesn’t the guy in the picture kind of look like the Mad Hatter or whatever his name is from Alice in Wonderland?
Have you seen Smith in person? He needs a haircut.