Are we living in a Police State in Sioux Falls?

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One wonders after reading the Code Enforcement Audit; code

I found the fines jumping from $1,900 in 2003 to $129,400 in 2006 pretty astonishing. Was the city falling behind or apart before 2003?

If you read the report you will see that code enforcement now is NOT just based on a complaint basis, which pretty much means if a city employee (of any kind) drives by your place and thinks your branches or grass is to long they can mess with you. And they do.

My neighbor told me this summer that one afternoon they walked up and down our entire block looking in everyone’s yard. This is complete bologna.

Do I think we need code enforcement? Yes. But it should be based on complaints only. Once we let city workers stop by anytime they want to measure my lawn I think we are opening a gigantic can of worms.

You will also notice in the audit report that they have over $114,000 in unpaid fines, gee, I wonder why? This is a very slippery slope. Obviously Sioux Falls got by just fine up until 2003 without being jerks about our PROPERTY and PROPERTY rights. As far as I am concerned, the city owns the Blvd, and they own everything on it, including the grass and the trees, if they don’t like the way it looks, fix it and move on and stop fining people for something they don’t own.

BTW, I got a good chuckle out of the flow charts at the bottom of the Audit – beaurcracy at it’s finest. See if you can find Waldo.

Posted in: Sioux Falls

8 Thoughts on “Are we living in a Police State in Sioux Falls?”

  1. Warren Phear on February 6, 2009 at 7:05 am said:

    What a joke. Don’t you just love government flow charts? And to think somebody actually got paid good money to map out that maze. And city employees do make very good money relative to their counterparts in the real world. Just ask Jodi Schwan.

    Sometimes I think about why I chose early retirement. Then I see charts like this again, and it couldn’t possibly be any clearer why I opted out.

  2. l3wis on February 6, 2009 at 7:22 am said:

    When I first saw it I thought it was a joke. I have to occassionally work ones up at work for Power Point presentations, but If I presented my boss with something like that, he would hand me a box to pack my stuff. Maybe I could get a job with the city then? Huh?

  3. Ghost of Dude on February 6, 2009 at 7:35 am said:

    I’ll have to send you my flow-chart on the proper tactical usage of the phrase “Oh Snap!”

    It looks like they don’t really know how they’re going to collect the fines that are outstanding. It’s a little telling that the largest dollar amount in unpaid fines is for 365 days or longer. Looks like they’re probably SOL on those.
    Maybe if they form a citizen committee like they want to do we could get on it. Somebody would have to balance out all the old farts who think everyone should mow their lawn every day.

  4. l3wis on February 6, 2009 at 7:38 am said:

    Put Vernon Brown on it! He’ll git er done!

  7. l3wis on February 6, 2009 at 8:13 am said:

    Hey! How did you figure out what I do all day!

  8. Warren Phear on February 6, 2009 at 8:27 am said:

    Because I know what I did all day.

    http://ylatis.com/darkon/humor/flochart.html

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