Michelle Erpenbach; Poor choice for Sioux Falls city council

Nice sign, if you are running a bed and breakfast (this was an actual comment made to someone who had the sign in their yard)

But besides the signage, Michelle seems to be acting like Stehly even though she is nothing like her;

Then, look at the overall city debt. It’s $227 million! That’s a lot of money and I don’t mean to belittle the honest fears people have about debt. But, let’s take a quick line-by-line review. All of this is public information that I downloaded off the city’s website at www.siouxfalls.org.

Some of our debt is what we have left to pay on the new police station. Final payment will be made this year.

More than $31 million of it funded the flood control project completed in 2009 in the Garfield and Edison areas.

We’ve invested $5 million in keeping the landfill functioning at the level required by federal guidelines. Landfill users are paying this back with their fees and residents see it on their monthly garbage bills.

Another $112 million is improving the city water system. Water users will gradually pay this off as we pay our city utility bills.

And, $70 million is working in our water reclamation system. Again, a fee-based project that doesn’t affect tax dollars.

Yes, some of the funds are in the Quality of Life bonds that built the new Harmodon ballpark and the Drake Springs pool. Those funds will also bring a new library to the city’s westside and revitalize the River Greenway downtown. Those payments are also budgeted: from our sales tax funds.

I would not vote to put the city into further debt that doesn’t make sense.

Really? All of sudden you are a fiscal conservative? Guess you better send back that check you got from Tom Daschle. You wouldn’t vote to put our city further in debt, yet you just rationalized that the above debt is okay? Huh? I am still baffled why we paid Lewis and Clark up front for something we won’t have for another 2-4 years (maybe) We are paying higher water fees for something we don’t have, some of that interest, mind you.

That being said, I have to look at this in terms of the commuter corridors in the city.  Look at Minnesota Avenue.  Look at Cliff Avenue.  And 10th  and 26th streets.  All of these are key streets in the Central District and in the city of Sioux Falls.  We must come together as leaders of this city to balance the use of that second penny sales tax so those critical commuter corridors don’t fail us anymore than they already have.  Let’s make the second penny sales tax effective for road construction and re-construction while continuing to support those projects our growing community so vitally needs.

You are concerned about the city not spending money on the streets? Really? Then why haven’t I heard you say anything publicly about it? I have never seen you at the council meetings talking about it and you never brought it up when you were trying to get appointed to the council. You are using this as a campaign issue because all of a sudden residents have figured out our streets are in piss poor shape. You are not fooling anyone.

My work with community garden families led to my appointment to the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Board. I’ve served nearly five years in this volunteer position, helping guide the future of the parks system, reviewing and revising the annual budget, and gaining a deep understanding of the city’s capital improvement process.

Another reason 1) not to vote for you and 2) that you are not this ‘fiscal conservative’ you claim to be. SF Parks and Rec has one of the most bloated budgets of any department in the city, and tons of waste (people reading novels while watering trees, mowing a 1/4 inch of grass, etc, etc.) I have often said we could spend half of what we do now and still have the same great parks. Heck, we even had Gene Rowenhorst saying that was the first place they would cut back on this summer is mowing the grass less and after that he said, “And most people wouldn’t even notice the change in service.” Then why haven’t we been doing this all along Michelle? Was this ever discussed in all the years you sat on the board? Or are you only concerned about ‘wasteful spending’ now that you are running for office. Deeds speak louder then words sister.

Michelle, give it a rest. Your strategy of trying to look like your opponent will not work. We need LEADERS on the city council, not FOLLOWERS.

Your website looks nice at least.