This was part of a full-page, color ad that the Huether campaign ran today in the Argus Leader;
This ad proves why Brown would be the ideal candidate to run against in a run-off. He has a long voting record of spend, spend, spend. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. If Vernon makes the runoff, I hope his competitor nails him on his spendaholic voting record.
Notice, NO mention of Staggers. Why? Because Staggers (not Huether) was the first candidate to oppose increasing taxes to build an events center.
This along with the AL’s endorsement is giving Peterson the most mileage for the money, if he picks up half of the last minute vote he’s in the top 2.
Especially if Huether peels away some of the “ousider” vote from Kermit.
This should get interesting.
I still think it will be Huether and Staggers in the Runoff with Vernon in third and Peterson in fourth.
An Argus Leader endorsement doesn’t correlate to too many votes these days.
Yeah, ask Daschle how that worked out for him.
Considering city ‘usual bid process’ instead of ‘competitive bids’, I doubt an EC for 100 million.
Brown & Costello advocating a tax increase is appalling. Do they live here? No new taxes in a down economy.
Demolishing Howard Wood just doesn’t make sense. It’s there and works well for high school activities.
What about an EC at Sioux Empire Fair grounds? Lots of land and 2 exits off I-29. EC & Fair joint operations. Lease open parking and indoors to car dealers when there’s nothing booked.
Proof that KELO is just Brown’s propaganda wing: Yesterday, that family and I went to HyVee to pick up a cheap breakfast and get some groceries. We saw a KELO camera crew and reporter pull up, and then Vernon showed up and was talking with them. When Vernon started going around shaking the old folks’ hands, we left.
And if yard signs are any indication, Staggers and Huether (mostly Huether) will walk away with my neighborhood.
Go down 26th street. You’d think Theresa was running for mayor.
I got this same color card in the mail from under Huether. After watching the Argus interviews, the debates, and reading the positions of the candidates… I actually think Huether is my second choice.
If the runoff doesn’t include Staggers but does include Huether… he’ll get my support. However if it comes down to Brown versus Costello then I’m staying home – because I can’t bring myself to vote for the lesser of two evils.
That’s kind of what Peterson said in the paper today. Some people won’t show up to the runoff if their person is not in there.
PG:
“What about an EC at Sioux Empire Fair grounds? Lots of land and 2 exits off I-29. EC & Fair joint operations. Lease open parking and indoors to car dealers when there’s nothing booked.”
This site was one of the original 5 of the first task force, it never made the cut to the top two of downtown or Howard Wood.
The first problem is the land isn’t owned by the City or County, it’s basically a gift from the Lyon family that stipulates the land must be used for the Fair or the land will be taken back. You’d have to get around a pretty old & non-ambiguous agreement and get the Lyon family’s blessing first, than the County would have to be on board as they are the ones who operate the Fair. Another problem is the Sweetman’s already have their eye on that parcel for their quarry expansion, you can bet they would step in and make an offer that the City would have to top and you might very well be talking tens of millions of $$ just to acquire the site.
Beyond that, have you ever been to the Fair? Specifically in the evening on Friday or Sat. night? Even when they have Cowboy Troy or REO Speedwagon playing it takes 20 minutes to get to your car and get out of there, despite whether you are trying the North or South exits. The traffic flow is bottlenecked by the Interstate and also the River. Just because you have two exits doesn’t mean that there’s a lot of options in and out.
That’s a myth.
Lastly, look at the neighborhood around the Fair (including Sweetman’s holdings) and you see very little chance of any meaningful collateral development, which is critical to the long term success of an Events Center.
Other than those items it’s a great idea.
Just mentioning the names Cowboy Troy or REO Speedwagon reminds me of how dismal this town’s entertainment choices are.
Sad but true Scott, and pretty soon even those acts will choose to play the new Casino in Larchwood as opposed to our crappy tin shed Arena.
At least by then we’ll have something new to study when we form the next Task Force.
Unfortunately, no matter what’s built the vanilla tastes of this area will still be a home for the likes of novelty one-hit wonders and faceless arena rock.
Actually that seems to be the trend in musical acts lately. The 80s and 90s it was all about the bigger and bigger venues. Stadiums that could seat tens of thousands or outdoor venues that could seat hundreds of thousands of attendees were all the rage.
However in the mid to late 90s we started to see a shift. Ticket prices continued skyward and people started wanting to see musicians in smaller venues. Bands that used to put on sold out shows back to back in the same city over multiple days are now lucky to sell out one concert in a large venue.
Now days there are very few acts which can sell out large venues, and those that do aren’t the type who will come to Sioux Falls even if we can manage to pack 15,000 people in one building.
The more recent trend (even before the downturn in the economy) has been for more intimant venues – heck in recent years we have had bigger names at the Pavilion than we have had at the Arena, because big names don’t want to look out and see empty seats…. they would much rather sell out a 3,000 seat building than sell 5,000 tickets in a facility designed to hold 9,000. The setup costs for a smaller venue are les and the crowd gets a better chance to see the performance up close and personal.
This isn’t to say the trend won’t reverse, but I would be shocked to see the quality of acts we get suddenly change just because we have a larger, newer facility when we can’t even manage to sell out the existing facility we have. We know ticket prices won’t be any lower in a newer building and we know costs won’t be any lower – so I doubt it would result in significantly more tickets sold.
Besides – we can never operate a new EC based upon concerts alone. The bread and butter needs to be sporting events, so that means attracting larger tournaments, and convincing the Storm, Stampede, and Skyforce to all use the facility as often as possible.
I’ve been saying the exact same thing for years.