Some may say I don’t have any fashion sense, I say to them, ‘Poppycock’ (H/T – AH)
l3wis 
June 2011
Michele Bachmann – President of the John Wayne ‘Gacy’ fan club? (H/T – AG)
The movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, IA. 150 miles from Waterloo. The serial killer, John Wayne Gacy lived in Waterloo at one time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soj2JsVETSs&feature=share[/youtube]
Snow gate test used inferior product
You can watch the presentation here. You can view the PDF document:Â snow-gates (sorry if it is low resolution, they are not making it available on the city website yet, not sure why, so I created this from screenshots). UPDATE: 7/5/11: CLEAR DOCUMENT. Where’s the transparency Mike?
I will share some highlights of the test, and will say that Galynn Huber and Mayor Huether spoke very positive for the most part about them, so did several city councilors, that was refreshing.
Quick notes:
• Using snow gates vs. traditional plowing will cost an extra 33%. Which is ironic when you think about all the double-digit water increases, this is actually a pretty good value 
• It will cost the city a half-million every 5 years to install
• It narrows the streets more (normal narrowing is 2.5 feet compared to 7 feet with snow gates)
• They tested IRONEX’s product vs. HENKE. Both the best in the biz, except, HENKE are better because they lift upright instead of winging out. Upright is more effective because they don’t take out mailboxes, etc. HENKE are more expensive though. They are recommending we use HENKE next year, and may test them. This detail is a bit fishy, for a couple of reasons. As I understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong) city ordinance requires them to use low bid, Ironex was low bid, BUT, the mayor can override this. I think Munson did it on several occasions. So why didn’t Huether override the Ironex decision . . .
• We had an above average snowfall this year, coupled with using an inferior product, they admitted that the 33% number could go down quite a bit with less snow and better product.
I was glad to see Huber admit that he was surprised by how well they worked. Let’s hope they are here to stay.
A very ‘questionable’ capital plan
The mayor’s capital plan is finally available online (see the full document here).
Here are some parts I cherry picked;
Notice he has set aside almost $8 million for projects voters have REJECTED – TWICE! Looks like he is going to let the council approve these projects and sidestep the voters. Very unwise to thumb the voters. He has also tried to mislead the voters on the Events Center funding;
We all know there isn’t a snowball chance in Hell that the EC is only going to cost $110 million. He also misleads the public with this statement;
I brought this up last week during the City Council meeting, utility and recreation rates being increased is NEW and HIGHER taxes. They are shifting infrastructure costs over to rates and out of the 2nd penny in order to fund the EC. THAT IS A TAX INCREASE. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Important City of Sioux Falls Informational Meeting
The city will be having two big presentations tomorrow at the informational meeting (4 PM, Carnegie Hall);
Notice there is no advance PDF document links to the presentations. Mayor Transparency must have forgotten to post them . . .