This may be one of the best school board candidate intros ever
l3wis Bozos? You are too kind my friend.
2011
Has Mr. Toll made a financial difference at the Pavilion? Seems so.
I will commend Mr. Toll with what seems to be a financial turnaround at the Pavilion. He has proven something I have known a long time about this city, the private money is out there, you just have to dig in the right places;
By tapping friends and acquaintances in the region, he and his supporters began a grassroots fund drive, which quickly amassed more than $720,000 in cash and in-kind contributions.
Maybe the mayor should tap Mr. Toll to raise private money for the Events Center?
Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether likes Toll’s style.
“I have had the opportunity to work with Larry on other projects and with nonprofits in the past, so when I heard he was leading the Pavilion, I shouted out a hearty ‘Hallelujah,’ ” Huether said.
“Larry is bringing even more business acumen to the Pavilion, and we are already reaping the rewards because of it,” Huether said.
But is business acumen enough to run an arts and entertainment facility? Who knows, but it pays pretty good;
Toll’s salary is $99,000 annually as head of the many divisions there:
Actually, this kind of surprised me. As I understood it, I thought Toll was volunteering his time, or at least it sounded like that in the local media. Not that I don’t think he should get paid for what he does, I was just a little taken back that he was getting paid at all.
While past leaders had arts backgrounds, Toll does not. That’s OK, says Dan Rykhus, vice chairman of the Pavilion’s board of trustees. Choosing shows and tending to the artistic details is the job of the staff, said Rykhus, president and CEO of Raven Industries.
Toll says he relied on his staff to schedule the performing arts seasons. The lineup includes offerings from Broadway, comedy, music, dance, family productions and theater for young people. His visual arts staff arranges for shows in the galleries, too.
This is also another reason why I was surprised he is receiving a salary. If he is just simply and advocate and fundraiser for the facility, why not just pay him a commission? Which I get to point out;
Perhaps someone with more of an arts background should lead the Pavilion, says artist Scott L. Ehrisman, who says he’s a Pavilion supporter but who sometimes voices criticism of the management and funding.
“Mr. Toll is a former executive from the corporate world, much like our mayor, and I find Mike struggling with the bureaucratic world,” Ehrisman said. Department heads are running the Pavilion, with Toll as more of a figurehead, he said.
“I still think the Pavilion needs a director with actual entertainment experience, much like the late Russ DeCurtin the Arena had,” Ehrisman said.
“I think the Pavilion needs to get more diverse in their entertainment choices,” he said. “They will have to compete very soon with the Grand Falls Casino, and now is the time to act, not to just talk about it.”
I think the best thing the Pavilion could do is bring in a strong entertainment director and change Toll’s title to chief fundraiser. Like I said above, I think it is fantastic he is squeezing money out of some of the moldy old wallets of the pathetically rich in Sioux Falls. Now it’s time the Pavilion focus on their original vision and a motto that got me to vote for the facility and support it in the past,
“Something for Everyone.”
We are still waiting over a decade later.
The All Knowing, All Knowledgable, Argue Endorser ED Board. Except when it comes to calendars, dates and agendas
I left a voice mail (below) with a friend tonight after reading the AL ED Board’s editorial today about increasing sewer and water rates;
“It seems they want to give all kinds of freaking advice to voting citizens in Sioux Falls about local government and how our council should vote, and how we should vote, because they are all knowing in these matters, yet, they can’t seem to figure out how to read a simple agenda calendar to know when our council votes on these matters.”
The city council is voting on raising water rates again on APRIL 18, but this is what the ED board said;
On Monday (April 11), the council will vote on the request for the mid-year increase.
Here’s the deal, I have trouble taking advice from an ED Board that doesn’t even know when the party is supposed to start, or what it’s location is. Once these clowns figure out how to read a calendar, maybe I will take advice from them on how I should vote. But don’t count on it. Remember, one of the members of the ED board, Hawkins, kinda-sorta-kinda compared Huether to Jesus in one of her columns.
I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or eat chocolate?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5kHx1itU8c[/youtube]
Millage. Guilty by association?
“Making Mac & Cheese with the mayor, not such a good idea anymore.”
Not sure if the above picture was the one that doomed Mr. Millage on the city council, but I found this line in Mr. Ellis’ weekly editorial to be quite comical;
There was a picture circulating on the Internet capturing Millage and Huether in a “Hey pal” pose, which didn’t go over well with councilors who have their suspicions about the mayor.
I guess if you are even seen serving mac & cheese with the mayor it will taint you. Personally, if I had to choose, I would have voted for Thompson in the first round, even if he didn’t seem interested, and in the second round I would have voted for Millage. The Huether association didn’t bother me. Karsky just seemed uncomfortable with the public, while Mark is very comfortable, Hell, he agreed to come on our podcast. Like Huether being the anti-Staggers vote, I felt Karsky was the anti-Millage vote. It’s unfortunate that people have to pick the lesser of the evils, but I guess that’s the way mac & cheese is made these days.
So the GOP is going to shut down government over abortion and global warming?
The GOP wants to stop military pay over free condoms. Well, kinda.
I will admit, I haven’t really paid much attention to this until yesterday. Our MSM is so freaking awful, that I often ignore there cackling of crisis until the last minute. Disaster will ultimately be averted and either the Dems or the Repugs will come out the heros. But what shocks me is what the argument is all about;
Instead, the major obstacle was Republican insistence on including provisions that would strip Planned Parenthood funding and prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
That’s right kids, the GOP wants to shut down most of the federal government because they are upset PP gives out free condoms and the the EPA believes in global warming.
They got their way with ACORN, it’s time to put an end to the insanity. If the GOP wanted to reign in spending on the Pentagon, Medicare and Social Security (our biggest budgetary expenditures), I might understand there stance. But providing affordable healthcare to women and protecting our environment (both of which take very little of our total budget) as excuses to shut down government seem as weak arguments. Don’t agree with abortion? Get Roe vs. Wade overturned. Abortion is legal in our country. Don’t believe in global warming? Fine. Give us scientific proof it doesn’t exist. Otherwise STFU!