Monday, August 1, 2011
8:00pm – 12:00am
Lucky’s Bar
224 S Phillips Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD
335-1313
21+ / Free / 8pm
Come support your favorite local artist. Featuring art from over 30 local artists and music from Infaux.
Pretty amazing considering most residents have not experienced them in use;
More Sioux Falls residents are in favor of the city equipping its snowplows with snowgates than against it, but a high percentage also are undecided on the issue, according to a new poll.
By a margin of 39 percent to 33 percent, with 28 percent undecided, participants in an Argus Leader/KELO-TV poll this month said the city should use snowgates that prevent plows from heaping snow berms across driveways.
The 28 percent does not surprise me, like I said, most people have not seen them in use. But what I think is amazing is that 39 percent want them. I think the jury is out, and it is pretty clear. One more year of (FAIR) testing (USING PROPER EQUIPMENT AND NOT AN INFERIOR PRODUCT) and we are good to go. If the city council and mayor don’t implement this city wide by next year at this time, expect to see a ballot question on the November 2012 election about snowgates. We are getting them one way or another kids. We won’t let no stinking politicians or crabby newspaper publishers get in our way. Will we?
This is a guest post by Cathy Brechtelsbauer from the local chapter of Bread for the World
July 30, 2011. There’s another article in the Argus today on a proposed ballot initiative to raise the sales tax and we still can’t tell if it includes the sales tax on food. The initiative’s wording is not yet announced, but it is a cause for worry that two or three articles on the topic have not mentioned exempting food from the increase.
Planners of the initiative represent education and healthcare organizations. They hope to raise $175 million for education and Medicaid. Funds are needed because of cuts from the last legislative session and governor.
A 1% sales tax increase may seem like simplest idea for an initiative, but South Dakota’s sales tax applies to food! In 2010 each per cent on food (home food, not prepared food) raised an estimated $14 million.
Background info: The “streamlining” sales tax rules allow for tax rates on food and utilities to be different from the general sales tax rate, even zero percent. Lately some states have taken advantage of this and have been stepping down their food tax, like Arkansas. None of our neighbor states tax food. North Dakota has been phasing out the tax on home heating bills.
At least food be exempted in this initiative. By exempting food the tax increase would inflict somewhat less hurt on those the initiative is trying to help. There’s something strange about raising sales tax to help nursing homes: South Dakota nursing homes (unlike hospitals) pay sales tax on all of their food and supplies. A sales tax increase would cost them dearly and also unduly hit their workers, who are not exactly rolling in dough. An exemption for food would reduce the initiative’s negative impact. Similarly for the South Dakota teachers with incomes low enough that they too struggle to cover the basics for their families.
The biggest concern might be the impact on nutrition: child nutrition, senior nutrition, diet-related diseases. The food tax in South Dakota is already equivalent to three weeks worth of food in a year. Teachers too often see the effects of child hunger on learning. Child hunger is probably worse in summers without school meals. Relatively few kids make it to the summer lunch sites. Healthcare workers see how hard it is for people to eat healthy.
You can add to those issues the impact of the food tax on already strained local food charities; regressive taxation; wealth disparity; potential shrinking of the safety net looming from federal budget cutters and cappers. And with an almost useless state food tax refund program, you can see why some of us will be unwilling to support a ballot initiative that raises the food tax, even though we care deeply about education and healthcare.
Better ideas for a sales tax initiative: Even if the initiative would forego the food’s portion of the tax ($14 million in 2010), it could still raise a big sum. Better yet would be a reduction in the food tax, however slight. Either of these approaches would signal a recognition of the struggles of nursing homes and ordinary families trying to put food on the table so their kids’ tummies aren’t growling when the teacher is trying to teach.
Cathy Brechtelsbauer, Bread for the World, Sioux Falls
The most important office of government is citizen. -Justice Louis Brandeis
The PUC better move quick and allow that rate increase;
DENVER, CO – Colorado provided 42 percent of Xcel Energy profits during the second quarter of 2011.
According to an earnings report posted Thursday, the rest came from seven other states where Xcel Energy operates. The other states include Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
The company reported a 14 percent earnings increase to $159 million in the second quarter of 2011, compared with the same quarter last year.
While those of you who defended their rate increase in SD are eating crow – This post is to remind you once again as to why they DON’T need one. While Xcel, their execs and shareholders enjoyed a 14% increase over last year the rest of us have watched no increase in our paychecks. I like how Xcel was quick to point out they made 42% of that money in Colorado.
Newly appointed chief executive Ben Frowke also predicted that Boulder’s plan to replace Xcel with a municipal utility will fail on the fall ballot. Boulder is considering replacing Xcel with a city-owned utility to boost renewable energy and stabilize rates.
Oh, I am sure Mr. Frowke thinks (hopes) the ballot initiative will fail, he is banking on it. And I am sure Xcel will throw millions at an opposition campaign.
“It will get ugly if we decide to go ahead,” said Matt Appelbaum, a Boulder city councilor. “Xcel will fight, and they have deep pockets.”
The elevator at City Hall is being replaced. It will be out of service for approximately ten weeks. We are searching for volunteers willing to donate their time to attend to the City Hall visitors that can’t negotiate the stairs. The hours involved would be 8-5, M-F. They can volunteer for however many hours they’d like, as many days as they’d like. The work would involve directing people to the different offices and if they can’t use the stairs, contacting that specific office to have someone come down to help the visitor.
Please contact Colleen Moran, Human Relations Manager/City ADA Coordinator at 367-8745 if you are interested or know of anyone we should contact who’d be interested.
SF Human Relations Commission
l3wis