CVB Council Candidate Forum: Cory B. is ‘Pissed Off’ at the city
l3wis 
I’ll get to the forum in moment, but I first want to share a few tidbits before the event started.
During Monday night’s council meeting (Item 35, FF 1:13), councilor Anderson chastised Erpenbach for not notifying the rest of the council about putting the Tuesday meeting move back on the agenda. In no way did I think Anderson was out of order, and if anything, I thought Erpenbach was on her ‘high horse’ about the topic. I guess after the meeting, Sue and Michelle jumped Anderson and told him he was being ‘mean’ to Michelle during the meeting. Here’s the deal, Michelle, 2nd in leadership on the SF city council is much like 2nd chair in middle-school band. You have no authority to do whatever you want to without consulting the rest of the council.
And now to the River Ramp demolition. There was a press conference (imagine that) to announce the demolition yesterday. Kermit was in attendance. Huether of course had to give a speech about the great progress of DT development, well, right at the end of his speech, he looks at Kermit and says ” . . . and Mr. Staggers we did nothing illegal.”
Huh?
(The next paragraph was edited 3/24)
I figured it had to do with the termination of Debra Owen, but Kermit was puzzled why Mike addressed him about it. Who knows what he was talking about. I guess from now on we must assume everything Mike does is possibly illegal?
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CVB FORUM
Karsky makes his normal one line statements that mean nothing, “I LOVE SIOUX FALLS!” “Bob Litz is a great guy.” “I have a good handle on what’s going on.”
Anderson gave high marks to the SFFD and PD. Kenny also talked about recently visiting his uncle in Detroit, and what a sad city it has become.
Lyndsay DeMatteo calls herself a Christian who is ‘VERY’ Conservative. She supported the new EC, is against regulating businesses (in reference to the garbage haulers) and is against moving the RR switching yard.
Cory B. told us he was separated from his wife (but not divorced) is a disabled Marine vet (who fell off a building). He thinks SF city government is becoming intrusive and in his final statement he told the audience he was ‘Pissed Off’ at the city, but wants to promote it anyway. Huh?
Knudson got out her pom-pons and told us she wants to be the ‘Cheerleader of Sioux Falls’. She said the Events Center should have been built 11 years ago, and supports any quality of life project that comes up. She said she wants to keep Sioux Falls ‘GROWING’ (and apparently in debt for eternity).
Staggers started by touting his political experience as a teacher and politician and referenced the recent firing of Debra Owen (in which Karsky snickered and shook his head) and how she got caught up in the ‘political games’ and he would be there to help sort these matters out. Kermit also said he wants to see that the EC gets built within budget, and he would watch the transfer of funds from other departments closely. He also wants the EC to be profitable and NOT subsidized by the taxpayers. In his final statement, Kermit said something he has said a 1,000 times before, but I noticed he was the only candidate to even mention it (besides Vanderlinden) “Citizens and the people are the most important aspect of a city.” (not quality of life projects and entertainment).
Kyle Vanderlinden told the audience he was only 26 (youngest candidate running) but that more young people should get involved in local government. He also talked about putting citizen needs above special interests. He said that the city has cut infrastructure projects by 23% over the past years and transferred that money into economic development instead. He said he wants to reverse that. He also brought up the Owen firing and how people need to trust government again.
(Graphic, courtesy of Vanderlinden)
Ysbrand and Jamison were also in attendance.
