The longer our Mayor is in office the more confused I am about his legacy. You can have a legacy of what you leave behind and a legacy of what you stole from the future. If I spend my kid’s college savings account then my legacy is what I took away from their future. Many observers thought that Huether’s legacy was going to be the events center but the longer he’s in office the more I think his legacy will be what he took from our future versus what he left behind.
The only pain that is real is the pain you feel. By paying for the events center with current taxes it appeared to many that Huether minimized the pain our city will feel in the future. He didn’t add a financial burden, but what did he take away? Here’s another way of looking at the Events Center. What could our city do with $115,000,000 over the next 20 years? What won’t we get because we have that debt to pay? We’ll never know.
We’re well on our way to losing $40,000,000 in federal money to move a switching yard. We’re losing money in two areas by not using this money. A new switching yard would draw businesses that want better access to trains as a way to move their product. Businesses would build near the new location and that economic impact would be even greater than the opening up of real estate downtown. By focusing his energy on growing our debt (the events center) he also missed the opportunity and the income from moving the switchyards. It’s a double-whammy.
So what will his legacy be? No one knows but when you focus on one thing instead of the whole, other parts suffer. I hope I’m wrong. I hope the events center isn’t a flop and I hope we don’t lose $40,000,000 in federal money. As it stands it looks like both of those things are going to happen. He’s fond of saying, “Make it a great day Sioux Falls.” Maybe he should focus less on making it a great day and more on making a great future. That’s what I’m worried about. Quite a legacy.
Well said, Andy!
Nice post. I still can’t believe “we” voted to spend $100M+ on an entertainment venue. Not infrastructure, not safety, not public health, not education – entertainment. In this economy? Really?
So determined was HisManMike(TM) to NOT have this piece of land ‘made available’ during critical stages of his push to BUILD IT NOW, that …
… this land will not be made available.
“Good job, Sioux Falls ! Good job !”
What do you think of this;
http://jenholsen.blogspot.com/2012/05/letter-from-bnsf-to-mayor-of-sioux.html