Theresa contacted Don Kearney, the Parks & Rec Director. She asked him for the following (printout below) so she had an idea where P & R is on operating costs to compare to using snow gates.
(The numbers are $Dollar amounts that reflect ANNUAL costs. Bike Trail Development means ‘NEW TRAILS’. The Greenway fountain refers to the water feature in front of the Hilton Hotel that taxpayers will be purchasing and operating at their expense for a privately owned and developed hotel – $430,000 – That’s quite a sprinkler system!)
Taken from Don Kearney’s letter:
2. Phase 2 Greenway Fountain – 430,000
The City Council was told in a work session that the FOUNTAIN portion of Phase II of the River Greenway project would cost $342,000. Now, Lloyd and Hegg’s spray park is suddenly going to cost the taxpayers an additional $88,000!!!
The Council really should keep closer tabs on Jon Jacobson of Confluence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How is it they have money for a fountain but not for street repair (the streets are terrible and have been for years) and I recall big sewer problems a year ago. No money for anything but they have $20 million for a swimming pool and fountains, not a problem.
I agree with Helga.
City streets are a mess. Watched the daily Huether show on ksfy tell us about the 200 miles of city streets that were “worked” on this year. What does that mean? I trailed a truck laying down striping paint from the youth football fields to Russell. Is laying down striping included in this magical 200 miles of city street repair? I tend to think so.
Stop and think about that. 200 FRICKIN’ MILES??? Just more from HBN. (Huether Broadcasting Network)
BS from
Just did some digging on that mythical 200 miles of city street repair done by the city this year. What a load of CRAP.
There are approximately 770 miles of streets maintained by the City. Approximately 660 of those miles are paved with asphalt, approximately 100 of those miles paved with concrete, and 10 miles of unpaved streets.
So…you gonna believe about a third of ALL of our city streets were repaired this summer???
What pisses me off is our local “media” takes this line of BS and regurgitates it to the public.
Thank you, poly. It is so true that our media won’t ask your man mike any tough questions. And how about telling us why 14th street and north cliff have been at a standstill for almost a month?
Not so fast…my bad. That work was over the last 3 years. Still…I gotta believe the vast majority of those 200 miles was superficial stuff…like putting lipstick on a pig. Three more years down the road will tell the real story. Case in point. The same stretch of road between I29 and Marion Road on 41st Street was ripped up last summer, only to be ripped up again this summer. Patching here and there is not the answer. Our climate changes will eat this stuff up.
I’m guessing when they say 200 miles of streets were worked on they mean just that… worked on. Not replaced necessariliy, but just worked on.
This will include crack repairs, chip sealing, top coating, patch repairs, grinding and resurfacing, entirely new road surfaces, and they might even toss in some pothole fixes.
Sure the number seems inflated – because it is, but I think we can all agree that Huether has at least paid more attention to street repairs than did his predecessor. Since Munson couldn’t figure out how to install a plaque on the streets he just ignored them and moved on to things like Phillips to the Falls, new parks, swimming pools, and the like.
That being said, our streets do need more attention, and I’d rather see us invest in some much needed infrastructure instead of water fountains and indoor swimming pools.
For anyone who rides a motorcycle you will quickly realize how dangerous the roads in this city actually are. When you have Sioux Falls motorcycle officers actually complaining about the streets and claiming they have almost crashed as a result of street damage several times in one season it tells you something is wrong. Heck you would think Big Jim would be pushing for more street cash, because if things continue to deteriorate it might start impacting new Harley sales. 🙂
The streets may hurt Diamond Jim’s sales, but they probably help his service department.
You sir are a genius! I never even thought about that angle… and when bikes inevitably tip and fall over after they slam into a particularly nasty pothole… the body shops and service centers probably make a killing.
Heck – bad roads might just stimulate the economy. Graham Tire loves them. Billion Auto loves them. Mryl & Roy loves them, and sadly Sanford Health loves them.
Same could be said about snowgates. Think of all the lost revenue from shops that fix snowblowers, places that sell shovels, ice picks, axes, chainsaws even explosives. And how about all those broken backs, what about the chiropractors, massage therapists and even heart doctors. Maybe snowgates will hurt our economy after all 🙂
My ALL-TIME favorite Mayor Munson pothole story/photo op!
http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/index.cfm?VideoFile=031610pothole
One way to solve this nonsense is to ban these officials who are creating these unexcused charges to tax payers from your places of business, restaurants, shops, gyms, etc..
“I’m sorry sir but you are not welcome here”
AK – I would agree. I remember a few years back, the AL did a review of a restaurant I worked at. I would agree, they probably got bad service (I was not the server) but they skewered us, bad. The owner told me that no AL employee was allowed in the joint after that. And I stuck to it. I kicked out several AL employees, even a couple of them were my friends. I said ‘Policy’. The most amazing thing about our society is letting customers determine what they are going to do. Bullshit. It is a two-way street, I will provide you a service, but you cannot be an asspipe about it. I had that happen tonight to me. The great part is that this person owns another restaurant in town with their parents by my house. Can’t wait to show up and tell her how crappy everything is, then I will run off to the bathroom, and cry, and refuse to pay the bill.
I guy I work with had a friend laid off from a body shop this spring. The reason was due to the lack of snow, there weren’t enough fender benders to keep him busy!
Thin about how it helps Diamond Jim’s other job and the hospital. Everytime someone hits a road rut and gets hurt his hospital system now has another customer.
Looks exactly like my signature. It’s not. I can’t lie as well and I’m not nearly as imaginative. By the way, it seems most signing the petition will be voting against Huether once it’s explained that he can mandate snowgates as Home Rule mayor. He says he supports them but it’s a big lie.
I was talking to a ‘political consultant’ last night about the petition drive, he of course is against it (several elected officials have refused to sign the petition, including a county commissioner and a state legislator, who made quite a stink about it). This PC said to me sarcastically that he was going to start a petition to have the city scoop his sidewalk. I said, “That’s a fantastic idea! They own it anyway, why shouldn’t they scoop it? I will help you with the drive, better yet, why don’t you contact Stehly and tie your idea in with the snowgates.”
We both laughed.