South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

October 2012

SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE#2: Why was this SF public informational meeting edited with voice overs?

l3wis 11Comments

I was told by a city official today that attended the meeting that it WAS NOT EDITED, Teri did lower her voice because ‘she probably’ should not have mentioned the events that have NOT been booked yet.

I will accept the argument, for now.

———————————————————

I had an audio guru 🙂 give me a graphic of the obvious voice over levels-


He said this, “The overdubs are at :41 and :51, and that’s the section I took a screen shot at. The second one isn’t as noticeable in the screenshot, but the first one is OBVIOUS.”

Here is the MP3: TeriSchmidt

Teri Ellis Schmidt, Executive Director for CVB (SF City Council informational meeting 10/2/12)

I caught this a few weeks back, but decided to re-watch, and re-visit the meeting. Teri’s testimony was edited with a voice over after the meeting was recorded. Not sure why, but I’m sure it was to correct something she may have mis-spoke about (FF: 23:00, there are 2 voice overs between 23-24 minutes).

It has something to do with ‘prospects’.

While I appreciate the CVB and the city wanting to get the correct information out there, it is a little troubling that 1) We don’t know what she said wrong (unless you attended the actual meeting) and 2) public meetings are essentially being censored.

A more appropriate approach would be to stop the video after the wrongful statement was made and on a blank screen present audio of the correction.

Regular readers of this website know I am anti-censorship. I hope in the future the city edits these videos in a more appropriate manner. If not, maybe a call to my old friends will ensue.

economy Secretary of State South Dakotans

SD State Treasurer Sattgast must have asked SOS Gant to design a website

l3wis 4Comments

Guest Poster contributed;

It appears the state Treasurer’s office has joined the effort to make on-line access even dumber.  The lack of ergonomic design in website development shows those of us who have to use their sites, how little they themselves actually use them. Let’s explain, the state of South Dakota, in an effort to collect funds from unsuspecting individuals and businesses decided to make it harder for the owners of lost funds to actually reclaim them.  The excellent State Treasurer at the time actually fought all the way to the Supreme Court to protect the average citizens against the greedy hands of bankers and the Governor’s office.

As a result, the state, bankers and other keepers of our assets have collected millions of dollars through hard to use processes.  Recently I had to use the SD State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property website to assist in reclaiming a savings account.

What we found was amazing.

No wonder so little is returned to the rightful owners.  The state actually used to actively assist and find the owners – but no more.  They now have this cute website where it only allows you to only search by exact spelling.  Do you know what is wrong about this?  This takes data from many databases where the names are misspelled.  In our Scandinavian land of *sen and *son plus the Irish apostrophe names leaves us with no way to accurately find lost assets Why can’t we search by address? Why can’t we search by city? Zip code County?  Phonic spelling?

How about searching by the bank or business name where deposit was made? If there was an ability to search by business where property was found, we citizens and customers could actually discover how bad their databases are.  So why isn’t there an ability to search by business?

Treasurer Sattgast must have asked SOS Gant how to design an ALEC based website.  This is an insider’s website for insiders.  The design of this site is not for the average user to use.  Try it for yourself and see how bad it is.

religion South Dakotans

What is Foursquare’s effect on the SD political scene?

l3wis 15Comments

My inquiry involves the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and their type of religious activity’s effects on the political scene today.

The ownership of churches and property in SD are the following:

From the www.foursquare.org locator website:

1. Mitchell Foursquare Church • Family Christian Center

2. Rapid City Foursquare Church • Destiny

3. Watertown Foursquare Church • Family Worship Center

4. Watertown Foursquare • Little Blessings Daycare and Preschool

From other

1. Sioux Falls – Mount of Olives Ministries  preaches foursquare

2. Beresford – Living Word Fellowship

I want to know the differences and connections between these churches. If anyone has any insight I would appreciate it. I am working on a post about the influence of organized religion on politics in South Dakota.

Go to work foot soldiers!

Sioux Falls snow removal Snowgates

Snowgates: A campaign of mis-information?

l3wis 4Comments

Once snowgates get on the ballot I plan to post as much as possible about the benefits of these devices, and put out facts about how cities across the nation have used these devices successfully for decades with minor complications.

I’m not naive, I have no doubt in my mind that certain city directors, snow removal contractors and snowplow operators will be busy blocking the facts about snowgates with a big berm of ice junks of their own. What has surprised me is that the campaign might have already begun.

I heard a rumor today that some directors at city hall have already been holding pow-wows about snowgates with city employees at the public works garage. The rumor is that they are having ‘small sessions’ with city employees about their ineffectiveness.

I hope this isn’t true, but if it is, it is unfortunate and unfair to voters who may be undecided about snowgates.

I suggest city employees do their own research on how well these devices work and the many benefits they provide including the economic impact it will have in their paychecks.

*If any city employee that support snowgates would like to share more information about these supposed meetings with me, even anonymously, drop me a line; fb.art@sio.midco.net

Event Center Sioux Falls

So when is the parking ramp scheme going to rear it’s ugly head?

l3wis 13Comments

We are already seeing it, parking problems at the arena site. The city was warned about this even before the new Event Center location was chosen. What can we expect when the Event Center opens it’s doors? Shuttle buses?

To eliminate congestion there will be a free shuttle service running from the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds to the arena complex.

Some may ask why a parking ramp was not included in the new EC plan? In fact I asked the question at a council meeting. Crickets. One can assume it would have added too much to the price-tag of the the EC, which would have made it more difficult to sell the idea.

Let’s face it, a parking ramp makes sense, and you could charge patrons to use it. Would you be willing to pay a few bucks so you could walk a couple of 100 feet from your car into a warm elevator into the EC? Of course you would.

It’s about perception. Huether promised us the EC wouldn’t cost more then 100 million, adding a parking ramp could add up to $20 million to the project.

My assumption was that the mayor and his staff decided to kick the can down the road. Rumor has it that there was even a joke about it circulating around city hall with his inner staff.

How would we pay for this ramp? Bonding of course was the inevitable punchline.

Prepare yourself, because if you think we can build this facility for $115 million, you took the bait, hook, line and sinker. A parking ramp will be built in a few years, and we will have another ‘unexpected’ expense for the EC.

*I also heard from an insider that the city has been shifting around capital/enterprise funds for sewer, water, infrastructure etc. to help pay for construction of the EC that is not included in the bond loan. Of course, this is something I feared would happen when they were raising water and sewer rates (enterprise funds). The claim is that the money is only being used to link up to the EC . . . yeah . . . right. Would love to hear more detail on this rumor from the most transparent city hall we have ever had 🙂

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