Well the CRC didn’t waste anytime to propose ridiculous things now that they don’t have to discuss the charter in front of a studio audience;
How easy it is to get an initiated measure or referendum on the ballot.
City Attorney David Pfeifle said that Thursday during a Charter Revision Commission working session discussion on how frequently people are getting signatures on petitions to take measures to public vote.
Board member Dick Gregerson is concerned about how often Sioux Falls citizens are doing it.
“In Florida it takes 28 minutes on the ballot to go through things, and we’re getting to that point,†he said. “There’s too many issues on the ballot.â€
“South Dakota is one of the most liberal states in the whole nation,†when it comes to that, Pfeifle said.
I have often said if the city council or the state legislature would do the work we elected to do (providing public services in a prudent manner) we wouldn’t need these petition drives. Trust me, they aren’t no picnic, sit down with Ms. Stehly sometime and she will fill you in on the hundreds of hours it takes just to get something on the ballot. Rick Knobe also continues to blab about the petitions and mislead the public;
Let’s take a time out. Do we really want a costly public vote ordering the city to buy snowgates for every blade?
Costly to who? I know it is costing the petitioners time and money, but there will be barely any additional cost to voters. If both petition drives are successful, they will be on the Spring ballot with the school board election. No extra elections, No extra ballots.
Both of these petition drives, if sucessful at the polls, will drive up the cost of city services(i.e. raise taxes) with no cares about how much.
No they won’t. There will be an initial cost from the capital fund to buy snowgates, but the operation of the gates will come out of the operational penny. THAT TAX CANNOT BE RISEN! It will come down to budgeting, not higher taxes. As for the outdoor pool at Spellerberg, we actually will be saving money by building an outdoor pool there. Millions of dollars, I might add.
What are we thinking? Or are we not thinking, but feeling powerless, and we want to have some control so let’s take it out on our own city government?
You are right, we are powerless to the city government. Raising the second penny tax just a few years ago comes to mind. While citizens like myself warned of an economic downturn and that the developers will never put in their fair share (both of which happened as I predicted) the citizens who pay the tax were ignored and the cry baby developers got their way. So YES Rick, we want to control some of the things that go on in the city.
. . . both of these initiative efforts are at least premature and at worst, selfish and self serving.
Selfish? Self-serving? You mean getting a public service for the taxes we pay is SELFISH. Shut your pie hole and go back to talking about buffalos or whatever.