Last I checked, I live in a Democracy

l3wis

12 years ago

I just sent off this email to the council and mayor;

Dear Mayor and City Councilors,

Trust me, it pains me to write this email. I would rather be sending off a quick note to all of you thanking you for approving the Spring 2013 election.

I do however want to thank councilors Jamison, Staggers and Anderson Jr. for realizing Tuesday night’s decision to vote YES was an easy decision when you stand up for democratic values and take an oath to uphold the US Constitution. The rest of you failed to recognize your constitutional duties, and just how easy they are. The Spring snowgate election SHOULD have been a slam dunk.

As for those of you who ignored the wishes of over 8,000 petition signers, I have no idea where to begin.

Why don’t we start with your ginned up false arguments and scripted questions to city directors (Karsky). One of your main arguments was hiring contractors in January for the following snow season. You say if we approve snowgates in the Spring of 2013 it would be after the hiring of contractors in January. So how is the timing of a Spring election in 2014 any different?

The difference is, that I don’t expect to see snowgates on the 2014 Spring ballot. Why? I don’t think your NO vote on Tuesday was an attempt to gather more information before the 2014 election, I believe you voted NO so you would have an opportunity to either

1) squash the petition of over 8,000 signers using legal recourse OR

2) writing a snowgate ordinance yourself and implementing them to your limited specifications and uses before the 2014 election. Either way, it was a political trick, but I wouldn’t expect anything less out of the five of you. As I tell friends, Sioux Falls city government is very predictable, they always vote in favor of special interests, and you did not disappoint Tuesday night. You denied 8,000 constituents AN election they asked for then turned around and handed over a $3.8 million dollar TIF (money taken away from public education) so a PRIVATE developer could build luxury lofts.

Your other fine argument against the election was that there was no way that 60 well-informed snowgate volunteers could educate the public on snowgates in 5 months. I was flabbergasted by this statement. The public only got 3 months to decide on the Events Center, one of the largest projects voters have ever approved. Do you think an army of 60 IGNORANT MORONS could collect 8,000 signatures in 10 short weeks? Do you think they did this blindly with no knowledge of how snowgates work? Councilor Erpenbach’s statement was condescending and quite frankly insulting. I have heard councilors and mayors say a lot of things over the past 10 years to constituents in public meetings, but that statement took the cake Michelle, it was over the top and downright mean spirited. You owe us a public apology.

I will direct this last part at council chair Erpenbach and mayor Huether. You can laud transparency all you want but I’m sorry Mike, just saying something doesn’t make it so. Limiting public testimony to 20 minutes and making up the rule before the meeting started without informing your fellow councilors was blatant CENSORSHIP! There is NOTHING transparent about CENSORSHIP. While there is plenty I could say about Michelle’s role in this censorship, Mike had the power to override Michelle’s concocted rule. That is why, since Tuesday I have been doing research on Robert’s Rules, censorship, the 1st Amendment and limiting FREE speech. Stifling public testimony on such an important topic was a disservice to the 8,000 petition signers, and will not be tolerated in the future. I will be using my research and resources to make sure of this.

Your lust for greed, power, control and self interest is what forced you all to vote NO on Tuesday. I feel sorry for all of you. You have only made this city and country weaker by your decisions. A democracy is only successful when it is ran by the people and for the people.

Regretfully,

Scott L. Ehrisman

southdacola.com