South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2014

Event Center Sioux Falls

What if the Events Center vote was rigged? Would it matter?

l3wis 0Comments

We were discussing this at dinner the other night and it lead to an interesting convo. Trust me, I don’t think it was, even though the conspiracy theories are certainly there. I think the key to what won was the get out the vote effort, and getting a lot of un-experienced young family first time registered voters to the polls. They tend to vote with their hearts and not with their wallets (or brains).

I also think it would have been difficult to rig the vote because I just don’t think the people in charge of the election were smart enough to pull it off, and the ones that were smart enough wouldn’t be able to train the monkeys in the room.

I guess we will never know.

But where our discussion got interesting was when we asked the question, “If it was rigged would it matter today?”

Probably not.

It was an advisory vote and essentially the city council approved the building and the bonds. All the public really did was ‘give an opinion’. It’s kind of like the proposed Walmart on the Southside and the zoning issue approved by the voters. Just because the voters approved the zoning there are still many legal angles preventing WM from building.

In other words, even if it was discovered today that the EC vote was rigged, there really isn’t much we can do about it now. We are proud owners of another white elephant in Sioux Falls.

SF City Council Sioux Falls

SF City Council Public Input 7/10/14, Poverty Lesson

l3wis 8Comments

Sioux Falls City Council received an ear full during Public Input about our wonderful city economics.

Learn about the excellent employment opportunities available to those excluded from the ivory towers of the Best Little City in America.

Listen to the wonderful childcare programs Sioux Falls has to offer the least amongst us.

This should be required viewing by all. Do something positive about it, don’t just make fancy speeches at press conferences. Get real jobs in South Dakota for the real people.

Positions like Mayor of Sioux Falls, Governor of South Dakota, and more have the ability to change the economic landscape for the people struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder.

We don’t need more fast food jobs, drug mule jobs, prostitution or clerking in a Walmart to grow the South Dakota economy. We need stepping stone jobs to train the young to become productive in holding the ladders the wealthy stand on.

Our society cannot continue to strip the dreams of a parent to pass on a better life for the kids. We don’t need more playgrounds for the wealthy, subsidized for the wealthy and allowed access to the privileged.

When will our self-serving City administration, State government leaders and Federal officeholders realize they are setting America for a big fail by ignoring the economically struggling people of the hidden Sioux  Falls economy.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEWG6J7WybM[/youtube]

Dean Karsky Developers Development Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

SF City Council Informational Meeting 10/7/12

l3wis 1Comments

So now Dean just proposes ordinances without talking to the rest of the council, just the homebuilders association?

While this is a great debate to have, I think the issue isn’t the building permits,

1) There was a bad hailstorm

2) Building services has one speed (very slow) and can’t keep up

3) Dean is trying to look important (again)

At the end of the day, this will probably fail, building services and contractors will catch up, and the head of the department can go back to having a beer at Monk’s at 5:05 each weekday.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJGBR1O4lSg[/youtube]

Minnehaha County Sioux Falls

Why doesn’t the city just cut Minnehaha County a check?

l3wis 7Comments

This has been in my craw for awhile, as you may know.

The county wants more money from the state in alcohol taxes.

The mayor wants the county to have the power to raise sales taxes.

While I do agree with the county getting more alcohol taxes, I don’t agree with the sales tax increase.

My solution all along has been, “Why not just cut a check to the county from the city?”

Local historian and all around clock repairman spoke at the council’s public testimony, former county commissioner Bob Kolbe talked about county expenditures (and ribbed county commissioner Dick Kelly, which was well deserved), he also talked about sharing revenues.

So I cornered Bob after the meeting. I asked him, “What is preventing the city from cutting the county a check each year, for let’s say 20-30 million dollars a year, for law enforcement and prosecutions? Is it against state law for the city to give the county money?” He felt it was not.

The irony of this is while the city spends a shit ton of money on attorneys employed by them to go after people criminally with fencing in their yards, the State’s attorney is begging for money to help prosecute REAL criminals, you know, rapists, murderers, thieves.

If this mayor and city council had any backbone, conscience, or even an inkling of community spirit, they would budget a supplement to the county budget each year for crime and prevention.

But hey, we got ‘toys’ to build, and putting a rapist away isn’t as fun as playing indoor tennis on a January afternoon.

 

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