Don’t Jerk & Drive
l3wis Someone is going to be late for lunch with the comrades.
June 2015
$50K for Bike Counters
Trust me, I don’t have an issue with this. Always loved the bike trail, and I believe it is way past due to track traffic. It will bring important data that shows our trail is well used (I think in the press conference he mentions 1,600 a day). What I find humorous is the modesty of the $50k investment. I’m sure my nerd friends and I could build this equipment from Radio Shack parts for a lot less. On top of that, why couldn’t some engineer from the traffic department come with this?
One word; Consultants.
Our city is obsessed with them. And it just isn’t the current administration. They are always looking for someone to blame when things go awry.
But I also see hypocrisy. When the city whines about free bus passes, they have no problem spending $50K on something a Boy Scout troop could have build on a Saturday afternoon for a Eagle Scout badge.
Mayor Hubris
Mayor Subprime Mike Huether
Mike Huether
Public Utilities
Public Works
SF City Council
Sioux Falls
But does the mayor ‘Value’ his street improvements?
More street improvements in Hizzoner’s hood.
There’s been rumors that the street he lives on has been worked on several times since he has been mayor.
It’s good to be King.
One more step forward towards equality
You don’t have to come to DaCola to read about the Federal approval of Gay Marriage. But this is part of a bigger movement. The ACA was found to be constitutional once again, marriage equality, and now marijuana sales in Flandreau. The next big step is making marijuana legal nation wide.
It’s about time our country realizes we are a country of freedoms – not just for some people – but for all.
The ‘contentious’ Sioux Falls City Council?
There has been some talk lately about the council taking charge and proposing some of their own legislation (pool rates and youth bus rides). I asked a friend this morning what he thought of the new and improved city council? His response, “It’s about time they grew a sack.†I was kind of thinking the same thing, though Erickson and Erpenbach may not appreciate the cliché.
The Argus Leader recently polled readers on their website asking what they thought of the council being contentious and if it was a good thing. There was close to 400 voters and over 80% approved, which was enlightening.
Government works best when the checks and balances (executive and legislative branches, Mayor/Council) check each other’s work and intentions. Debate and discussion only improve our system of municipal government. The mayor is NOT King and the council simply his subjects. When the mayor doesn’t get things done through resolution or just refuses to do anything, the council has the power to bring forth their own legislation, and they are quickly learning that it works when they all work together and discuss these thing in the open (public meetings) nothing good comes from closed door meetings with the mayor and sub-committees.
I would like the Council to go further and advise the Charter Revision Commission to change charter so that the Mayor is no longer running the meetings. He should sit in the audience and break a tie if necessary. Or even better, change the council to a 7 member council so there would not be any tie votes. After Mayor Huether’s performance in the last council meeting where he got up to chide another councilor and ultimately edited from the video (Public Record), it is apparent that he is being more disruptive to the meetings then productive. He consistently tried cutting off council members when they were trying to discuss deferral of the pool rate increase.
He doesn’t want debate or dissent, but it seems the public is all in favor. The continental congress debated for hours on end, some members would take the floor for hours. The mayor seems to think that there are time limits on council meetings and on democracy.
After five years, he still has a lot to learn about government.