November 2015

Wordplay with Chuck Brennan

Chuck had some notables on the SuFuStu show yesterday;

Huether? Mayor. (Lalley did give him heck about dodging the question, and Chuck said, “A total dodge”)

Hildebrand? Who?

Darrin Smith? Absent.

That last one was very telling. A few weeks back a city official told me that Chuck is having difficulties dealing with Darrin on his project and traffic flow.

Strange Bedfellows? Only if you are not a Packers fan.

Here we go again, another fun South DaCola conspiracy theory.

So a few weeks ago a foot soldier and I are having a convo about the sudden investigative reporting by Angie Stormland, and how peculiar it was.

Why all of a sudden she (they) were so concerned about government conspiracy when they have more important things to report, like a sprinkle and a rainbow in Yankton Trail Park?

Then we started thinking about how Stormland’s media owner totally ignored my complaints about the station’s GM going on a Green Bay Packer’s game trip with our mayor. They still have not responded.

So the question was thrown out there, “Is Stormland and Angie suddenly concerned about (Republican) corruption in the state (referring to Gear Up) because a certain mayor may or may not be running for governor who just happens to be a Democrat?”

Not sure, but for the record, he is just as if not more corrupt then any bottom feeder in Pierre.

All that aside, it gets even more interesting, especially with this question posed to me today from a foot soldier;

It would be great if Angela Kenneke would ask Kyle what year he audited the books for Mid Dakota. The poor guy would fill his pants (with crap)”.

So who is this Kyle dude, I will let Cory explain (partially);

Schoenfish and Company of Parkston (which employs Rep. Kyle Schoenfish, R-19/Scotland) audited Mid-Central’s FY2014 operations and found material weaknesses but no compliance issues. The report noted that “Errors and omissions were noted in the annual financial statements prepared by cooperative officials. This is the eighth consecutive audit in which similar deficiencies have occurred.”

See, Kyle is Mayor Huether’s favorite nephew, who he has donated to when he ran  as a Dem and a Republican. No Biggee. Make your own assumptions.

But isn’t it interesting that Angie isn’t running in her high heels down the main street of Parkston trying to get an interview with a key player in this investigation who just happens to be the favorite nephew of mayor Huether who may or may not be running for governor and is besty Packer Fan buddies with the GM of Stormland News?

My head hurts.

 

Jerome for President?

(NSFW and Offensive)

I found this gem from 2008. A couple of my friends were living right next to Whittier Park (when there was a lot of troubles going on there) and their drink happy neighbor wasn’t happy about it. We filmed this video of him one night and his frustrations.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS4uQjsUQ5k[/youtube]

Killing two birds with one stone; Should we convert the Kirby Science Center into the city administration building

stage-science-220

“Watch closely kids, I will use science to show you how money disappears.”

Let’s first look at what we know;

The city (probably) needs more administration space.

The city OWNS the Washington Pavilion and spends millions each year maintaining the building.

The city is close to $400,000,000.00 in debt and we certainly don’t need to be bonding for a possible $24 million dollar building.

The Kirby Science Center has long been a financial drain on the facility. Some of said that if the Pavilion eliminated the Science Center, the remaining entities (The VAC, The Cinedome, Leonardos, The Belbas Theatre and the Great Hall) could be profitable and eliminate a subsidy.

There are also some great benefits;

Like I said above, we already own the building and dump plenty of tax dollars in it already each year for maintenance.

We already have a parking ramp that could be used.

The building is only 2 blocks from city hall, 1 block from Carnegie and in the heart of downtown.

We could leave the gift shop, the cinedome and the restaurant open and still have access to three floors and thousands of feet of square footage.

Converting the space to city offices would be minimal cost at most. In fact, auctioning off the exhibits would probably pay for the conversion.

There would also be some detractors;

What kind of sponsorship contract was drawn up with the Kirby Family? And can that contract be broken? We could rename it the Kirby Municipal Services Building.

There will also be a huge pushback from the Pavilion’s Board of Directors who will argue that the education provided at the Science Center is tied in with the total mission of the WP. I don’t disagree with that, but there has to be a point where we use some common sense. People also fear failure, and are willing to throw (tax payer) money at something long enough to cover up the problem.

The way I look at it, it would be beneficial to the Pavilion to cut ties with the science center, they could use the extra revenue to bring in more shows to the Great Hall and VAC. Of course the backwards thinking in the building by some of it’s directors probably enjoy being in the hole every year to give them excuse to come crawling for more money each year. They apparently need to spend some time over at the ZOO and learn how to make a great institution while slowly weaning themselves off the tit.

Also, our mayor who argues for fiscal prudence all the time should be falling over himself to secure such a great idea.

Once again though, the common sense of a blogger is usually trumped by the spend happy bureaucrats that run this city. Let’s face it, this isn’t about getting the best deal on an administration building we may or may not need, this about another handout to some local contractors who are buds with the mayor and some of the city council.

Instead of fixing the crappy drainage, the city prefers to just bulldoze the neighborhood

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rloidlFbi4w[/youtube]

Curious if the Sioux Falls City Council is authorizing these home purchases or if once again, the city planning and public works office is ‘going rogue’. Heck, I even wonder if the city council knows about it at all?

After heavy rains in August flooded a central Sioux Falls neighborhood, city officials are looking for a permanent way to stem flooding.

Homes along the west side of South Covell Avenue between 28th and 33rd Streets could be torn down to create a green space.

Several homeowners in the neighborhood near Augustana University have been contacted by the City of Sioux Falls with possible offers to purchase their homes.

The city is talking with neighbors first, before releasing a finalized plan. Environmental and Storm Water Manager Andrew Berg said it is a voluntary buyout, and no one will be forced to sell to the city.

And that’s the Huether way, instead of fixing the infrastructure in the modest neighborhoods in Sioux Falls, we prefer to just bulldoze them. Now that’s progress and getting things done! I wonder if this will make MMM’s list of ‘Top 10 Wins of 2015’?