Cameraman Bruce and the peeps say “Thank you Michelle!” Rex just doesn’t understand what Open Meetings are and why. Get over it Rex.
Cameraman Bruce showed up to the publicly noticed informal get acquainted council dinner at the District on May 24, 2016. Rex Rolfing was not happy and quickly showed it. Greeting Bruce with “No Bruce, not tonight!”
Well Rex, it is a legal open meeting he showed up, deal with it.
“Enough monkeying around folks, we are gonna fix these dang crappy roads with the day god gave us.”
When I first started watching this interview(?) I had to make a double take to make sure I wasn’t watching Reid Holsen interviewing Mike on CityLink and not Matt Holsen on Stormland TV. It was sure nice of Matt to allow the mayor to drive him around and pretty much write the story for him. I wonder if Matt also let Mike edit the video. Great piece of journalism, maybe Randell Beck will award you a Pulitzer? Probably not, but, I see Green Bay Packer tickets in your future (or maybe the mayor will buy you a Coors Light at the company Christmas party).
Enough of that.
Doesn’t anyone else find it a bit ironic that shortly after a municipal election where the winning candidates talked about fixing our roads, the mayor has a change of heart (he also changed the name of the Administration Building to the Public Services Building). Maybe he could sell sponsorships to the place? I think the Darrin Smith Commemorative Building has a nice ring to it, after all, the first phase of construction will leave half the building unfinished, seems fitting.
So after spending a lion’s share of the 2nd penny kitty on play things and fun houses the mayor is all of sudden concerned about our roads. Awww. It really warms a heart.
“That’s how I’m going out the final two and that is repairing and rebuilding and replacing this infrastructure and yeah including some of the bumpy roads in our town,” Huether said.
That should have been your priority when you were sworn in to begin with. With dwindling tax revenue over the next two years and bond payments coming from the 2nd penny like a payment on a sub-prime credit card, just how much can you spend on roads? No worries though, Infrastructure Mike has it handled with his personal press secretary Matt Holsen and Stormland TV.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z7QrB5GDSc[/youtube]
Do we need an new city of Sioux Falls Administration (or as the mayor is now calling it, the Public Services) building? Several members of the new City Council are keeping their promises to do something about it. On May 24, 2016 the Open Discussion portion of their Informational Meeting showed Greg Neitzert and Theresa Stehly taking the leadership roles in moving the process along.
Rex just doesn’t seem to get it, even when it is explained to him in simple terms. Right before the joint Minnehaha County/Sioux Falls City Council meeting, Rex and Commissioner Chair Cindy Heiberger were having a short conversation about public input before the meeting (they were unaware their microphones were hot).
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pny29jyER6A[/youtube]
For the most part, well over 50% of public input deals with property and individual rights which could effect them financially and their livelihoods.
Some one really needs to sit councilor Rolfing down and explain to him that in a democracy we are all ruled equally, with no special classes. If developers, pipeline builders and railroads are allowed to talk as long as they want about their projects, Joe Smith should be allowed to talk just as long about his garage expansion. Equality is one thing that makes our country great.
Stu Whitney wrote a great column about Stehly and her upcoming agenda on the council. I thought I would clarify a bit, since these are some of the things Theresa and I have discussed long before the election, in fact some of this stuff we have talked about for years;
At tonight’s meeting, she plans to discuss the possibility of a “town hall forum†to promote public feedback on borrowing $25 million for a new city administration building, tentatively approved by the council last month. Huether cast the tiebreaking vote for that compromise measure, which approved the bond ordinance but delayed the actual borrowing of the money until this fall.
The idea was to allow more time in case county cooperation with the project materialized. But Stehly sees the delay as an opportunity to encourage more citizen input, and maybe even a public vote, on the proposed 79,000-square-foot building at Eighth Street and Dakota Avenue.
This is something Stehly has pitched in the past, a threshold ($$$) on when the council should approve a project and when the citizens should. Stehly thinks after a certain dollar amount, it should be on the ballot. Not such a bad idea since citizens are already voting on ordinances and policy on the ballot through the Charter Revision Commission. While I like the idea, I think the number should be rather high, like over $50 million. Theresa thinks it should be lower. Either way, worth the discussion with the public.
Stehly also wants the city to revamp its Project T.R.I.M. tree inspection program to make it more citizen-friendly, passing on the labor to city crews rather than homeowners in some cases. “I’d like to see one season where they use their staff to do the trimming,†she said.
A little clarity on this one. The idea that has been thrown around is to NOT eliminate the notification process OR allowing people to trim boulevard trees. Some people prefer to trim their own trees because they want them to look a certain way, or they want to hire an arborist to do it. I think that this ‘priviledge’ could still be allowed. This would be for people who either can’t physically trim them or afford to hire someone. Instead of wasting resources on public works employees driving around measuring and writing letters, if they see something minor, just chop it off right there or ask the homeowner if they can do it. This is really no different then what Excel does when trimming trees around powerlines. Many communities across our state are finding it is just much easier to have city employees trim the boulevard trees. In the long run it pays off.
Also on her agenda is addressing crime-ridden areas of the city with vigilant neighborhood watch programs, a pet cause of hers since she started her own program back in 1997. “It’s a very low-cost way to bring people together to be the eyes and ears of this community,†says Stehly, who plans to meet with police chief Matt Burns on the issue.
This one is really just common sense. With all the recent vandalism and robberies alone in this city, it is smart for neighbors watching out for each other.
Will Stehly be 100% successful on these issues? Probably not, but starting a good discussion doesn’t hurt.
l3wis