We said it during the campaign, the location will cause issues with expansion (of the pool) and parking. And while I was not totally opposed to a public indoor pool (I think a partnership with Sanford at the sports complex would have been best) the parking situation is going to get very, very interesting;
Construction of the Primary Care addition on the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Sioux Falls is nearly complete, and expected to be open in October. However, other phases of the project are far from finished, and it’s affecting patient care.
“My biggest limiting factor for care, is space,†said VA Health Care System Director, Darwin Goodspeed.
The VA Hospital treats more than 27,000 patients in east river every year, and the number of patients continues to rise. So, the need to expand the current building for more care comes with a price tag of $20 million.
“We’re doing some expansion, specifically to add square footage to our clinical spaces so that we can have more space available to see more veterans – more patient care.â€
You also have to factor in the ‘quit claim deed’. Will the VA eventually start chipping away at the green space of Spellerberg for more parking? This location spelled trouble from the beginning, not just because of parking issues and expansion but it is built on a heavily traveled two-lane arterial (Western Avenue), that I nicknamed years ago ‘the parade route’.
Let the parking wars begin.
The VA could expand west some and there’s room there for more parking. However, access and primary services are from the east where parking is an issue. Thr VA should move outside city limits where there’s cheap land, room for a modern facility, and could be a VA retirement center to compliment Hot Springs. A majority of patients are from out of town so somewhere nearer an Interstate Highway exit. By sneaking in the aquatics center and crowding the VA, the city revealed its disregard for veterans. No doubt Huether wants the Spellerburg Hill for another credit card kingdom.
We tried to bring this out during the lead up to the 2014 election but was told by our esteemed city attorney fiddle faddle he had it all worked out. There have been many discussions about the growth needs of the VA due to the aging of the WWII, Korean, Vietnam and Bush era excursions into other countries.
Now we have spent a large amount of borrowed money to build a building on land not fully owned by the city of Sioux Falls. The building is not even open and we are being proven correct. The VA can seize the building due to the Quit Claim Deed violations. The city of Sioux Falls cannot cause any strife to the VA. It cannot impede the mission of the VA, if it does the property and changes revert to the ownership of the VA.
Our next steps will be to assist the VA in their mission even if it causes the VA to demand the property back. It appears the city of Sioux Falls may have just built for the VA a swimming pool and retention pond to let the vets slide down.
The VA may well be within their rights to put up a big fence around the property to keep the city out. Remember our videos?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCusVBpQDlY&index=8&list=PLBkcje2tWnPVdVt5ruyFlXc1QT_hUU4Xp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-R4xYAkfo&list=PLBkcje2tWnPVdVt5ruyFlXc1QT_hUU4Xp
It’s not like we did not warn David to get his homework done.
Kinda like the Popeye’s they thought that out very well. Good thing we have plenty of these unhealthy places to fill our guts and make us lethargic. We have people lavishly participating in stupidity all over the place, right Mike? Somebody help us please!
Quite a stretch of the facts to fit your narrative.
Perhaps the aquatics center is a sophisticated method to run the VA out of town. There’s no sales tax revenue. The city could repurpose the hilltop for commercial, Lloyd condos, or a city government castle.
I favor a VA move to acreage out of town. It’d be its own tax free zone. There’d be the hospital, federal & state VA offices, a hotel, and retail. It’s embarrassing for veterans to visit and spend in a city that’s a dictatorship.
The Va will not move out of town or further from other medical facilities or medical personnel.
I prefer the VA to take over the park land to which it is rightfully entitled. MMM, Fiddle Faddle, the city government, and elite of this city, who pushed this location for their swim team children, need to be burned and embarrassed.
The VA is easy to access according to out of town persons I’ve heard comment. Interstate exit from 229 and straight on Western ave. Both the exit and street can be busy at times, but are not complicated to traverse. If in the future they do claim the land, well SF will lose.