August 2016

City Administration Building SF City Council Sioux Falls Stop the Funding

Hildebrand writes letter about administration building vote

l3wis August 27, 2016 1Comments

Steve points out the importance of a vote on the building;

Please let the citizens of Sioux Falls vote on the $25 million city administration building. Only three of the eight members of the City Council supported this expansion of city government. Five members strongly oppose it. Now, those same three want to stop the citizens from having a say, even though more than 6,500 of us signed petitions in just a few days to get this on the ballot â€“ more than enough signatures to qualify.

I don’t oppose building additional office space if it’s needed for city staff. I do oppose this $25 million, 80 square foot building, because the city has done no strategic planning to even determine how much space they need in 10 years, 20 years, etc. Let’s do the strategic planning first, then determine what kind of building, if any, we need for the future.

First and foremost, elected officials shouldn’t deny citizens the chance to vote on major projects like this. The Mayor and City Council pushed for a public vote on a $25 million indoor swimming pool just a few months ago. Why now, shouldn’t the public have a voice in the largest expansion of city government in my lifetime?

Let the people vote.

Technically there was ‘kind of a vote’ on the indoor pool. We were voting on an outdoor pool, with confusing ballot language (that contained a typo on the date) and misleading advocational sessions. But I still think people wanted the pool by rejecting the outdoor pool in an election.

Steve points out the importance of the vote. Councilor Rolfing pointed out that ‘6,400 people isn’t a lot.’ That’s ironic in itself, because that is HALF the number of people who voted in the previous city election. Rex needs to stop listening to his four golf buddies and start listening to the public. Call the election!

City Administration Building Developers Development Sioux Falls Stop the Funding

Is anyone listening at city hall? Nope.

l3wis August 26, 2016 6Comments

After all the hoopla about transparency over the $25 million bond for a city administration building, you would think the administration would get the picture about transparency. They still don’t have a clue;

Details of the proposals aren’t public, but the city plans toÂ contribute as much as $17.9 million for the project, which city planners hope to break ground on next year.

â€œOnce a selection has been made, and we have an executed contract, we can share more information,â€ said Scott Rust, purchasing manager for the city.

The developers aren’t talking either, saying they are bound by a confidentiality agreement included in the city’s RFQ.

What!? You are going to spend $17.9 million of our money and you cannot share the details until AFTER a contract is cut?Â Not only are they NOT filling us in on the proposals they don’t even want to share details of a contract.

And they wonder why almost 6,500 people signed the petition.

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

City of Sioux Falls Forestry Dept needs to concentrate on growing BRAINS instead of TREES

l3wis August 26, 2016 3Comments

Yeah, I shook my head to after reading the above postcard (that I did not receive though I live in the neighborhood, a neighbor a few blocks away showed it to me).

This program all got started after a few homeowners who live close to Waterford were upsetÂ because (God forbid) Waterford had to tear down a couple of trees to build their expansion (on land they own, that will help residents with therapy on premise).

Waterford was probably tired of the trail of tears running down Phillips avenue so they donated money to the neighborhood to plant 100 trees.

That part is a fantastic idea.

Where it takes a turn to the lobotomy clinic is wanting to plant those trees in the boulevard. After all the headache we have had in the historic neighborhoods with tree rubbish after the ice storm you would have thought we learned our lesson about boulevard trees (FEMA gave us $10 million for cleanup). Not to mention the many other concerns with them.

When Project TRIM rolls around they make you trim those trees if they are impeding street and sidewalk traffic, they also wreak havoc on water, sewer and gas lines. They also impede power and cable lines, andÂ traffic site issues. Enough already!

We need to prohibit the planting of boulevard trees in Sioux Falls, in ALL neighborhoods. I encourage the group to plant the trees in parks and green spaces or set back in front or back yards of people’s homes, but lets grow something besides trees, letsÂ grow a brain, and stop planting trees in the boulevard and plant vegetable gardens and flowers in that space instead.

City Administration Building Sioux Falls Stop the Funding

Stop the Funding to make the radio rounds Friday

l3wis August 25, 2016 10Comments

Bruce Danielson will be on KELO AM in the morning (around 7:40 AM) and on KSOOÂ (around 4:45 PM) to talk about the petition drive. There have been some questions about the funding of his drive and the robo calls.Â Bruce has told me that all but two donations have been under $100. One was from a retired person who has NO skin in the game, just concerned about open and transparent government and the other was the in-kind donation of office space from the owners of the 300 building.

You can listen to replay of KELO AM HERE.