South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

October 2016

Cartoon Cartoonists Media

Should the Argus Leader bring back local editorial cartoons

l3wis 3Comments

sack_skydivers2

Steve Sack is also an accomplished sculptor

At the cartoonist conference today, I had the pleasure of meeting several great midwest cartoonists, including 35 year, Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist Steve Sack, who is one of only about 30 remaining, on staff, full-time editorial cartoonists in the country. Steve works for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

He said that in the over the 8,000 cartoons he has done in his career, only 3 have been rejected. One was about the construction of the Mall of America, another was about a fellow staffer, and the third was about the Syrian boy who washed up on shore dead.

Last year I had an in depth conversation with (then) Argus Leader Publisher Bill Albrecht about bringing back local editorial cartoonists. While he sympathized with me, and thought it was a good idea, he felt newspapers have gotten away from it due to the controversy.

Hey, newspaper industry, editorial cartoons are supposed to be controversial, at least the good ones.

Code Enforcement Sioux Falls Walfart

Should the city of Sioux Falls prohibit RV parking in retail parking lots?

l3wis 17Comments

No matter what side you sit on this argument, it is clear that the law is unclear;

The city made a handshake agreement barring overnight RV parking into the permits for both stores, Cooper said.

“If you’re going to occupy a vehicle such as an RV overnight, you are required to be in a campground,” Cooper said. “We have licensed campgrounds and truck stops within the city limits for overnight parking.”

There’s a catch to this “requirement,” however, in that there isn’t actually a “requirement” in a strictly legal sense. There is no ordinance prohibiting RVs in commercial parking lots.

In my opinion, handshake agreements with a municipal government just doesn’t fly. Instead of having Walmart decide who can and cannot park in their lots, the city should either implement a city wide ordinance that RV camping in retail parking lots is prohibited, or have NO ordinance at all.

Either way, I personally think it should be prohibited. We have truck stops, camp grounds and rest stops for that reason. I remember one time I drove past the WM on Louise, and an RV was parked in the lot, they had out their lawn chairs and were BBQ’ing next to the RV. This is silly. How would you feel if you pulled into the HyVee lot and you saw a tent setup with people sleeping inside? How is that any different? It’s not. Community’s have campgrounds for this reason.

Elections State Legislature

Hey Republicans, let’s talk ‘Transparency’

l3wis 15Comments

I have often scratched my head when Republican lawmakers in this state say they are against Amendment V because of transparency. They feel voters have a right to know what party a candidate belongs to, but it seems many of them don’t want you to know what they do for a living, or more specifically the name of their business. Let’s talk transparency. I want to know what profession or previous profession (many are retired) a lawmaker is. It is important to my decision making. As an independent, I mostly lean left, but do vote for Republicans on occasion, if I feel they are the best candidate. Their life experience in their employment is very important to me.

Out of the 6 districts the Argus Leader media surveyed only ONE Democrat, John Koch listed his employment as ‘Salesman’. The rest of the Democrats either revealed who they work for, what they do, the name of their business, or that they are retired (and they even listed their employment before retirement).

On the other hand, most of the Republicans were very vague as to what they do or who they work for. One of them even went so far to call herself a career politician, Jenna Haggar listed the State Legislature as employment (A 40 day out of the year job).

This is why Amendment V is important, it will give voters the opportunity to research candidates beyond their party label.

Image/information: Argus Leader Media

legis

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Planning Commission Sioux Falls

Is Sioux Falls Community Development and Fire Department hiding something from the development community?

l3wis 6Comments

Many in the development community may already know what that secret is, but, it seems, some do not;

But that’s not sitting well with JDI, Inc.’s CEO Robin Miller, who’s company wanted to build a 12-story condominium, including underground parking and a rooftop garden.

Miller said unlike the two other proposals, which would have maintained the parcel’s green space by turning it into a park, JDI’s plan would have generated $35 million or more worth of construction, brought high-quality architecture to downtown and bolstered downtown’s parking capacity.

If that plan wasn’t good enough for the city, Miller’s not sure what would be.

“When we first went to the city they said ‘We want to see quality construction that’s uniquely special to that site, and we agreed.” Miller said. “When they don’t proceed with what you think is a good proposal … what’s my incentive to make a proposal on something else.”

What many people may not know is that the city may be holding back on projects like this because of the height of the building. Remember the $1 Million dollar fire truck the city had to provide to make sure they could reach the top of the Events Center? Rumor is the planning office won’t allow NEW buildings over four-six stories. It has a lot to do with the airport and National guard base’s proximity to downtown, but it also comes to the fire department not having the equipment to put out fires over 4-6 stories high. The other bank buildings downtown that are over four stories were built before these regulations were put into place.

Let’s face it, we could develop 12-story condos downtown, but if the fire department can’t reach the top in an emergency, we would be screwed.

I wonder if anyone in Community Development or the Fire Department will ever share this little tid-bit with the good tax payers of Sioux Falls? Oh, that of course requires transparency. LOL.

 

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