South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

May 2017

Billie Sutton Democrats South Dakotans

Shocker! Billie Sutton running for Governor

l3wis 6Comments

Unlike Huether, this guy actually knows how to put a cowboy hat on.

I know! I know! Sutton is running for governor. I have known for months. Ever since Suzie Pranger quit the SDDP to run his campaign months ago. It was such a badly kept secret I was surprised anyone showed up to the flat bed announcement today. Many in the party questioned Pranger quitting the party’s executive branch to run a governor campaign. What confidence can Sutton have with Pranger running his campaign when she did so badly running the party?

Of course everyone blames Tornberg. Is Pranger that thin-skinned that she couldn’t stand up to Tornberg? Or was it Tornberg’s idea to move Pranger?

Who knows, who cares. The only positive thing I can say about the whole thing is that if Sutton gets the nomination, he will get more votes than Wismer. Remember her?

Speaking of the nomination, there is another candidate waiting in the wings. Due to personal obligations they are waiting to make an announcement, if they do at all. Let’s just say they are a more ‘polished’ candidate than Sutton, but like Sutton has a great amount of compassion for South Dakotans. Personally I would like to see this person run for AG. Their chances are better and on top of that, no matter who becomes governor, they would make a fantastic and fair AG, mainly because they have compassion.

Not sure what the Dems ultimate plans are if they have two candidates running for governor. At this point, not sure if they have any plans at all. They certainly can’t go back to 2016’s playbook. That’s bloody obvious.

SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Sioux Falls City Council accomplishments over the past year

l3wis 3Comments

Stehly writes a great letter about the council’s ups and downs over the past year;

1. A majority of us stood together against building the $25 million administration building (now more than ever, this is a problematic project). The mayor vetoed our efforts to find a more cost effective solution to city space needs.

2. A council majority supported Christine Erickson’s efforts to video/audio record the Sioux Falls Parks board meetings. (We have other citizen boards recorded and broadcasted). This board meets the same time and day as city council meetings and deals with a multi-million dollar budget. The mayor vetoed our simple ordinance.

3. Four of us supported the Police Union, voting to give them their budgeted 1.5 percent raise retroactive to the contract date of Jan. 1. The mayor disagreed by breaking the tie not to give them the back pay. We were told that we needed to “teach the police officers a lesson.”

4. Over the objections of the administration, we all supported Councilman Pat Starr’s efforts to bring the Glory House project and the abandoned Sioux Falls Ice & Recreation Center together to benefit our community. Thanks to public support this project is moving forward.

5. An amendment was proposed by me to prohibit city employees from contributing to our election campaigns. The Mayor supported my amendment and it passed.

6. An amendment offered by me to last year’s budget allowed for the purchase of solar speed signs to calm traffic in residential areas. Public works director Mark Cotter wanted time to try them out. He recently informed that they are purchasing eight more for our residential areas.

7. I also made efforts to reach out to many citizens and help them to have their “day in court” in front of the council. Annexation, ambulance failure, zoning, dog bites, snow gate service, invasive weeds, garbage handling issues, dangerous road situations and many more topics have been resolved because the citizens stood up, spoke out for their rights and received good customer service from our city government.

Ironically where they met failure wasn’t because of opposition from citizens but because of the EGO of one man.

Cynthia Mickelson Randy Dobberpuhl SF School District

Big Money in the Sioux Falls School Board Election (at least one candidate)

l3wis 3Comments

I’m still waiting to get the actual financial filing documents that the school board candidates had to file yesterday, but the early results are startling.

Mickelson seems to have the SF GOP behind her in fundraising (though she says she is independent from her husband). She has raised $20,000 and spent $7,800. Makes you wonder if a couple of invoices were held off until June 1st. Like I said before, her signage alone around town has to be close to $10-12K.

Dobberpuhl has raised around $2,000 and spent the entire amount.

Not sure if the other candidates have raised any or spent. I do know that Robinson does have some yard signs up and has given out printed handouts.

I expect a full on media push by Mickelson in this last week. Like I said, though the school board is a non-partisan race, the SD and SF GOP just can’t stand to let one of theirs lose, so they will outspend the other candidates, which seems at this point by ten-fold.

Pretty pathetic when voter turnout MIGHT hit 2,000 voters. Divide and conquer, the Republican way.

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

Waterford at All Saints gets it right

l3wis 6Comments

The expansion at Waterford is pretty snazzy, and old looking.

I never really understood all the resistance to the expansion of Waterford in the All Saints Neighborhood. Besides the fact that they are providing more assistant living in Sioux Falls that is needed, they were able to put many other services under one roof in stead of carting residents around to other facilities.

One of the biggest arguments against the expansion was the elimination of a grove of trees, on private property, that no one ever frequented. It wasn’t a park. It was a dark empty lot full of trees.

As Waterford promised they saved as many trees as they could and added shrubbery. But the landscaping isn’t what makes this project a gem. It is the historic nature of the new construction. Waterford went all out to match the current facility, and make what is new look old.

I wish all the development downtown took this kind of time and effort into being more historically correct. They have been doing it DT Minneapolis, and it looks fantastic. Giant, pre-poured slabs of pink colored concrete isn’t quartzite, it’s just pink concrete.

We are starting to see the slap together construction creep into downtown that we have seen in all the urban sprawl areas. The apartments on Phillips to the Falls and the condos by Sunshine come to mind.

I think moving forward, the planning department needs to set an example of Waterford and push for more historically correct construction downtown. Now if we can just convince them to get a permit before they take out any load bearing walls.

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