As predicted the parking ramp passed by 6 votes tonight. Stehly voted NO and Pat Starr abstained by saying ‘Present’ during the vote. Which put the Mayor in a tizzy. It was determined by the city clerk and city attorney that he could not abstain unless he left the room before the vote. So Starr walked out. Council chair Kiley went out after him but Starr refused to return until all the items were voted on concerning the ramp. The mayor, of course, took the opportunity to shame Starr for not playing the reindeer games. I applaud Starr for taking a stand and not participating in this fiasco. In fact several of us clapped during the meeting.
Starr I believe was frustrated because the mayor cut off public testimony after an hour in which Starr asked for more time and the mayor denied it.
The discussion was actually very interesting, besides the President of DTSF and a pastry chef that owns a downtown business nobody else testifying thought it was a good idea. In fact a couple of the people even mentioned if the developer was paying more towards the project they would support it.
Three of us raised concerns about Legacy and the Hultgren construction connection. I said it was a liability. Stogeez and Eastwold Smokeshop owner Tim Kant said he is embrawled in a possible lawsuit against Legacy over his building being torn down and an attorney representing Emily Fodness warned about doing business with Legacy due to liabilities also.
Besides Stehly offering an amendment about the 2nd penny there was ZERO discussion from the rest of the council before voting on it.
This was a very shameful night by the council, they let a developer with a bad reputation take the taxpayers to the cleaners.
Sadly, I don’t think this is over. I have a feeling there will be repercussions for the city, which means we will all be paying for the very bad decision made tonight.
I didn’t show. I have heart disease and must control my stress. I’ve learned there’s no way to control corrupt developers. City Kleptocracy uses public money for overpriced private projects and inappropriate hand outs (TIF’s). The only answer is city bankruptcy. When the money dries up, the wicked will move on. I’d like to see the feds show up to address city and state corruption. They haven’t for Chicago and Illinois so they’re not coming here.
I seem to recall a public input session that lasted much longer than this one. It was the one in which the mayors daughter was still speaking at somewhere around midnight?
I totally support Pat Starr’s decision to leave the room and abstain from voting. There were/are so many unanswered questions and problems with the proposal.I agree with his statement that this was” not the best deal for the citizens.” I think it was a fantastic deal for Legacy development and all the confidential investors. None of them are doing this for charity. There is Big Money to be made for the private sector in this taxpayer partnership. We need affordable, accessible parking downtown. This endeavor does not solve the parking problem,and it does put the second penny in a risky financial obligation. The testimony was compelling,especially from former Copper lounge owner Tim Kant and the attorney for the Emily Fodness family. I want to say thanks to all who reached out to the Council these past weeks and those who came to the meeting. We need you, the citizens to pay attention to the City Council affairs, now more than ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLiHsIk1RNQ
Starr and Stehly are Sioux Falls only councilors with unwavering character, and enough courage to stand firmly and serve the public with integrity and truth.
And speaking of character, many in attendance, if watching a certain councilor, were treated to a display of middle school immaturity. You know……. the rolling eyes and head jerks, smirks, disrespectful grins with obvious eye messaging between this immature councilor and two other councilors took place whenever a fourth certain councilor spoke. (Similar to observed and recorded behavior in the gavel-ling incident with Kiley eye messaging Rolfing.)
It was a very definite revelation of those three councilors character. As someone else has stated on this blog, it is time to DRAIN THE SIOUX FALLS SWAMP both in 2018 and 2020!!!!
I’m just going to put it this way in writing. If I am elected to be a city councilor, I will always remember that I am only ONE voice of many that live in Sioux Falls. If I make a decision that is of this magnitude, you better believe I will be able to openly justify my decision and provide reasoning behind each vote. I am disappointed that our councilors are not required to issue a statement in support or a statement against a vote. Specifically I am disappointed that the public did not get to hear everything that was presented to the council “behind the scenes”.
Warren Phear is right.
I was at Carnegie the night the vote on the Events Center took place.
I believe the public input lasted close to 3 hours and yes, the Mayor’s daughter did give input around midnite.