2017

What happened to Slater Barr?

l3wis November 22, 2017 1Comments

Maybe he went to pursue his dancing career?

I’m guessing that wasn’t in his cards. Announced suddenly out of nowhere yesterday;

Sioux Falls Development Foundation president Slater Barr resigned suddenly Tuesday, following almost a decade at the economic development organization.

Of course the rumors are out there. Did he get a sudden great job opportunity? Was he just fed up and walked? Was he fired? Heck, I don’t know, really don’t care. We all know we will never hear the real story. We know how it works in the tiny little corporate world in Sioux Falls.

I did hear though behind the scenes Slater may have been pro state income tax. Like most logical people in this state we know that the sales tax model is NOT sustainable and will only continue to keep our state and city in the hole. With the continuing gap between rich and poor in our city, state and country and the disintegration of the middle class, people are spending less and less and trying to get the best deals online. A state income tax on corporations and the upper class is the only solution to pulling South Dakota out of this mess we have created by having greedy Republicans run our state. Tax cuts and incentives to the rich do not trickle down to the rest of us. That is a myth.

Publicly, I have heard Slater talk about higher wages and bringing higher wage companies to Sioux Falls, this also may have contributed to his demise. As we know the status quo is plenty happy with the wage collusion going on in our city. The irony is if we pay workers a living wage we would be less dependent on food banks and homeless shelters. They would also spend more money which would boost the local economy. I have always said, we don’t have an affordable housing problem in Sioux Falls we have a wage problem in Sioux Falls. Maybe Slater just got tired of the fight and said SeeYah!