2018

I should probably say something about Sylvia Henkin

I figured I would let all the TV stations do their 10 million stories about Sylvia (that are all the same) before I put in my two-cents. Surprisingly they probably did twice as many stories about Metli than they did about Sylvia.

I didn’t know Sylvia personally, but have attended a couple of private parties she was at and I would always discuss her latest cigar box purse when she would attend the Symphony (I was the lead usher at the Pavilion). She was always pleasant to talk to and usually had a quip about something.

I used to work with Denny Oviatt, a long time employee of Sylvia’s. He told me while Sylvia could be kind of tough on her employees the one thing he appreciated about her was when you were in her crosshairs for work performance, she wouldn’t let the issue stew. Denny said she would call you in her office right away, let you have it, then it was over. He said she would never hold a grudge or be vindictive, he said she would just tell you to go back to work.

She will be missed.

Shouldn’t we be striving to put the Banquet out of business?

During the Mayoral Forums, something TenHaken said resonated with me. When asked to look back on 8 years as mayor, what would he like to see as accomplishments. Paul said that he wanted to close The Bishop Dudley, The Banquet and Feeding South Dakota. He essentially wanted to ‘put them out of business’ because they wouldn’t be needed anymore.

Loetscher expressed similar goals early in her campaign when she had a FB discussion with a homeless advocate from Houston who is making big gains in ending homelessness there.

Whether Loetscher or TenHaken understand what kind of monumental task that will be, I don’t know. But it is possible and should be attainable.

It often frustrates me when I see ribbon cuttings and press conferences about expanding different facilities. I often scratch my head when I see local businesses giving to these organizations than some of these same businesses paying such low wages their own employees must use the facilities. Seems counterproductive.

As I have said in the past, we don’t have a housing or even a hunger issue in Sioux Falls, we have a wage issue.

UPDATE II: Interesting ‘Final Hour’ contract award

UPDATE II: The city council deferred this contract tonight to the new council. The reason? None of them had any information on the project, not even the council chair. They will have an informational next Tuesday about what it all entails.

UPDATE: Looks like they are replacing EVERYTHING. I was unaware there was anything wrong or broken with the current equipment. (DOC: Carnegie-VID-Agree) I highly suggest they get a warranty this time around 🙂

I failed to post the city council agenda over the weekend (Meeting is Wednesday night) because I didn’t find anything to controversial, except the above contract in the consent agenda.

This ‘final hour’ award is interesting for a number of reasons. First off, I don’ recall ever hearing an open discussion about this by the council or even a presentation from AVI. In fact the councilors I have spoken with have no idea what this is and why it is needed. The equipment is pretty new at Carnegie. Secondly the price tag is questionable considering this is an upgrade and not a whole new system being put in. Also, the Minnehaha County Commission chambers just got a new system put in, it’s cost? $40,000.

Also consider that the major issue with the city broadcasting meetings isn’t the equipment, it’s the problems with SIRE that we have said all along seem to be self-inflicted by our IT department to make government less transparent. This has been a problem even before Mike took office and has only gotten worse.

Some are speculating if the administration is doing some last minute favors before leaving.