“Despite these facts, the media coverage gave the public a false impression that Legacy owned the property, hired the contractor, was culpable in the collapse and at fault for the death and injuries that followed, and should be punished for the same.â€
Really? Legacy owned the property right up until the building collapse;
Minnehaha County records show that an entity called Boomerang Investments bought the Copper Lounge from CLP Investments. The transfer fee was recorded one day before the building collapsed.
Both entities share addresses at 101 S. Main Ave., Suite 400 in Sioux Falls, which is the same address of Legacy Development. Both also listed Norm Drake as their sole manager and president. Drake is also Legacy’s CEO.
Hultgren Construction, which was remodeling the Copper Lounge at the time of the collapse, was run by Aaron Hultgren. He was Legacy’s director of development and operations.
If I were a judge, I would MAKE SURE the trial was held in Sioux Falls. There are false allegations, and than there are facts. It seems the ‘facts’ in this case are pretty clear. And if so many ‘false allegations’ were made, why didn’t Legacy sue for libel?
Cameraman Bruce made a mistake he will never do again. He tried using the Council audio feed and found out it can be cut off at the will of the chair. Bruce will be using his own microphone system from now on. Why? Here is a tale of meeting control and bullying from the mayor of all he knows.
As the public becomes more frustrated by the abuses of this administration, the mayor tries to create incidents so he does not have to answer to the bigger issues. Notice how the press and candidates are NOT talking about the root problems of our town. They only want to talk about the fluff and blame discourse on the people trying to bring up crime, transparency and corruption. The people going to the Council Public Input care deeply about the town. They are willing to risk jail time, being hit by the presiding officer, stalking and ridicule to bring the information to the Councilors who refuse to listen to the public in any other format.
The current strategy of the power elites seem to be to try and keep the discussion focused on this list of “booming” numbers. The message is that the average citizen should feel better when these numbers are bigger than when they are smaller. Unfortunately, no one has been able to explain how these “booming” numbers indicate good things for anyone but the power elites. Is your sewer and water bill lower? Are the roads better? Is more money staying local? Is the library better? Is your commute shorter? Are wages up? Are job opportunities better? What about crime?
The frailty of the administration’s arguments, is again shown by their need to play games with the official record of City Council meetings. Cameraman Bruce has saved every video and audio available from the City because the current administration tries to rewrite history and glorify itself with an edited version of the truth. As of this date, over 3,500 videos have been saved with most uploaded to YouTube for all to use.
So what is the mayor trying hide this time and why?
As of this posting, there are about 40 days and a few hours left to this miserable Sioux Falls city administration. It can’t come too soon. We have an election coming to change several wishy washy officials. Are we going to get another group of BOOM TOWN rubber stamper groupies? Are we going to elect more authoritarians like Huether who are there for their own gratifications?
Once again the city is playing video games. Cameraman Bruce has saved every video and audio available because the current administration tries to rewrite history to glorify. As of this date, over 3,500 videos have been saved with most uploaded to YouTube for all to use.
The City of Sioux Falls, as of this video upload, has refused to make the City Council meeting of April 3, 2018 public.
We have caught the administration editing videos before but never have they refused to make them public.
A few years ago, the administration cut out a section of video where the presiding officer went over and hit the Council Chair for not keeping his members in line. Several Council members contacted Cameraman Bruce in hopes his camera caught the action. For reference, remember when Christine Erickson was freeze framed? When pushed to fix the video, Rick Kiley’s head floated over the Council dais similar to the Great Wizard of Oz? Bruce secured newer equipment after the incident and MayorCam was born.
Another time, the presiding officer had the video system scrubbed after the Cameraman Bruce was hit on the head during a city council meeting causing a broken tooth.
A certain city official has taken the time to stalk citizens after meetings. Is this to possibly to create an incident so he can blame on the victim?
Cameraman Bruce has been hearing from citizens who have been threatened and physically assaulted.
The full server copy of city’s version has been uploaded already. We downloaded it and published it legally. Few people have the ability to do it, so we do it for you. Enjoy.
A local elected official sent me this articlethat talks about the pit falls of government employees and confidentiality agreements;
It was recently revealed that many of Donald Trump’s top advisers were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), forcing them to keep quiet about what happens in the White House — even after his presidency ends. Ruth Marcus, deputy editorial editor of The Washington Post labeled these agreements a presidential first and “not just oppressive, but constitutionally repugnant.†Government ethics experts say they are legally questionable.
But don’t think this just goes on in the WH;
This behind-closed-doors approach to resolving conflict in government troubles many.
“If public money is spent, it should be public information,†says Montana state Sen. Fred Thomas, one of the legislators who asked the auditor to look into confidential settlements.
And not just confidential settlements in local government;
In 2016, the issue shook the Alabama governor’s mansion, where Robert Bentley — who resigned in 2017 after news of his alleged affair with a campaign aide — had 87 members of his staff sign nondisclosure agreements two years prior.
How about municipal government?
Some states and cities already limit secret agreements.
San Francisco, for instance, prohibits the city from entering into confidential settlements. And in Iowa, a 2014 executive order, signed by then-Gov. Terry Branstad, bans agencies from adding confidentiality requirements to employee settlements and requires personnel settlements to be reviewed by the attorney general’s office. Branstad’s order followed news that six employees, who had filed grievances about their dismissals, had been paid more than a quarter of a million dollars in confidential settlements.
And what to the legal scholars think?
Legal scholars express doubt about whether confidential settlements and broad nondisclosure agreements in the public sector are enforceable.
“Legally, it’s very problematic to do these in the public sector. It runs afoul of public-sector employment law or sunshine laws,†says Alexander Colvin, a professor of conflict resolution at Cornell University and an expert in labor law.
The issue is particularly problematic for potential whistleblowers.
At the federal level, a whistleblower’s ability to report wrongdoing is strongly protected, but state laws tend to be weaker, vary dramatically and may not be known to employees, says Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, an organization dedicated to protecting whistleblowers.
He worries that any kind of agreement that curtails public employees’ free speech could deter them from flagging problems.
“There are administrative and legal remedies that would allow employees to break nondisclosure agreements or speak out or blow the whistle despite a confidential settlement,†he says. “But the mere existence of the agreement is highly chilling.â€
And our local media said really nothing when Council Candidate Janet Brekke came out on Monday about the confidentiality agreement with city employees. Go figure. They have more important things to do like chase down white trash skanks who steal pizza place buffet cards.
l3wis 