South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2018

Paramedics Plus SF City Council Sioux Falls

It’s time to study a Public option for ambulance service in Sioux Falls

l3wis 2Comments

Yesterday during the Sioux Falls City Informational Council meeting they discussed extending Paramedics Plus contract (or whatever they are calling themselves these days – Look at the INSERT COMPANY NAME line on this contract: contract-draft. They have changed their name so many times they don’t even know what their name will be when they sign the contract. Good Grief). While a 6 year contract wouldn’t be such a bad idea, it is unfortunate that we signing the contract with them;

For instance, you could have to wait a while for your ambulance — in some cases up to 90 minutes.

I think a 6 year extension would give the city time to explore and implement a public ambulance service, but I’m wondering if we should just leave it as a 5 year instead. When Mayor TenHaken was on Patrick Lalley’s show not to long ago he expressed that he may want to look at the public option down the road though people in his administration have said they don’t want to. I think if they started studying it RIGHT now, they could easily implement it in 3-5 years.

During the informational some kept trying to peddle the flat out falsehood that we are NOT subsidizing PP. We are. As taxpayers we are staffing our fire department to show up to these emergencies without reimbursement from PP. Councilor Pat Starr said just that during the meeting yesterday. Councilor Erickson tried to deflect Starr’s testimony by saying it would cost MILLIONS to run a public ambulance service. While the initial capital cost would be high, after it’s implementation we would be able to bill patients for the service and get a heavy subsidy. As of right now we are showing up to these emergencies and assisting a private for profit ambulance service and getting NO reimbursement. A public ambulance service would also be more affordable, faster, more reliable and be ran by qualified city union fire fighters and EMTs. For the public good it just makes more sense.

Kristi Noem

Apparently $5,000 a ticket isn’t an ‘Elitist’ Event

l3wis 8Comments

I used think who could possibly be so idiotic to run a political consulting/marketing business while working as the Deputy SOS. Oh that’s right THIS GUY.

His insane stupidity continues with this post;

It might be just me.. but does that invitation come off as a bit “elitist?”

While at first glance a bunch of rich Democratic (and some Republican) women getting together for cheese and wine may look a little uppity, but I don’t think anyone can outdo NOEM’s presidential fundraiser at $5,000 a ticket. But hey, she isn’t an elitist because she shops at HyVee;

I would contrast that with the fact that every once in a while I run into Kristi or her husband at HyVee in Brookings.  Of course, HyVee is very much “non-elitist,”

I know several women listed on this invitation and I run into them all over Sioux Falls all of the time. As for HyVee, I consider it the most elitist grocery store in town, I like to slum it at Aldi’s.

I’m also wondering when Kristi is going to pay back the good taxpayers of Sioux Falls $29,000 for providing the President security for a NON-PUBLIC event. While I detest Trump, I still would have liked to see him at a public event. Darn, I didn’t have the $5,000. I guess I’m not ‘Elitist’ enough. LOL.

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The Queen of Holly Blvd – movie screening – SD Premiere!

Johnny Roastbeef 1Comments

The-Queen-of-Hollywood-Blvd

Join Indievents and Club David, Thursday, October 11th, for the South Dakota Premiere of THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD BLVD.

THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD BLVD is the feature film debut of Orson Oblowitz. It is an homage to gritty grindhouse films and features the last on-screen role of Michael Parks.

On her 60th birthday, Queen Mary (Rosemary Hochschild) receives a visit from Duke (Roger Guenveur Smith), a gangster who shows up out of the past to take back her beloved, aging Hollywood nightclub, given to her 25 years ago. But Duke is not a guy to be messed with, and to ensure Mary lives up to her side of the bargain, he kidnaps her son Otto. With the help of a teenage runaway named Grace (Ana Mulvoy-Ten) and an old friend Chet (Michael Parks), Mary must navigate seedy Hollywood to save her son, her life, and her club.

Here is some press:

“THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD BLVD is beautifully shot and violent enough to quench the bloody thirst of exploitation cinema fans.” – Rue Morgue

“The film excels in its ability to find a role and story that are so typically suited to a man and then completely pushes it out of its comfort zone.” – Bloody Disgusting

“THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD BLVD brims with visual poetry. It’s an aesthetic feast that revels in the neon and sleaze of Hollywood” – Nightmare on Film Street

You can watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5WRNj8ozoQ

The screening will be, Thursday, October 11th at 7 PM and 9:30 pm Club David. Tickets are $8 in advance and $12 at the door.

Advance tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-queen-of-hollywood-blvd-movie-screening-south-dakota-premiere-tickets-50523567350

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Former Mayor

Former Mayor goes on Speaking Tour (kind of)

l3wis 9Comments

It’s probably too late to send these poor students condolences;

“Here was the game plan of my opponent. It was to make it so miserable for me the last two weeks, so what they did, they didn’t go after me. Guess who they went after,” He said. “They went after my wife.”

I wonder if he told the students WHY they went after his wife? Did it have anything to do with getting a TIF in one of her apartment investments or was it trying to rob the BID tax to market the Tennis Center that bears her husband’s name? I can’t remember.

Developers Development Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls Taxes TIFs

UPDATE: Is the TenHaken Administration getting ready to get ‘TIFaliscious’?

l3wis 9Comments

Well, that wasn’t to tough, they got Brian Allen at KSFY to roll over and talk about how great TIFs are. Funny, the important part missing from Allen’s story, the actual economic impact;

A KSFY review of active Tax Increment Financing projects in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota shows there is a dramatic drop-off in TIF usage.

You know why? Because several studies have been done showing they have very little economic impact. I also find if comical that Allen only interviewed PRO TIF folks and NO one who is against them. I also like how some in the interview talk about how South Dakota does them ‘different’. Good stuff. Yet there has been NO extensive study done in South Dakota showing the actual economic impact of them. Why? Because the results would be grim.

What other people don’t realize is that when we give wealthy developers TIFs we all pay more in property taxes to supplement them to fund things like our counties, cities and public education.

I think the TenHaken administration is gearing up to start handing them out, literally like candy. His COS, Beck, wrote the Sanford Sports Complex TIF while working for the city (the largest in state history) and she also wrote the most recent one while working for Lloyd Companies for the Cascade project that is mostly marketplace apartments.

Tonight the city is hiring a finance director who worked for the Costello Companies (a major developer in SF) who is also an expert in TIFs.

It is pretty clear to me they are getting us prepped and they are probably chiding our local media behind the scenes to talk about the ‘positivity’ of TIFs.

Let’s face it, they are simply a tax rebate for private developers who could easily pay the taxes with or without the TIF. We don’t have a growth problem in Sioux Falls. In fact we are developing so much and building so fast we can’t hire people fast enough. The city council even gave SE Tech $100K for more job training programs. This tells me we don’t need to be subsidizing growth and development in Sioux Falls, it actually tells me we need to find ways to slow this growth and concentrate on SMART-STEADY growth not FAST URBAN SPRAWL.

The TIF model in itself isn’t a bad idea, but I think it should be applied to cleaning up neighborhoods. Giving tax rebates to single family homeowners and small apartment owners to clean up the neighborhoods would be a better approach, and it would be a visible economic impact. When individuals have to spend less on taxes and divert that money to improving their properties and lives that means they spend more money on other things that help with sales tax revenue that truly impacts our community. Businesses who use TIFs to expand their businesses don’t pay sales taxes, they just collect them. Give the rebates to individuals who will actually use them to improve lives and contribute to sales tax revenue.

Let’s face it, TIFs right now are truly ‘Corporate Welfare’ and not much else.

UPDATE: Did anyone catch Dusty Johnson in the interview? Mr. Fiscal Conservative ANTI-WELFARE wants to raise the Social Security age gladly preaching the ‘WINS’ about TIFs? We know exactly what Dusty would do in Congress, handout to big business while stepping on the little guy. If I was the Bjorkman campaign I would be clipping this little piece of corporate welfare pie for a future TV commercial.

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