RIP – Aretha Franklin
l3wis I consider myself lucky I got to see her in 2015 at Saturday in the Park.
2018
Is Hultgren still involved w/new building at former Copper Lounge site?
Hultgren may still be profiting from something he helped destroy (May 10, 2018 City Council Meeting);
Item #13, Transfer of 2018 Retail Liquor License, including Sunday sales and video lottery terminals, from Pave LLC, Pave, 130 South Phillips Avenue, to Pave LLC, Pave, 130 South Phillips Ave and Level 2 of 136 South Phillips Ave.
This transfer of the Liquor license is for the rooftop patio for Pave. That patio is above the new Lewis Drug Downtown, the former Copper Lounge site. While there is nothing nefarious about extending a license for a rooftop patio, Pave’s ownership is questionable. Originally Hultgren was a substantial owner/stakeholder in Pave. Is he still? And if so, does our city council and licensing department know?
It seems Hultgren may still have his hands in the cookie jar. As I told the council last night, this fiasco will continue to replay, over, and over again in the media.
Anti-Citizen (Municipal) League continues to lobby against our best interests
The taxpayer funded legislative lobbyist Muni-League decided to rear their head again with the city council’s supposed ‘legislative’ priorities (Item #15). But some councilors weren’t buying it. Stehly had an issue with TIFs, some wondered how the county’s priorities got mixed in with it, and councilor Brekke was curious when they even talked about it.
The rumor going around is that a couple of councilors met with Minnehaha County Chair, Heiberger and cooked this up with the help of the Muni-League.
And let’s talk about them. We pay them to lobby for higher taxes (they continually try to sucker the legislature into letting cities raise an extra penny tax for ‘special projects’ with a sunset clause. NO taxes ever ‘sunset’. Once implemented, they are there forever. Look at the 3rd penny entertainment tax in SF for paying off Pavilion bonds. That tax was supposed to sunset after the bonds were paid off. That was 4-5 years ago. Still exists. They also support TIF’s which are nothing more than a tax rebate/welfare program for developers. Most times they have little to NO economic impact except raising property taxes on the rest of us.
It’s time the city cuts ties with the Muni-League. The Sioux Falls city council already has a legislative director/operations manager that makes close to $100K a year. The council praises his hard work, and he is very capable of lobbying for the city. As taxpayers we don’t need to pay another lobbyist to lobby against our interests.
Sioux Falls City Council engages in a ‘Healthy Debate’
I have to say it was refreshing to watch the city council tonight (from my comfortable stool position at Club David). They engaged in a very respectful debate about the agenda items, while challenging the city directors.
I have to say that it has been over a decade since I have seen this. I really believe that the former administration stifled this debate by cutting off several councilors and calling on his army of ‘rubber stampers’ to shame other councilors into ‘going along’ while praising city management.
While many have told me they are disappointed in the lack of engagement by the current mayor and chair of the meetings, I would say I quietly applaud Mayor TenHaken for letting the city council conduct their business without his interference or the interference of city directors. He is doing the right thing by ‘chairing’ the meeting and NOT ‘dictating’ it.
Some might argue it may be his lack of experience, and that may be true, but I also think he knows that this is ‘their’ time and NOT his.
While I have my disagreements with some of the things said tonight or decisions made, I really think that the sausage making was done the way it is supposed to be done. The legislative branch (the council) hashing this out without the influence of the mayor’s office or a department.
Bravo to ALL eight of you tonight for keeping it real, and conducting city business in such a concerning and passionate form. Let us not let history repeat itself moving forward in this new term.
CITI used us and moved on
Bravo to the Local Union for calling out CITI;
Kooper Caraway, Sioux Falls AFL-CIO President says Citi isn’t answering any of the questions, as to where these jobs are being transferred.
“Basically what we want is the attention of the South Dakota congressional delegation, we want them to support and sign on to legislation that speaks to limit big banks and big cooperations to send American jobs and particularly South Dakota jobs overseas,” he said.
They made their money here. They got a huge Federal bailout. And now they are leaving. Billy Bob Janks cooked up this scheme years ago and there was nothing holding their feet to the fire.