Remember Bruce Halverson? He decided to run for mayor in 2006 when incumbent Dave Munson dropped out of the race because he violated city charter by approving a 100% cost overrun on Phillips to the Falls without council approval. Than when the city council chickened out and didn’t file charges against Munson, he decided to run for re-election. The Halverson camp WAS NOT happy about the switcheroo.
So when the Halversons left about a decade ago, it was no surprise after being burned.
Bruce’s wife, Nancy now will run the Levitt. Nancy Halverson had a great reputation before leaving Sioux Falls in support of the local arts scene. I think she will do a great job, just try to keep Bruce out of local politics, it has gotten much worse over the past 10 years.
“This agreement finalizes the strategic partnership that will drive the development of the USD Discovery District forward,†said Rich Naser, president of the district. “We selected Tetrad Property Group for their industry expertise and capacity to invest equity into projects — among other factors. Our partnership will accelerate the timeline of projects and position the park to attract new tenants — and the right type of tenants.â€
The 10-year agreement includes the Discovery District overseeing infrastructure for the property, including streets, sidewalks, utilities and signage in addition to grounds and common areas. The two organizations will team up to market and manage the district up to the 10-year mark or the completion of the initial 400,000 square feet.
So the state and city coffers are investing in project that will attract workers from out of state and being developed by an out of state developer. Funny how they never mentioned this when asking for money from the Sioux Falls city council. Maybe we should change the name to the Nebraska Discovery Center funded by the generous taxpayers of South Dakota.
Walks like a duck, smells like a fish. Not sure what to think after watching the latest episode of the Sioux Falls School District working session. Besides the fact that no one can speak into a microphone properly, there is a lot of missing data;
• How much will the bond cost over it’s 25 year life span? I’m guessing north of $300 million. And when you tack that on to city debt and county debt for a jail and another opt out for the county we are looking at around $700 million in debt for the jurisdiction of Sioux Falls. Getting really spendy to live here.
• How much will that $2 a month property tax increase compound over the next 25 years? Oh, that’s right, more crickets.
• A $190 million dollar bond with a $40 million dollar ‘slush fund’ for ‘TLC’ that they will figure out ‘later’. That’s frugal and strategic planning at it’s best.
• A survey postcard sent to (some) unregistered voters with a 4.5% return on an unscientific online poll to which school board member Alberty commented was ‘reassuring’. Kent, I was in tears after that comment.
• Record commercial building permits over the past decade, so why isn’t the property tax revenue there? Seriously? WHY!!!!????
• How will the special election be held? They claim it must happen in September to secure the 2019 budget per state law, yet this is a local bond issue that doesn’t effect the regular operating budget AND will be funded locally AND can be amended later in the budget. In other words, they could hold this election with the general in November at little cost to the district. So why don’t they? Greed? Manipulation? Our county auditor sucks? Well, that last one is true.
l3wis 
