There has been a rumor circulating for awhile that Mayor TenHaken had been thinking about changing the leadership of that building. In fact, when I met with him before the election (April) we briefly talked about it and he sent me a text asking if I had any ideas.
But this isn’t the first time the Pavilion wanted to get their claws into the Orpheum, they actually asked during the Munson administration, but the Pavilion’s finances were so bad at the time, the answer from city hall was a resounding Hell No!
I guess over the past couple of days some SMG employees have been gossiping about the fact that they were told that the Pavilion would take over the Orpheum this summer. Not sure about all the details of the transfer of power. But if the rumors are true, it would be no surprise, because Mayor TenHaken himself told me he was looking at a better use for the facility, and this just might be his grand idea.
“Transparency is a good thing, but at what cost?†said Sioux Falls lawyer Steve Siegel, who represented the trial lawyers. Siegel noted that parties in lawsuits use confidential agreements to keep embarrassing information out of the public, and he noted that the South Dakota Newspaper Association was in favor of the bill.
I guess we only have a right to information if it isn’t embarrassing? Only a lawyer would come up with such a ridiculous excuse. He also apparently tried to peg the SDNA as a tabloid and gossip rag organization. Hey Steve, they represent NEWS organizations, not the National Enquirer.
They also tried to use the tired old excuse that keeping things secret saves money. LOL. How would we know if the settlements are kept secret?;
David Bordewyk, the executive director of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, pointed to the secret settlement that Sioux Falls negotiated with contractors over flawed exterior panels on the Denny Sanford Premier Center. That settlement only became public because a lawsuit had not been filed. The settlement agreement showed that Sioux Falls officials mislead the public about receiving $1 million in cash from the contractors.
That settlement, in which we got $1 million of our own money back, cost taxpayers well over $100,000 to defend it’s secrecy in court. In fact, the Federal government forbids secret settlements because government secrecy tends to cost them billions of dollars a year.
This isn’t about saving money (a lie) but it is probably about embarrassment. We had a mayor who probably signed off on bad siding, and in order to cover it up he lied about a supposed settlement. And even after the city lost the Supreme Court case, the shame and embarrassment didn’t seem to bother him at all, in fact, in true Trump style he doubled down on the lies and to this day has refused to admit if he singed off on the Shi**y siding.
Opening up these settlements will save taxpayers in South Dakota millions of dollars, and maybe the ‘public embarrassment’ will keep these settlements to a bare minimum, if they are not truly deserving. But I don’t think the recipients are the ones that will be embarrassed, it will be the corrupt politicians who got our tit in a wringer to begin with, and to that I say OPEN THE BOOKS!
It took about two-thirds into the first year of TenHaken’s term for him to officially, and quite blatantly break a campaign promise about transparency;
A group of Sioux Falls citizens hand-picked by Mayor Paul TenHaken to determine the future of the events center campus in northern Sioux Falls will meet in secret over the next six months.
Sure, there have been other moments of weakness, like that splendid contract he let Thune, the FCC and Verizon write without the interference of the public nosing around in it. But having a hand picked task force that meets behind closed doors, isn’t exactly a great idea. Of course his ‘Hitman’ T.J. TypeOver doesn’t think it is a big deal, and offers his B.S. excuse;
noting that its meetings won’t be open to the public, comparing the work the group does to that of a consultant, which, if hired, wouldn’t be required to compile its recommendations in a public setting.
Hey, TypeOver, consultants are professionals that are hired to give their expertise on a specific recommendation. They are not a hand picked volunteer group by the mayor. There are NO similarities in what they do and certainly in what they are paid. TypeOver has given some pretty bad excuses in the past to keep things secret, but this one takes the cake.
There is nothing wrong with allowing the public to sit in and listen to these meetings. Just like the naming committee with the SFSD, there was absolutely no reason not to have the public present. In fact it makes your process more believable and trustworthy. But Chicken Little still wants you to think that transparency equals the sky is falling;
“They’re not in a decision-making role,” Nelson said. “We want to make sure we have the most open and candid conversation possible.”
If they are making NO decisions, what are they having ‘candid’ conversations about? That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard a city official say. He should be canned on that statement alone.
Candid conversations happen in a PUBLIC SETTING, just watch public input at the city council each week.
I guess I don’t understand all this need for secrecy in city government. As we have found out in the past, the only reason city government has kept anything secret is because of corruption. So keep having secret meetings TJ and Paul. We know the REAL reason why these meetings are secret, and it’s not to help and protect the public’s best interest.
I have often thought the sell-job we got on the opt-out really didn’t add up. I was looking at my property tax bill today and got suspicious where it lists the school opt-out. I didn’t think much of it until a South DaCola foot soldier posted this comment;
I just checked last year’s tax bill. It was $ 1164.57 for the year. Now, it is $ 1261.49. So, the increase for our modest home is $ 96.92 from ’17 to ’18. So where is that extra $ 16.75 coming from? I guess merely from an annual increase, which does not need opt out approval, huh?
I also noticed that my 2017 tax bill acknowledges a $ 80.33 opt out cost, too, which is found within the $ 1164.57. So the $80.17 mentioned for 2018 does not include past opt outs. So what was suppose to be $24, or $30 in my case – based on the honest evaluation of my home – has somehow become $ 80.17. That $ 50.17 difference might not seem to be much, but how can $24 ,or $30, becoming $50.17 be true transparency?
I looked at the value of my home and extrapolated for a $200K house. The tax increase for the opt-out for the school bond would actually be about $8 a month, NOT $2 a month.
So if this is true, how did the $2 a month promise turn into 4 times that amount? Probably like how a hand tabulated election by the school district’s finance department got a 85% passage rate.
Some thing has been nagging at me during this supposed government shutdown. I wanted to wait until it was re-opened (temporarily) before saying anything. This certainly could have went on for 3 months, maybe even 6 months, but I figured with tax return season just around the corner, that was NOT going to happen. Recent polls have the president’s approval of the shutdown at around 30%. It was bound to end.
While I feel bad for Federal workers who had to either work without pay (they will get back pay) and especially workers who got furloughed and NO pay for over 30 days, I wondered where all this panic for food bank relief for Federal workers came from?
Since I have been on my own (18 yrs old) I have never taken SNAP benefits, unemployment benefits or food from a food bank or soup kitchen. I’m not bragging. I have gotten a couple small government grants that have totaled under $2,000 and have borrowed money from time to time from my grandparents (and paid most of it back).
I guess when I have been faced with challenges, I didn’t go running for handouts or charity. I find it hard to believe that Federal workers, especially employees who get many great benefits and if you are tenured over 40 days in vacation and holidays a year, that they didn’t have enough in savings to buy groceries and pay bills for a month.
Really?! C’mon!
I will agree, our president and congress don’t help matters, but hey, we elected them, we are the only ones to blame. It also doesn’t help that restaurants around town were handing out free pancakes and beer to every poor soul who got a month long unpaid vacation. You are not helping the situation. Sympathy is one thing, handouts are another. Instead we should be targeting our dismay over the shutdown towards changing what is going on in DC, and takes the courage to throw these lawmakers out.
Like I said, if this shutdown would have went longer than 3 months, then I would see the concern, but I figure like the rest of us who don’t work for the Feds but pay those that do, most of them would have just found other jobs or drawn unemployment.
Now that the shutdown is over, maybe a Federal worker can afford to buy me a pancake and a beer.
l3wis 