While I commend PTH for wanting to do charity work half-way across the world, he should look in his backyard;
He may now be Mayor, but that’s not stopping TenHaken from making his annual trip to help those in need in a Haitian city called Ti Riviere.
“This is how I’m going to spend a week of vacation every year. This is not a city junket. This is not a political trip. This is me needing to go to Haiti to recharge my batteries and get some perspective each year,” TenHaken said.
Just look at our school system, half of the students are on FREE and reduced lunches. Some of the schools in the poorer neighborhoods are around 90%. Recently a study determined that a neighborhood by North Cliff is a food dessert. The Banquet is expanding to the Westside of the city. Week after week a concerned citizen shows up to the city council meeting and begs the mayor to open a temporary shelter for those who get turned away at the other ‘god-fearing’ joints. There is county a few hundred miles from here on the reservation that is considered the poorest in the nation. If PTH wants to help the poor, he just needs to look out the backdoor of city hall. With our low wage work environment, he will find plenty who need help.
UPDATE: I also find it a bit ironic that PTH mentions this was NOT a junket but he paid for it himself. Did you know Sioux Falls mayors have unlimited vacation time? And I guess PTH has been maxing that fringe benefit quite a bit. This is why he had to allow COS Beck to be part-time mayor in his absence.
But it gets even better, I guess Public Works director Cotter went along for the ride to study ‘infrastructure’. No offense, but wouldn’t you be studying the ‘LACK’ of infrastructure? Also if this was a ‘fact finding’ mission for Cotter, did the taxpayers of Sioux Falls pay for it? Did PTH pay his way? As I understand it, this is missionary work, and the fine line between government and religion could have been crossed. But I think the pressing question is, ‘Who in their right mind would take a vacation with their boss, to an undeveloped country, to read the bible to the natives?’
Didn’t he say during the campaign that one of the reasons he goes to Haiti is to learn, or refresh his memory, of what it is like to be a minority?
Well, as you mentioned, there is a county a few hundred miles from here, that could get that job done for him.
I wonder if his “B student” knows what kind of country he likes to go to?
Real charity work doesn’t involve selfies with the less fortunate. Charity for narcissism is sick.
The city of Sioux Falls is sounding more and more like Scientology. How can you grow tax exempt with focused priority? Is the TenHaken term oriented on Nordic white supremacy?
So all of those pictures of Barry and Michelle serving hot meals to the hungry was really not them doing charity work? I expect that this mayor has done plenty of work in this community as well- I am personally aware of some of it. I have not seen your posts being critical of Bill Clinton for his Haiti relief efforts when there is poverty in Arkansas and New York. And yes I know that Paul TH is not president but that doesn’t mean he has to limit where he chooses to serve.
DS – He’s Dutch, wrong country.
MJ, what did I say in the first sentence? I commend the Mayor for doing charity work. But I think there is something in the Bible about taking care of your own home before helping others. We have plenty of people in this community that could use a week of the Mayor’s time.
Also, WTF is your obsession with Bill Clinton anyway? he hasn’t been president for almost 20 years. Get over it already. It’s the typical Conservative talking point boogie man, Bill Clinton.
Trump is worse than Clinton. We’re lucky to have TenHaken compared to either. Trumps next move is to fire the rest of the cabinet and hire the Radio City Rockets. Call them the Trump-ets
316,000 people were killed in Haiti in the 2010 earthquake. Bill Clinton was not President and partnered with George H. W. Bush (also no longer President) to raise funds to help.
Haiti today is still a problem but not of the same magnitude.
This blog is great for local information and every once in a while there is crazy stuff like this post. This type of criticism only divides us further. The challenges of our city and state does not mean people can’t serve in other parts of the world.
This post is full of unnecessary mocking. The policies of the mayor are fair game. If there are policies that you think are hurting people then we should discuss those not mock a caring person.
Please share your Bible insight about taking care of your own first.
Well, if you insist;
1 Timothy 3:4-5, He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
Clinton, Bush43, and TenNixon should partner up. One lied about a GAP dress, an other one lied about some yellow cake from Africa, and then an other about transparency….. And if you are transparent, then it becomes really hard to lie….
I have missed the wtfs when Bush and Cheney are mentioned- I am sure they are there; your bible verse says nothing about charity as you suggest; I am pretty sure we were encouraged to go to all nations to spread the word of God
Not often I get a chance to say this. LJL’s post #2 says it all.