Of course they don’t want to acknowledge they keep score.
“As public servants, we don’t keep score. It’s about doing what’s right. We do what is best for the public and the community as a whole to move our great city forward and care for its citizenry,” TenHaken said Thursday after seeing Starr’s Facebook post.
It is always interesting how shallow the 5 and mayor are. There is no ability to see past their winner takes all attitude. This is not a football game. This is government where the people elect representatives to work together to craft solutions good for as many as possible without trampling the rights of the less powerful. Why is it when the public wins, sore heads like the six work so hard to make it seem like the public didn’t win anything.
The classic line from Vince Lombardi “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” just isn’t supposed to apply to government. Â
“TenHaken’s deputy chief of staff T.J. Nelson said none of the three councilors who opposed the street vacation were involved in crafting the compromise proposal.â€
Those of us who have worked for years to open the doors to Sioux Falls city government find humor in the following statement.
“Kiley said Starr’s role in finding compromise was minimal at best and his response to it isn’t productive for Lifescape or the community.â€
Of course they were not involved, the doors of power have been locked to keep the three councilors out. If the doors had been open to any of the three to contribute, it would have validated their concerns. The way this has been handled including not informing the whole council before the media shows this administration does not understand the importance of or care to give respect to the Council. Â This process shows the way the simple moronic authoritarian ways of city hall are perpetuated post-Huether.
The compromise was hatched by citizens during the September street vacation public input. The compromise proposal was cultivated by neighbors. The ill-conceived second vacation vote did not address the neighbor’s concerns or the mismatched and ill-fitting proposal being forced on the Council during the last vote. The legal process was followed and the voting showed the vacation was legally rejected by the Council.
“I wish the effort and energy it requires to take credit for things he has little if any invovlement would be placed in a more positive and constructive fashion for citizens, especially those who struggle with disabilities,” he said.
Mr. Kiley in speaking for the losing majority seems to forget his hours of lectures he and a few others on the Council have forced us to listen to as they have crafted their demands for the three to be subservient to the majority’s wishes. The March 5, 2019 Council meeting incident where Mr. Kiley cried out to the mayor about an audience member laughing at his pompous buffoonery just shows how weak he really is when faced with opposition.
Just think how much more could be accomplished if the leader of the administration and his followers on the Council tried to compromise?
Start link: Â https://youtu.be/Dopk4WwAW7Q?t=6192
Very true and well written. Hope that the citizens pay attention to what goes on and make their voices heard at the next election.
One thing I learned and applied working 35 years as a consultant was I was ignorant and should listen to all sides of an argument. An answer was a summary from the input of all parties. Giving an opinion based on their expert strategy was the answer. It was simply a matter of bringing into play a little from all factions. I appeased their ego and they considered me a genius for what I didn’t know before I listened, studied, and applied. It worked for presentations to MIT, Times Mirror, GE, and others. Don’t tell but I don’t have a college degree nor enough background. They needed someone to blame if it went wrong.
Political types are worse. They’re looking for someone to take the bullet just so they save face. Low level city politicians are scum. They’ll sacrifice their mother if necessary.
The secret is to make the mayor and council important feeling as if they have a career in politics. Sure, they’ll succumb to paydays from developers. What’s really hard is undeserved tributes and bows from the general population. They must spend half the budget on people and infrastructure. We’re lucky they aren’t buying indoor tennis for themselves and should be happy from the crumbs. Fortunately, they’re terms are limited and they’ll disappear into history with their families cringing from any notariety.
Somehow this is worthy of front page news in the Argus. I wonder who went to who to make it so?
As the most outspoken of the three home owners involved in the Lifescape debacle, I have to thank again the 3 Council Members that stood with us, the neighborhood, when our own Council Representative did not. There can be a compromise when there has to be. No, the 3 members were not involved in the compromise nor were the neighbors HOWEVER, isn’t it curious that the new compromise has 4 issues in the design I personally brought up at the City Center meeting before the last vote. Each one of those suggestions were shot down by the city employees saying a parking lot in a residential area didn’t allow for such things because of zoning restraints. I suggested easements or variances and that was met with a solid NO IT’S NOT ALLOWED. Now, here they pop up this time and the Mayor is taking credit along with the others who only wanted to give away tax payer land to a non profit so they can drive up their resale price. Maybe the biggest thing we take from this is LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS BECAUSE THEY HAVE THESE ANSWERS AND COMPROMISES AND YOU ONLY GIVE IN WHEN YOU ARE FORCED TO AND THEN YOU TAKE CREDIT. I will happy to take credit when the 5 and Mayor lose their next elections cause I will be out there….. reminding people of their antics and behavior which is unacceptable in children and very unattractive in adults that are supposed to be setting an example!
Great post Janelle. Would be an eye opening letter to the editor.
Bruce, I have watched what you speak of many times. You are there for nearly all meetings. Could you provide a laundry list of contentious issues where the true citizen advocates are shut out of further discussions.
Great post Janelle, and kudos for persistence in speaking truth to power.
What about the comment Kiley made how now with the street still open the city will have to continue maintaining it! He was hoping if it’s a parking lot they wouldn’t have to maintain it. So that shows he really doesn’t care about SIoux Falls. Especially the streets and probably sidewalks!
WP, what year do you want to start? I became a citizen activist in Sioux Falls government because the abuses experienced starting in 2010. Remember who took over then? When it starts affecting you personally without cause, you must do something.
You think appropriately, Jannelle. I think you should consider running for the council!
Sorry Bruce, Neitzert is the one that said it not Kiley.
damn you jannelle cain, you and your vocal minority ruining things for mathew paulson’s silent majority!
I am a Republican and will not be voting for TenHanken (or Noem & Johnson) next election that is for sure.
I also would like to start attending some meetings in the future so if anyone could give me advice on how it works on if you have concerns you want to bring up what kind of notice the city needs and how to go about doing so. Thanks!
If the article is read in the Argus Leader carefully you will note Joe Sneve is quoting Kiley:
“Kiley said Starr’s role in finding compromise was minimal at best and his response to it isn’t productive for Lifescape or the community.
“I wish the effort and energy it requires to take credit for things he has little if any invovlement would be placed in a more positive and constructive fashion for citizens, especially those who struggle with disabilities,” he said.”
I think the five and their cheerleaders should start their education in self awareness by reading this article.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e320/9ca64cbed9a441e55568797cbd3683cf7f8c.pdf
The article gets to the core of why the five should start listening to their constituents. Sadly, I think the five confuse executing instructions from their echo chamber of campaign contributors, the contributor’s shills and city staff with listening to and representing constituents.
I would suggest that the neighborhood insist on a requirement that the parking lot revert to single family zoning if it stops being used as a parking lot. Otherwise the Mayor and his zoning folks will retaliate and rezone it to a helipad or 24 hour truck stop or some other equally inappropriate thing in the middle of the night. The Mayor and zoning staff secretly approved the razing of the single family homes which effectively rezoned the neighborhood. I don’t see a 24 hour truck stop as any less likely than that. The neighborhood should also insist that any razing permit for more than one house, or any razing which is not being replaced by another house requires rezoning prior to approval of the permit. I suspect that our zoning enforcement expert has a creative excuse as to why razing six house in a block isn’t a de-facto illegal rezoning. Maybe they said they were going to build a giant yellow 3 story house with a big yard and that was the magic pass phrase for anything goes.
I think Experienced is being unfair to our esteemed city leadership. I doubt the mayor and zoning staff are planning for a truck stop or helipad. An ambulance shelter with lots of sirens and lights is more likely. They can use the excuse the location is across from a hospital even if those ambulances won’t stop at that particular hospital.