I was glad to hear PTH talk about dedicating more money to roads and infrastructure. In the case of the water department and reclamation, we really have no choice. As for roads, the 2nd penny is SUPPOSED to be mostly dedicated to these kind of projects, but we have gone off the rails a bit over the past 16 years building play palaces.
When it comes to streets, what I would really like to see is more money being dedicated to engineering the streets better. The city needs to partner with local contractors to build better roads by investing in research and development. Instead of sending our Public Works director to a 3rd world country to teach people about Jesus and running water, we need to be sending him to Europe to learn how they build stronger, better roads. We also need to start making contractors warranty their work. Will this make our roads cost more? Yes, but the payoff is that they will last longer. I have often joked that our pothole hotline should be called as much as the Maytag repairman, this happens by building roads that don’t crumble every Spring when we have a slight temperature change.
While I appreciate the bigger investment in roads (even though it is what the money is really supposed to be used for) I would like to see more innovation building those roads. Wouldn’t it be great if the city became the leader in the Midwest for building rock solid infrastructure and roads. Wouldn’t it be great if people visiting our city talked about our modern euro-style roads instead of our money sucking Events Center?
I would also like to give a thumbs up to whoever decided to finally fix the roller coaster ride on Cliff Avenue in front of Avera last week. It only took them about 5 days to fix something that has been horrible for around 3 years. The only other question I have is ‘What took so long?’
The real irony with all of this is that when City Commissioner Loila Hunking got the second penny added in 1983, she first used the the extra penny to fund the replacement of asphalt with cement at all of the major intersections to reduce potholes.
Now, speed forward some 36 years later and we are now laying asphalt over cement to alleviate our pothole problems on major thoroughways in this town.
It looks and feels great, but how long will it last?
Hunking got elected in a close race against fellow Democrat, Neal Hines, in June of 1983. Hines wanted to replace asphalt with cement like they did in Sioux City at the time, while Hunking claimed she just wanted better roads. Then once elected, Hunking elected to go with cement, well, at least at the intersections, that is.
….#AsphaltOrCement?…..#CanYouBuildABunkerRampOutOfAsphalt?
South Dakota is struggling to keep white workers, infrastructure is crumbing, industrial agriculture is failing, South Dakota churches are girding for gun violence, meth is replacing alcohol as the state’s drug of choice, Pierre’s culture of corruption and rape violence threaten open government, socialism is quietly replacing free enterprise, pheasant numbers are dwindling, environmental degradation is increasing, wildlife are being exterminated to make way for disease-ridden domestic livestock and exotic fowl, jails far outnumber colleges, ag bankers continue to enslave landowners and the state’s medical industry monopoly operates without scrutiny.
What’s not to like about six (seven? eight?) month winters, rampant racism, chilling effects on civil rights, an extremist legislature, living in a chemical toilet, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area? Unless your Social Security pays your property taxes you’re just another poor grudznick eking out a living and bleeding out every penny you can scrabble.
An old grumble but I’d like to see an east west thorofare from 12th & I-29 to 26th & I-229. There’s right-of-way by taking 30′ extra along West 12th and along abandoned railroad Grange to 26th. It’d boost slow business activity on 12th. There could be feeder 3 block doglegs to all 3 hospitals and downtown. Imagine fast access to any hospital and quick access to burgeoning downtown.
Kurtz, Mercy, mercy! You hit that nail so very hard, it’s sad but true and in your backyard. The CIA is at it hard, watching those poppies grow so we can all become retards. It’s getting harder and harder to get through the day as I try to stand up to the reality of each day. If Jesus’ is coming, now would be a good time, because I don’t know if there’s a tomorrow as we’re loosing more time……………….