So this is an interesting story;
Before everyone chews me out for the title of the post, I was being sarcastic. But one has to wonder. I have been researching Bloomberg Philanthropies just out of curiosity since PTH has been taking night courses with the organization.
Besides being advocates of Innovation, they also support;
Abortion Rights
Environmentalism
Gun Control
Federalizing Education
Socialized Healthcare
Public Art
Reducing Ethnic Disparities
Bloomberg has also been accused of using his charitable work to influence his political aspirations;
Critics of Bloomberg argue that he has long used his personal wealth to buy political support. For instance, the Financial Times wrote that Bloomberg’s political contributions had freed him to pursue his chosen reforms in the city using it as a laboratory for testing ideas inspired by or subsequently influencing his philanthropy. Items included in this list were tough antismoking rules and a ban on trans-fats in food.
The liberal in me is glad to see PTH taking courses that may make him become more progressive, but I wonder if the public is aware of what kind of organization he is tying the city to? Sometimes I wonder if he is aware?
Have donations to the “Flood Recovery Fund” (set up by the City of Sioux Falls) been distributed yet?
Mayor TenHaken said $7,500 had been received, and that was VERY early on . . . perhaps within hours of it being announced. That’s the only quantifier I’ve seen about how much money came in.
The Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation has been designated as the collecting agency for the donations. While I’ve never requested any grant, etc. from this group, I know some people who have had other dealings with them, and were not happy with the results. Their board, donors & honorees are quite the “who’s who” of Sioux Falls – a real mutual admiration society, if you will.
I believe the SFACF has a $140 million dollar war chest (most of it liquid investments) which – in spite of their very nice ongoing charitable grants, scholarships & monetary awards – grows every year via donations & their investments.
Given the tremendous existing multi-million dollar donations this organization already has on hand, I question why they have been designated to receive and disperse these donated Flood Recovery funds. . . . as opposed to the Red Cross, another existing disaster relief organization, or even some municipal equivalent of a Go Fund Me page, for example.
I believe the citizens who donate to this Flood Recovery Fund deserve confirmation that 100% of the donations received are dispersed to deserving recipients, and that no portion of these donations get absorbed back into one or more of the SFACF fund accounts.
Will we ever know?
UPDATE: According to the Minnehaha County Historical Society FB Page, this would affect the WH Lyons House which is on historical record. It also appears that if your home is flood damaged you wouldn’t get full price for your house.
I guess some of my city moles are leaking stuff to other media sources, GOOD JOB. If we can’t fix open government from the front end we can certainly go thru the back door;
According to a letter obtained by KELOLAND News on City of Sioux Falls letterhead, the city is looking at the possibility of turning recently flooded land into green space.
The letter says the city is looking at the area of Rose and Lotta on the floodplain, just off south Minnesota Avenue, just south of Interstate 229.
The letter says quote “The City’s proposal at this time is to offer voluntary purchases of certain homes in this area.” The letter also says that details are still up in the air, and that the city council has to approve this.
This is actually a great idea. The city has done this in the past of other flood prone areas. The only drawback is that even if the city gives these homeowners a fair market appraised value, a lot of these homes are so modest they may not be able to afford to purchase another home, BUT it may get them out of doing costly repairs. This also may take several years to repurpose the neighborhood. It will be an interesting process to watch.
l3wis