I hope he wears underwear
l3wis 
2019
UPDATE: Why was the city secretly experimenting with a parking app without telling the public until caught?
UPDATE: So I accidentally ran into someone tonight who explained the issue to me. I guess the ‘APP’ is NOT the problem, I guess the problem is the app is not communicating with our parking meters correctly. I guess the city is not using a very good telecom (not Verizon) for the communications to the meters which is causing the issue. This surprises me since the city just rolled out 5G with Verizon.
They finally announced today, but not until some folks on FB caught them. It seems to be happening at city hall a lot these days from potholes and floods to transparency, every time someone busts them they announce they are working on the issue;
The City soft launched the app in late 2018 for downtown parking ramps. Since then, the reach of the app has expanded to include many downtown parking meters. Soft launching the app to the public will help the City gain appropriate feedback to ensure potential bugs and issues are worked out before the official rollout, planned for August 2019.
So I guess the city’s innovation department is using us as lab rats for not just 5G, but now parking apps. I will post later about how Bloomberg is using our mayor as a lab rat. What I find interesting is that this gives meter maids a heads up of what meters are expired. Maybe this was a revenue idea they wanted to keep secret.
This was the response from the city;
Jason ReisdorferI appreciate everyone’s passion with regards to this app. We think it’s going to be a big win for the downtown scene. This app wasn’t built on the backs of the taxpayers and we’re not paying to have it developed. This is a free add-on to the pay by CC meters the city purchased (before my time). We compared several similar products, this one is the best option for our citizens for several reasons. We have been working closely with the app developers to work out the bugs and to get the locations geolocated properly. If you followed me at all with the ‘SF App’ launch, you will know that I promoted the heck out of it once we were ready…but it was live for several weeks in public beta before it was launched because I wanted thorough testing before a bunch of people jumped on and had issues and a bad user experience. There’s no reason that we’d want to keep something this awesome a secret…I just wanted it to work properly. I think KSFY is running a story tonight, and now that the cat is out of the bag on this, we’ll launch a presser tomorrow…but like anything new, I’d ask for your patience as we’re about 2 weeks ahead of schedule for when we wanted this thing pushed out full scale. I’m confident all you smart people can help us work out the bugs, so send me any feedback you have while using it and we’ll pass them along to the developers. Thanks for all the support! #OneSiouxFalls
Great video here;
City requiring ‘Pre-Registration’ for media event about Transit
So I guess now the public and media need to ‘Pre-Register’ for press conferences because there seems to be a shortage of chairs . . . kind of like the EC Campus book club meeting.
This new administration really doesn’t understand open government.
Is Mayor TenHaken a ‘Lab Rat’ for Bloomberg?
I recently read this interview with Mayor TenHaken;
TenHaken, 41, entered office with lots of ideas from his private-sector days about how to build an innovative culture. He said it all went into overdrive last summer. That’s when he joined 39 other mayors to kick off a yearlong executive training program through the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
While PTH may find this as a great opportunity for the city (but mostly himself, on our dime) I have often been of the opinion that we should elect leaders that are ready to lead. On the job training is NOT a great attribute in a city administrator. In fact, other cities that have actual city administrators instead of a strong mayor setup hire administrators with experience or at least degrees in the field.
That’s why the Bloomberg Leadership training seems like some Harvard experiment to see how much they can influence local government across the country. And quite frankly it is quite scary how much PTH is following suit.
What strikes me is the cultish appeal this “human-centered design” problem solving method of approach seems to have among the leaders & quoted participants (which has actually been around for decades).
“By the time Sioux Falls is ready to start piloting some solutions this summer, they’ll have confidence that they’re on to ideas that respond to real needs in the community, are likely to work, and represent innovation for Sioux Falls and its residents.”
Now, granted: those are presumably the words of whoever wrote this article for Bloomberg Cities (I don’t see a byline). However, it’s a pretty bold statement which seems to say this is a can’t lose proposition. I’m not inclined to believe very many “it can’t lose” claims.
Maybe it is just PTH and his young crew. He and his tribe seem smug; holding their cards close. Elbowing ahead with little explanation for the public about their process and goals. They know better. They have it all figured out. Brats!
It is frustrating to read quotes like this from Paul;
“We’ve got so many problems in the city that we were tackling the same way we did 10 years ago, and making two degrees of change,†TenHaken said. “That’s not enough”,
Especially in light of this pothole response. Is that just being perpetually critical of new ideas which aren’t mine/ours? Well, to a certain extent . . . yeah, probably. But, also – in the same way Former Mayor Bowlcut & Bucktooth wanted to erect monuments to himself while neglecting infrastructure – I think PTH is focused on intellectually titillating, entrepreneurially-exciting new org charts for municipal government and hi-tech innovations . . . to the exclusion of the basics. I remain a devotee of a healthy dose of “You gotta walk before you can run”; make sure you can take care of what you’ve already built before you take on more. Sure. Solving public transportation issues has merit and it deserves attention concurrent with other municipal responsibilities. But, fixing more potholes more quickly doesn’t take “cross-departmental synthesizing of key insights “, for chrissakes. Simply greater emphasis, higher expenditures: more teams, more trucks, more patch materials.
Innovation?
Maybe further explore new patching products (letting contractors in Europe handle their own R & D has helped them to construct better roads). And, instead of coddling department heads & staff for doing what they’ve always done (“Ohhh, we have to endlessly express our appreciation to our employees and bring them donuts” – I’m sure Wellness Director Michaels loves that), a leader (boss/administrator/head honcho) needs to hold his subordinates accountable. What successful coach babies his players to get winning results out of them??!!!! I guess one that gets it’s training from Bloomberg.
(CHB contributed to this post)
Financial Comparison between Pavilion & DSPC
I found this comparison interesting. I had to use 2017 numbers because the Pavilion usually doesn’t release last year’s financials until June(?).
Just for the record, I’m not trying to dig up dirt, I just found the way the two institutions generate revenue and expenses to be interesting.
One of the most stark differences is expenses.
Click to enlarge graphic
