South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2019

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Cathy B. Makes a pitch to help non-profits

l3wis 0Comments

During the last Parks Board Meeting, Cathy asks the board to discount the booth rates during festivals in city parks for non-profits. She confessed this wasn’t the first time she asked, but was told she had to go thru the proper channels (we will get to that in a moment).

Cathy showed the board how other cities charge non-profits less during festivals. Seems like a great idea. They did their normal ‘Thanks for your time.”

But what I found interesting was Cathy was told she needed to go thru the Parks Board first before the city council. I guess they have to put their ‘blessing’ on it.

Hogwash!

The Sioux Falls city council is the policy making body of the city (it’s written in charter) not the Parks Board (volunteers) or the Parks Director (appointed). The city council could easily move to change the non-profit rate, with or without the ‘blessing’ of the parks board, the director or even the mayor.

SF School District Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls School Board Member votes ‘NO’

l3wis 1Comments

While watching Monday’s SF School Board meeting I just about fell out of my chair. Member Reiter actually voted against the Dual Immersion program because she felt it needed more studying before implementing it. If you think the SF City Council is a bunch of rubber stampers, you should see the school board. They vote consistently YES on everything. And if there is any NO votes it is usually just one member, so it really doesn’t matter. There is also very little dissent in the discussion. Councilor Rick Kiley would fit right in because everything is always rosy and great.

The public testimony on dual immersion was also interesting. A mother of Hispanic decent who had kids in the school district felt it was an important program to implement so her children (I assume who were born in America and speak English) could speak better Spanish. She told the board that while she could try to teach her children the language she felt she didn’t have the professional experience as a Spanish teacher would to teach them properly. An argument I wasn’t expecting.

Several parents spoke, but nobody talked about the advantage of Hispanic kids learning English. Go figure. I actually think the dual immersion program should be Spanish and Mandarin.

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

As I predicted, Sioux Steel site wants to get TIFilicious

l3wis 6Comments

And they are partnering with the King of TIFs, Lloyd Companies;

The steel manufacturer is partnering with local developer Lloyd Companies to redevelop the company’s nearly 11-acre property along the Big Sioux River north of East Sixth Street, it announced Thursday afternoon.

Rysdon said future parking needs will likely include the need for a parking ramp on the site for both visitors to the hotel and convention center as well as nearby attractions, and will likely involve asking the City of Sioux Falls for tax-incremented financing (TIF).

“The city talked about 3,500 parking spaces within a five-block area, but I just don’t think, without a ramp, that Levitt Shell is going to see the same volume of traffic that it could,” Rysdon said. “The success ultimately depends on us working together to build those cultural, iconic experiences and in that way, we’ll build an engine for growth here in this city.”

As I have said in the past, I take serious issue with giving Sioux Steel a TIF to clean up land they polluted for almost 100 years. You created the mess, you clean it up on your own dime. If the city needs your parking, we can lease it from you.

As for parking why not WALK or RIDE BIKE to an outdoor summer concert? We have a bike trail from two directions that go into the Levitt as well as several streets. There really is no reason you need to drive your car to events there, since you won’t be able to cart your own beer cooler in anyway.

Ethics Event Center Mayor TenHaken Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls T.J. Nelson Theresa Stehly

So who is lying about the openness of the Events Center Campus Book Club?

l3wis 5Comments

The ‘Painless’ Meeting in Public

We watched as this all played out. The meetings were going to remain closed, the TenHaken administration was digging in their heels. Then councilors Starr and Stehly bring a resolution forward opening the meetings. All of sudden the Task Force was claiming they decided they were going to open them up all on their own according to some secret vote, in a secret meeting and informed the Mayor in a secret email (to this day no one has seen);

An email from the event center group’s co-chairs Dan Statema and Jeff Eckhoff to Mayor Paul TenHaken said that the group had voted at their first meeting on Feb. 27 to allow the public and media to attend the rest of the meetings.

“We see no harm in having interested parties gain the same education we are as we progress through this process,” the email read.

Now fast forward today to the first open meeting. Deputy COS TJ Typeover tells those TV folks this;

“Pat Starr and I brought forth a resolution when we found out these meetings were going to be closed to the public and the resolution requested that they open the meeting and as a result of that the meetings have been opened,” says Stehly.

“After the first meeting they talked in between that meeting and this meeting and decided to open these up to the public,” says Nelson.

So which is it TJ? Did they vote on it? Did they decide later? My guess is both stories are TOTAL BS. You and the Mayor decided to open these meetings up after pressure from Starr and Stehly. Just admit it. Because just lying about it makes you look even more foolish, and certainly NOT transparent.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Sioux Falls

Events Center Revenue down over the past 3 years

l3wis 13Comments

Finally the chart I have been waiting for. I found it in the back of a booklet handed out at the EC Campus Book Club meeting today (click on image to enlarge);

In fact, if you look at the numbers closely you will see that the Denty actually would have a $1 Million year loss if it were not for sponsorships. Add the almost $10 Million a year in mortgage payments then you figure out why we are dodging potholes.

I also wonder if the city survey ever asks if people attend events at the Denty, or Pavilion, Orpheum, Arena, MAC, etc.? I would be curious just what percentage of Sioux Falls residents attend events.

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