Just look at what our legislature does each year to encourage racism and less tolerance. Anti-choice laws, little access to affordable healthcare, open carry, bathroom bills, resisting other languages for driver’s licenses, etc. This is what happens when you have one-party rule, and that party SUCKS!
It takes more than an attitude or culture change, it takes a LEADERSHIP change, and until that happens in Pierre and in the City Halls and County Commission chambers across this state, we will continue to legislate hate instead of tolerance.
I find it a little ironic that our mayor said he scaled back a compassion program in the city because he wants others to chip in. What he fails to mention is he supposedly fired the person in charge of the program.
Make no mistake, those in power are quite happy with our Lilly-White community, and they want it to stay that way . . . at least in their minds.
During the last city council race, candidate Nick Weiland suggested that the city implement participatory budgeting. It’s not a new concept, but something that has evolved over the years thru technology.
When Councilor Stehly attended the NLC’s conference a few years ago, she also was introduced to the concept.
We don’t have it in Sioux Falls, in fact, we don’t even have anything that comes close.
I have been following city budgets for the past 13 years, all I have ever seen is a massive growth in government and fewer services for that growth. I believe if citizens were engaged from the get go, those budgets would shrink and we would get more bang and more services (that actually help people) for the buck. Instead we allow city employees shape the budget, and hand it over to the mayor, in which he hands off to the council and us citizens get about 20 minutes for input. It’s disgusting.
First off, according to Charter, the city council should be forming the budget from input from city directors AND citizens. This should be a 12 month, all-year process. Instead they take very little input from citizens, pack it full of non-profit and corporate welfare giveaways, and leave us with a half-mile bike trail expansion and a cement Ping-Pong table.
One reason I didn’t show up last night is because by that time it was too late, the budget was most likely formed MONTHS ago behind closed doors in the mayor’s office. My five minutes don’t mean squat.
But let’s look at the explosive nature of our budget. In 2016 our budget was $471 Million, this year it is $545 Million, a 15% increase in 4 years. Has your wages increased that much? What about your cost of living? In an essence, if you were making $40K in 2016, your wages would be $46K in 2020, a $1,500 raise each year for 4 years. Has that happened in your life? Highly unlikely.
Until the city council (our true representatives of citizens) and the citizens actually have year-long input into the budget, all it represents is growing government for the mayor’s corporate trough friends.
Just look at the people defending the mayor’s mis-communication about citywide cleanup, saying things like, “It’s our personal responsibility” to clean up the city. In some respects I agree with the good pastor who said that, but we all pay taxes collectively so that we have services that we collectively receive and can’t manage to take care of on our own, you know, like educating the masses, building roads and infrastructure, or taking 100 FT tall trees off of our house with a giant tractor/loader.
Not only do we no longer have a say in how our taxes are being spent, we are no longer getting much in return for those high taxes.
Well, he didn’t quite say that, but in response to Belfrage about the great volunteerism he basically does say that;
“If the city would have launched an effort right away, that the city is going to take care of this, people would have sat on their porches and waited for us.”
Give me a Freaking Break! People were immediately cleaning up the next morning, with or without your blessing. Just like the ice storm, people were cleaning up their own yards. I don’t think ANYONE wanted or expected the city to clean up their private property, that was NOT what people wanted, they just wanted a truck to come by and pick up the rubbish, and the city SHOULD do that for people who don’t have the resources like what was done during the ice storm.
And guess what, the city did ultimately end up doing that (notice that was left out of the interview).
To say the people of Sioux Falls would have just put their feet up and waited for city employees to clean up the mess is ridiculous and insulting.
Then Paul flat out lies saying that councilors Stehly and Starr did NOT reach out to him and he tried to reach out to them. I’ve seen the correspondence folks, that is NOT how it happened. I can’t speak for Starr, but I do know that Stehly was constantly trying to get information from the mayor on what citizens were supposed to do with their tree waste and he ignored her.
It is amazing to watch how this is being spun into the ‘great’ volunteer effort of the century. I have lived in the Midwest 95% of my lifetime. I have lived in city’s, towns, and on farms. I have also lived in Sioux Falls since 1991. I have never known neighbors not to help each other! Ever! Whether it was an ice storm, wind storm, or even a major snow storm. It is in our blood to help each other. The State of South Dakota actually ranks 15th in the nation in volunteerism. The mayor should be ashamed of himself to even think that Sioux Falls residents would simply just wait on the porch for help.
In every single one of the interviews or talks that I’ve given with Todd, he has always made it clear that the sirens are for outdoor use only.
This is absolutely TRUE, but Greg decides to spin it, like him and his Trumpster ilk like to do;
In my opinion, Councilor Stehly jeopardizes lives when she spreads such blatant misinformation.
As you will see in a FB comment below, the only one jeopardizing lives was the people who failed to turn on the sirens to begin with. While it is true they are for outdoor use only, it doesn’t change the fact that someone really screwed the pooch, and just blowing it off as ‘human error’ and it really doesn’t matter (because apparently people are not outside during storms) is hogwash. Stehly should be concerned the sirens didn’t alarm, whether they are for outside, inside or for the moon.
There has been a rumor circulating that Stehly is considering a run for District 14 Senate. Deb Soholt will be term limited so Stehly could run for that seat in 2020.
As we both know, Stehly hasn’t decided to run for re-election on the city council, so maybe a run for the state legislature is more appealing to her. Even though Theresa would most likely run as a Republican, you can be sure she would work across the aisle to do the people’s work.
l3wis 