Big ‘T’ to drop the mic, live at 7 PM
l3wis 
April 2020
Mayor TenHaken has time for CNN but can’t run the Daily Covid pressers on CityLink
Many people have asked me why the daily pressers are only live streamed online thru various news sites and Facebook but not on CityLink. They are played later, but it seems they are not covered live. You would think a city our size who has it’s own public TV station would live stream these important press conferences. Paul’s appearances on national news and a FB only prove there is a certain sector he is reaching out to, and as he has admitted before, he is in constant campaign mode. The people he should be reaching at 10:30 AM on CityLink, the elderly, who are most vulnerable, are missing these important pressers in real time because they may not have the internet or a FB page. Sorry, but using tornados and pandemics to prop you up for a re-election 2 years from now looks worse than a homemade face mask.
A Proclamation Statement Advisory Non-Legally Binding piece of paper
Both Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken and Governor Noem have issued stay at home orders that have zero teeth (but nice stamps on them). It reminds when they tell you to seek shelter in the basement when you hear a tornado siren (if it goes off), but you don’t really have to.
Like I have said, I’m still on the fence of what employers should stay open and what employers should not, but if you are going to have a stay at home order, you need to make it legally binding, otherwise it has just as much value as a virtual birthday card.
Most people already have gotten the message from the Feds and CDC, stay home, wear masks, keep distance. How is the messages from Paul and Kristi any different if they don’t have legal teeth?
They mean nothing.
I of course do not envy their jobs right now, but they did sign up for this. That means leaders make hard decisions after consulting experts. You already did the consulting, you already did the advising, now it is time to make a firm decision backed up by law. And if your legal team is not willing to make that happen, they need to be sent on a permanent stay at home order. It is not the time to play Libertarian Conservative Cowboy. You can’t have it both ways. You are either for public safety and health or the free enterprise system. With this virus, they cannot co-exist. Once we get over the peak, we can concentrate on bringing the economy back, but it can’t happen with a bunch of sick and dead people. Now is not the time to be eating cake.
Noem seems to be concerned SD is going to turn into a communist country
Love it when our Supreme Leader makes the news;
In explaining her rationale against issuing a stay-at-home order, Gov. Kristi Noem told reporters, “The people themselves are primarily responsible for their safety.” She also pointed to the state and national constitutions that “prevent us from taking draconian measures much like the Chinese government has done.”
I have been told over the past week by several lawyers, specializing in municipal law and having experience with the Home Rule Charter, that the mayor has broad power when it comes to these kind of orders. The state legislature and governor have zero powers over our Charter when it comes to public health and safety of our community. The mayor or the city council can easily put ordinances in place that direct our public health officer to put for measures in place and enforce them, and the governor can’t do a damn thing about it except whine a little.
Trust me, I’m still on the fence as to if and when we would do it, but I think it is perfectly legal and can be done within a 24 hour period, not 5 days like PTH continues to say.
Sioux Falls is not Milbank or Mobridge. We are at a greater risk, and what could be safe in those towns, just isn’t safe in Sioux Falls. How can we rely or depend on the Governor to make those decisions for us, or the drunken sailors we call our state legislature (what a f’ing embarrassment).
Think about it. How is it ‘legal’ to close restaurants and bars that are private sector employers but not credit card call centers (that could easily have workers work safely from home) without laying them off? I will be working from home next week and all my employer asked of me was to have a working PC, internet and if I didn’t have a PC I could borrow one. I will have remote access to my work computer thru the internet. It really is that simple.
I believe it was legal to shut down restaurants due to health department concerns, and I think they have the same legal right to close other non-essential employers.
I told a restaurant owner that it is discrimination to say one private sector business has to be closed while the other doesn’t. And their legal arguments are laughable about closing one but not the other.
I have been of the contention that it is all or nothing. Either you shut down all non-essential employers with 10 or more employees or none at all.
The tricky part is we don’t know what that magical time frame is. The modeling on this virus has been all over the map. One day we are told 100K will die the next we are told 2 million. I do believe though Sioux Falls has a very short window to make that decision. I think they should also be cautious how they approach it, while legal, it also has to be timed properly. I have suggested to city councilors (who may be drafting something) that if you do it (stay at home order) it should be short (2 weeks) with an option to review and renew every 2 weeks. This gives them time to evaluate if it is working or not without being totally detrimental to the economy. Let’s face it, some people have to work, we can’t get around it. But we must make these decisions with a scalpel and not a machete.