Democratic Forum, April 24, 2020
l3wis 
April 2020
I wish more people would participate in local government . . . sigh
It always amazing me how citizens only show up when there is a crisis and their bottom line is threatened.
I will commend the people who have been showing up to the meetings lately. But where are they when the city is bilking us with higher taxes and fees? Unneeded bonds for play palaces? Massive tax rebates in the form of TIFs to the wealthy developers? Massive violations of open meeting laws and 1st Amendment rights?
Oh that’s right, none of those things matter if it doesn’t affect your personal finances. All of this sudden concern in government overreach remind of this lyric from a Nashville Pussy song,
‘Sit on my ass, smokin’ bad grass, tellin’ everyone I’m King.’
The irony of all these ‘concerned citizens’ is that none of these ordinances, resolutions or other proposals violate your civil liberties because they didn’t have any legal teeth. That is obvious. You don’t have to believe me, do a little research. They were a ‘strong suggestion’ from government. That’s it. Also, as I have said before, in a time of crisis the government should be helping us, especially our employers, in how they can create a safe work environment.
As asked today at the city council informational meeting, what are the city employees doing right now while collecting a paycheck? No real answer. As I mentioned before, some of them are working, and very hard. But a lot of them are not. So why are the rest of us putting on our boots each morning to keep this city going but the city employees are not? They could easily be manning employer hotlines with advice on how to keep a safe work environment. They could be going to these businesses and helping them create a safe work environment. They could be helping with food giveaways, etc. They are not. Why? Instead of trying to ‘strongly suggest’ what we should be doing, here is my suggestion; If you want to collect a paycheck from taxpayers you must earn it. That means you must be working, either at home or in some other capacity. If you don’t want to do that, you should be furloughed without pay and your job will be given back to you when you decide to return. Now I don’t blame these employees, I blame the mayor, who is the city administrator and his main job according to charter is managing city employees. So while he has failed at trying to manage private employers and employees, he has given some city employees an extended vacation. And why would they argue with that? Paul, if you don’t want to dictate to private business what they should do with their employees, why are you giving some of yours time off?
We Love work. That’s all we know.
So why do people in this country, state and city want to fight so hard to go to work in this time? First the obvious, we live paycheck to paycheck, secondly, we know nothing but work. South Dakotans are hard workers, because they have to keep their heads above water. While South Dakotans are good people, with deep faith and giving hearts, we are not real cultured. Why? Because we don’t have the time to become cultured, because we value work more than anything else and it is really sad. Until about 5 years ago, I worked two jobs on an average of 60 hours a week. I lived the hypocrisy I just mentioned. Where did it get me? Well a little more money in the bank, aching feet and bad sleep habits, but in the past 5 years I have had a lot of thought about all the things I have missed out in life because I was working. Other countries also value work, but they also value culture and R & R just as much, and they balance the two. How sad is it the only time we decide to protest government is when it comes to working, but never protest them when they don’t give us more time off to enjoy our families, friends, faith and culture. The Civil War may have freed the slaves, but we are still slaves to the system, and we are willing to risk getting Covid to defend that modern slavery. Wow!
Mayor TenHaken has been passing the gavel a lot these days
I find it a bit ironic, because I have been pushing for years that the chair of the council should run the meetings and the mayor can be a member of the audience and comment when called on. Maybe PTH agrees with me on something? Oh, and can you sigh a little bit more at the regular council meeting tonight? Annoying.
Bravo to Councilor Kiley (and I really mean this, even if he is a rubber stamper) for making a statement about how serious this virus is, by stating facts. FACTS! Thank You Rick!
Mayor TenHaken to act proactively too late
As you can see from this story on SFBIZ, the mayor has finally decided to help out businesses with how to create a safe work environment;
It will focus on enhanced measures large business can take to control the spread of COVID-19.
“That’s really where the big issues are,†Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “We will be working with our business community, specifically some of our larger employers, to get resources and tools, including on-site spot checks to make sure they are utilizing best practices in slowing the spread of COVID.â€
Gee, I wonder who has been hammering about this for weeks? The lack of inaction has been deafening. It would be like installing fire sprinklers while your house is on fire.
Paul also decided to do an interview with the DTSF Rotary online today. He has some interesting things to say.
He decided it would be a good time to brag about his rental assistance program, a program that has zero transparency or accountability. In fact many renters getting this benefit are still being threatened with evictions. Why? Because since the city isn’t distributing the money, the non-profit that is, has no authority to enforce those rules. I warned from the beginning this was a bad route to go. Stehly has tried to make changes, but it may be too late.
PTH also brings up he may have to cut the city budget by 10-20%. Councilor Stehly commented on her FB page that this was the first time he has heard about this and wonder when he was going to fill them in on this. Last I checked the charter and council powers, they control the purse strings, not the mayor, but he still hasn’t figured that out in the past two years.
He also brings up this group of Type ‘A’ leaders he meets with on Thursdays. One councilor said to me, “Funny, that he has time to meet with these supposed business folks each week but no time to meet with councilors individually.†I also wonder if he is meeting with these people to become more like them, because while he has a few of the traits, certainly ‘workaholic’ and ‘highly organized’ doesn’t really fit his personality, unless you count him working hard at organizing his trucker hat collection in his garage.
He also said that Smithfields was probably not expecting a month ago to be closed now and being inspected by the CDC. That’s rich! It was inevitable that spread was going to happen there, they took virtually ZERO precautions! Not sure why Paul continues to defend them and their horrible planning. Oh, that’s right, MONEY! I have argued for years they need to close permanently. They have polluted our water and air repeatedly, and now helped to infect their workers who will infect a lot of us. It’s time the FEDS shut that place down for good, they won’t be missed.
UPDATE: Mayor TenHaken still refusing to put up BIOs of citizen board appointees
UPDATE: The decided to be transparent.
For the third time, even after asked publicly in a city council meeting by Pat Starr, the administration refuses to put up on the agenda the BIOs of the volunteer board appointees. (Item #43)
While he talks about how he is transparent, he still hates transparency like the Dickens. Absolutely hates it. We saw this over the past couple of weeks when he couldn’t tell us about the covid outbreaks. Hey Paul, the truth will set you free Brah!
What is even more alarming is that a councilor has specifically requested this information to be shared with the public and still the refusal, it’s like a gigantic middle finger to him.
There are two new appointees to the Planning Commission (I will share a short bio),
• Janet Kittams (CEO of the Helpline Center) Janet is good person, and has formerly served on the REMSA board. I think she will make a great addition.
• Bradyn Neises, (Commercial Real Estate broker with Bender). His appointment is kind of ironic since he will be replacing another former Bender Real Estate Broker, Andi Anderson. Maybe she will borrow him her company polo shirts to wear during the meetings. Bradyn will be filling in for Andi’s last year of of appointment.