Happy Labor Day
l3wis My list of heros are short and sweet, artists and musicians. Billy has always been the voice of Labor, and this live concert of him has always been bookmarked on my internets. Work is sacred, never forget that.
2020
Sioux Falls City Council Agenda Sept 8, 2020
City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM
Presentations on CARES Act Funding, Floodplain regulation ordinances and a Bump Back ordinance proposal by councilor Soehl. There are no supporting documents (as usual) because this council and mayor HATE transparency. But as I understand the Bump Back ordinance is it would allow a director who resigns that position or asked to resign can go BACK to a civil service lower position instead of leaving all together. Dumb.
City Council Regular Meeting • 7 PM
Item #18, 1st Reading, Raise property taxes by 1.7% (yearly option to increase). Isn’t it ironic that in the middle of a pandemic, a down economy and a record unemployment rate that the city council is considering a property tax increase. Just putting this on the agenda proves they intend to pass it, and I have no doubt in my mind it will probably pass 7-1 with little discussion. I don’t think it has been voted down in at least 15-20 years. The irony is that the council likes to say they are looking out for the citizens and have financial restraint, but any chance they get they raise taxes and fees, than turn around and hand out TIF’s, tax reductions and corporate welfare to the very people who own their sorry asses, the banksters and developers in town while the rest of us working (and non-working) stiffs foot the bill. And mark my words, if Mr. Sanford is indicted (which he has not been yet), we will be footing the bill to tear that sign off of the Denty.
Item #27, A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO THE JOINT PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS AND MINNEHAHA COUNTY. This is also ironic that we are agreeing with the County to build a new Metro 911 facility yet we can’t agree on how to put a ballot drop box in front of a library. Mayor Stoneless has claimed it is a matter of state law saying ballots need to be delivered to the election manager (Auditor Litz) – which is true. Bob hasn’t asked the city to manage the ballots in those boxes, in fact he doesn’t want the city to touch them at all, he just wants the collection system to sit on city property that is also funded by the county via the Siouxland Libraries (which in some respects gives the county some jurisdiction). I’m not sure if Paul has ever TAKEN any law classes, but my interpretation of the law is pretty clear, and once again his ignorance of law and leadership shines thru, blatant voter suppression. And that folks is against the law, if only we had the capital to prove it.
Items #28-29, Resolutions for Police and Fire union contracts. As I understand it the Police are getting a 6.5% raise and Fire is getting 2.5%. So what is missing on the agenda? All the other union city employees under AFSCME. I have heard that members voted down the city’s offer of a 0% raise and rightfully so. We will see how they dance around this Tuesday night.
Item #30, a resolution to reinstate the Municipal band funding. I’m hearing some councilors will be proposing an amendment to make it a 5 year contract. The amendment is strangely not on the agenda.
Items #31-33, Greg Neitzert’s public ethics hearing is set for 6 PM, Thursday, Sept 10 at Carnegie Hall. After months of folly and foot dragging, Greg will finally get his day! Yippee! I can almost guarantee this will be some of the greatest municipal theater we have ever witnessed. I can tell you how this will play out, Greg will claim there was some grand plot to take him out (by a single retired dude) who colluded with some mysterious group of people (who shared some publicly owned public documents (emails). And another grand scheme that this retired dude had a publicly posted ordinance/chapter number slipped to him in the dark of the night. So his defense will be people colluded with Mr. Cunningham to give him public documents. The shame! The shame! Who dares to bring the public along on the ride! Which is funny, because Neitzert is the one who violated the ordinance, so his defense is to kill the messenger. Kind of reminds you of the golfer in chief in D.C. I hope he says during his hearing that it is a witch hunt and a hoax. Icing on the cake.
The stark similarities between Covid and 9/11
There are many things we did not learn from 9/11 and the wars we started based on lies. How is Trump’s misadventure any different?
On 9/11 about 2,977 Americans died that day. We were attacked by extremist terrorists who mostly originated from Saudi Arabia, yet instead of putting sanctions on that country we attacked the Taliban in Afghanistan and Iraq. Over 7,000 American soldiers have died and as of 2019 we have spent $6.4 trillion.
It seems we have been down this path before; lies & miscalculations are costing Americans lives and capital, and what do we have to show for it? Millions unemployed, without healthcare, around 200K dead and millions infected, yet we keep steaming down the Sadaam Hussein path. When will we learn from history? When we lie to the public it costs us, dearly.
Sioux Falls City Council Meeting, Sept 1, 2020
It was another lively night at the city council meeting. During public input, once again the Municipal Band was brought up to be saved, and once again you could hear the mayor audibly sighing into his microphone. Hey you brought this on yourself. Probably one of the stupidest things I have ever seen a mayor do.
Bob Kolbe (I think it was him, hard to tell with a mask on). Ripped into the council a bit about ethics and drop boxes for voting. Another citizen also piped up about ballot drop boxes, I think her best line was, “In case you haven’t noticed we are the middle of a Covid Pandemic.†AND “If you are telling us it is unsafe to vote in person, unsafe to vote by mail, and unsafe to vote by drop boxes, it is pretty evident you are trying to suppress our votes .†(paraphrasing).
Sierra also appeared to remind the council that legitimate and legal massage therapists are sick of the prostitution and men harassing them because of the illegitimate therapists. I’ll tell you why it is taking so long for these places to be shut down, because a lot of elite individuals in town frequent these places, and we certainly can’t have their extracurricular activities shut down. I also don’t think Mayor Stoneless understands the gravity of the situation, neither does our Chief of Police who last night was more concerned about building his $52 million dollar training center (which we will bond for instead trying to acquire some Federal Dollars – now that’s leadership folks).
It also appears another apartment building will be pushed through though the neighbors (homeowners) don’t want it since it was originally zoned as office. Of course the accolades for how great developers are were ensued by the RS6.
Greg Nutzert’s ethics challenge was also read into the record, and now the city has to spend another $5,000 for legal representation on the matter and had to hire a law firm. Greg, you can stop this circus before it turns into a 3 ring extravaganza, admit guilt and apologize so we can all move on. I might even buy you a jug of hand sanitizer . . . nevermind . . . you should probably pay for that yourself 😊
What are the Benefits of Amazon coming to Sioux Falls?
As we have known for several years, Amazon was looking to put a distribution site in our area, it was only a matter of time. We also know, like most businesses that move here, they want handouts, and if there is one thing we love in Sioux Falls and South Dakota is giving out massive amounts of corporate welfare. Flopdation Park has already received around $50 million for infrastructure from the taxpayers. Amazon has received a Federal Grant and now the SF Development Foundation pretty much wants an open ended TIF to attract more businesses. Their argument is always the same, growth for growth’s sake (which I have never understood, because growth only drives up the prices of affordable housing due to infrastructure and public education costs) and JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!
So let’s look at the kind of jobs Amazon supplies. Most workers will be pickers that make around $15 to start. So where will Amazon get these workers? I have argued that they will suck from other businesses in town that pay less (and there is quite a few of them) and once that bleeding is done, people will start moving here. I also believe many workers at Smithfield will try to move over to Amazon. So in essence, Amazon will not be depending solely on our current workforce, they will have to do a lot of transfers.
Another reason I think it will be hard for Amazon to fulfill their worker needs is because of a very difficult qualification process, like background checks, drug tests and physical fitness. It will also be interesting to hear what Amazon’s policy on marijuana use (outside of the work place) will be if it becomes legal in our state.
But all of those things aside I think there are a few benefits to bringing Amazon here. First off, they will support many other businesses in town, maybe even create some new ones. I also believe once they start stealing workers from local businesses, it may force some of them to raise their wages to keep people.
Amazon coming to town will have some benefits, but I often am confused by Sioux Falls’ mantra ‘Growth for Growth’s Sake’. Which just ends up costing taxpayers more in infrastructure and public safety and public education while the fat cats get their TIF’s, tax breaks and government grants. Let’s face it, Sioux Falls has just turned into a welfare state for the rich, which is no surprise when it is so cheap for them to buy the city council and mayor’s office.