Who needs a forestry department?
l3wis When we have eager beavers doing our work for us.
October 2022
Apparently I’m a loser
Laugh it up, I know I did.
As I stepped up to the podium tonight at the Sioux Falls City Council meeting during general public input someone on the dais said into their microphone ‘What a loser.’ I couldn’t figure out who it was, and I really don’t care, but if you are going to lecture me about Roberts Rules and decorum maybe you need to look into the mirror.
I get it, you may not like the fact that I bring up uncomfortable things, but to vocally (not mentally) call a citizen at public input a loser as they walk up to the podium is despicable.
As I was sitting in the audience tonight listening to the proceedings all I could think to myself is that the council has turned into nothing more than 3rd graders fighting on the playground over someone stealing a Lunchable.
If it is too hot in the kitchen, get out or grow up. Pots on, Gas on High.
Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Tuesday Oct 11
• Downtown Parking Ramp Update by Erica Beck, Chief of Staff
• Parks and Recreation – Ice Plex/Tennis Center Updates by Don Kearney, Director of Parks and Recreation
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub-Item #16, Professional Services Agreement for Site Selection, Study for Sioux Area Metro Consultant will complete a site selection analysis of a maximum of five sites, including the existing site and planning-level cost estimate for a new transit office and garage facility for Sioux Area Metro. TSP, Inc., $94,600. (while the city may want to tell you that they are just considering moving the Bus Barn, it is pretty obvious that they plan to move it for a developer that wants the current location. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this site, it just needs to be remodeled and upgraded. I also find it a bit odd with the hundreds of city employees that work in engineering and public works that we can’t study a proposal internally.)
Item #12, 1st reading, Background & Objective: Ordinance supplements the Sales Tax Fund by an additional $2M for arterial street improvements resulting from platting fee projected revenues in excess of budget expectations and $70K for Police to purchase a vehicle using federal grant dollars; and supplements the General Fund by $100K for Fire due to high fuel costs; $500K for Parks and Recreation primarily due to high fuel costs and spring storm damage repairs; and $400K for the Planning Department based on higher than anticipated lodging at ESF BID tax revenues that are subsequently transmitted to Experience Sioux Falls. (The $500K for parks cleanup is kind of surprising since we are told all the time that the city keeps track of storm cleanup so they can get Federal reimbursement).
Item #13, 1st Reading, Background & Objective: This is the development agreement between the City and Nielson Development for TIF #26. This agreement is for up to $2,140,000, plus financing costs of eligible expenses to assist in funding the development activities required to create an accessible housing subdivision, which includes the site improvements infrastructure, utilities and professional services to develop the site. The end result will include 65 single-family housing units that will be priced below the South Dakota Housing First Time Homebuyer pricing. (this is a TIF that will NOT be passed on to the new homeowners. It is simply keeping the costs down for the developer and the banks that are funding the development. It has also been stated in the media that this will do nothing to provide affordable housing.)
Items #14-15, Resolutions, Background & Objective: Resolution to approve a new five-year facilities management agreement for the Events Center Complex with ASM Global Arena Management, LLC for the period of January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2027. ASM Global Arena Management, LLC is the current facility manager for the Events Center Complex.
Background & Objective: Resolution to approve a new five-year food and beverage services agreement with Ovations Food Services for the period of January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2027. Ovations Food Services is the current food and beverage service provider for the Events Center Complex.
(Notice in the audit meeting on Thursday below that they have audits of these facilities ready but are NOT releasing the information before the 1st reading tonight. I have also implored the council to pass a bond ticket fee of at least $5 per ticket to help pay down the bonds. Councilors and management have complained that promoters would not come here if that attached ticket fee applied. Hogwash. The fee doesn’t take profits away from the management company, the promoters or the artists, it is an additional fee paid for by the very people who use the facility. If you can afford a $150 dollar ticket fee and $9 Bud Lights, you can afford the extra $5 to help pay down the bonds.)
Audit Committee Meeting • Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 4:00 PM
I find it interesting that the Audit Committee is reviewing audits of the Denty 2 days AFTER the 1st Reading for Contract renewals for the Denty at the city council meeting. There is also NO attached documents in the meeting link letting the public know what is in those audits (I’m sure they will magically appear on Wednesday). Makes you wonder what is in the audits that they cannot show they to us before the meeting tonight.
Sioux Falls Homeless Task Force meeting from Oct 3 has yet to be posted
I was unable to attend last Monday’s meeting and I have noticed that after 8 days it has yet to be posted on YouTube. I still don’t understand why the meetings cannot be live streamed as they are recorded at Carnegie, but to take 8 days to post a video that can easily be converted and uploaded to YT within a couple of hours is troubling. So unless you could have left work early last Monday and attended in person you have NO idea what was discussed. Transparent government at its best!
The Dakota Scout plays into the Republican Party rhetoric
Since the Dakota Scout has launched I have had a subscription. I have also read hundreds of stories over the years of both of the journalists running the media organization. They are good reporters.
But the the resounding criticism I hear from readers (especially ones that are independents and left leaning) is they tend to lean a little right. I would argue they are more Libertarian then outright Republican Right, and if you have a conversation about their political leanings they will admit it.
What I did not expect was for them to play into the Republican Party rhetoric. As I was reading this story on District 15 candidates I noticed they called the Republican Candidates as members of the ‘Republican’ party and Democrats the members of the ‘Democrat’ party. This is the same rhetoric the Republican party members have been pushing for decades;
However, some Republican leaders have made a habit of referring to their opposition incorrectly and discourteously as the “Democrat Party.” The reason isn’t entirely clear; it may be meant to imply that the party isn’t sufficiently “democratic” in the general sense, or may just be meant as a petty insult.
That is all it is, a petty insult, and I expected more from the team at the Dakota Scout.
I get it, it is hard to start a media organization without catering to the Republican leaning business acumen in our state. Yes, there are many fine companies in SD that are run by moderate indies and Democrats but I’m not sure the capital is out there to support a more left leaning or even moderate news organization in South Dakota. I have caught the media time and time again in this city who just blatantly ignores the bad deeds of Republican lawmakers. Just look at the city election. Not one single news organization even bothered to check the voting records of those running. Why?