While the city can argue all they want that the parking department is managing their budget well with paying off the bunker ramp you have to question having 50% of your overall yearly budget going to paying off a parking ramp that is used very little.
Some would say it is good that the revenue is supporting the bond payments, but you have to ask yourself what other improvements could be made to parking if we spent that money on ACTUAL improvements to our parking system besides brightly painted wire spool picnic tables (BTW, if the Bunker Ramp wasn’t ugly enough, your white trash, roadside park in Missouri, picnic tables are not helping).
This administration is bleeding so much money lately you would think they are being run by a web developer with no overhead to worry about . . . wait.
Downtown has become overactive. It could now be possible to open the vacant parking ramp. It’s indoor parking only a block off Phillips. Lower floors could be free parking with stores validation. Likely, due to new residences and offices, there’s a need for monthly parking on top floors. City growth means parking demand. With a better business plan, the parking authority just might become profitable or (at least) out of the red.
Just luck and without a plan, the parking tower was built at old prices. Something similar now would be twice the price.
When it comes to debt, at least the Feds can create their own currency. If we had our own local currency, however, what would it look like? It would probably be riddled with a bunch of holographic selfie pictures of our local leaders. It would also be another use for One Sioux Falls, Five Sioux Falls, and, well, I think you get my gist, or would that be jest? Pictures of a Sanford complex would replace the Feds Capitol or Pentagon most likely. Denny could be on the penny or pence, so kiddies could use them at the local candy store…. The Bunker Ramp with a Reagan quote of some sort could be placed on the Two Sioux Falls (Bad luck? 🙁 )…. T.R. and the Fawick Flyer would most likely be on the Twenty Sioux Falls…. Oh, and our local famed cascade would have to make an appearance also somehow with the gleaming Arcs in the background and with Smithfield faded out…. Oh, how nice…. lovely…. AND, I almost forgot. This local currency would replace any potential federal Mason imagery influences with Taupeville influences of say Limitless Male symbolisms…… Also, perhaps, the pyramid with the eye on top could be replaced with a picture of a luggage tan wing tip type shoe with white soles that has a gleaming star on top of it in replace of the eye.
This is true, however, you cannot blame the current administration for the debt. You can only blame the 2016-18 City Council and the Previous Mayor administration.
The Parking Fund generates roughly $3,000,000 a year in revenues, while the loan for the ramp costs $1,200,000.
Much of the expenses to the parking fund is payroll, utilities, and maintenance. You may make the argument, it does not leave much room to expand or invest in additional infratructure, however, even without the loan payment, we are talking $1,000,000
Huether caused a lot of unsubstantiated debt. His arrogance and narcissism prompted an events center that should have been a half price convention center rebuild. He bought railroad yards for 80 mil that can’t be developed because of toxic cleanup and narrow strips that can’t be built on. BNSF will laugh for decades on how they sold Huether right-of-way they didn’t own. He built an indoor aquatics center on federal land the VA thanks him for while taxpayers deserved 2 swimming pools. When there was no longer AAA bond credit, he awarded himself a TIF and built himself a private indoor tennis club.
It’s been 8 years recovering from Huether. It’ll be still longer. I compare the City of Sioux Falls to Scientology. If you’re not a cult member on the council or a director, you’re paying to work your way up a ladder that’s a fantasy. Only a few see the reality. They get harassed with a ‘Bag of Tricks’ until they succumb. I left to a neighboring city. South Dakota is Midwest people and government that doesn’t existing within Sioux Falls city limits.
There’s something really wrong when a city of 200k has a budget of 730 mil and not much to show for it except for a few billionaires and dozens of city leader millionaires.
D@ily, you moved to another town? Why haven’t you mentioned that in literally every post so we knew? Oh, wait…..
Getting not even 10 miles outside city limits is what I needed. It’s time for me to focus on where I live now.
Not familiar with sarcasm, eh?
Rally numbers are down, but drug arrests are up. That’s just great. Eventually, it will just be known as Sturgis Skit Row, and then they will never leave and older Rally t-shirts will become en vogue.
I just knew that the land of $22 corndogs couldn’t last forever. Because such prices would cause me to do drugs, how about you?
Many of them have their own RVs, however, which should look nicer than a tent city for a while, but it’s the proliferation of trikes which was the first sign something was wrong. Because if you can no longer keep your balance on two, then there must be something wrong like doing something, or you’re on something more than a trike:
https://twitter.com/JDLand/status/1538211710305288192?lang=en
But has he moved far enough to be a city director or chief?
“Okay, so I’ve been thinking again, and, I’ve decided that the only person who can defeat Liz Cheney in ’28 is Taylor Swift”…. #TooBadDuaIsBritish
I see that Oprah was in Maui recently. But when is Trump going to show up to throw some paper towels around?…:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEe7_zgZbuI
You know, the thought of Taylor Swift as president is a very intriguing reality. But would she spend as much time, and in detail, explaining her policy position on something as she does explaining how she came up with the lyrics for a given song? I mean, can every policy position really be about that boy in 7th grade who sat in front of her, but never paid any attention to her or talked to her? AND, just how many boys really did that to her in school? AND, what does that say about her? Oh, and didn’t she once date Bobby, Jr’s son and she even bought a house on Hyannis? Couldn’t that all hurt her chances? Plus, that sounds too much like a Gary Hart obsession with JFK and look where it got him. Perhaps, he should have written a song about that girl who paid too much attention to him and sat on his lap. AND, what was the name of that boat they were on? I think it was called ‘Monkey Business’…. What a great name for a song.