The Active Transportation Board and the Parks Board both recommended approval today. It will head to the city council for an informational and then 1st and 2nd readings. While it will probably pass before the end of February, it won’t take into affect until June 1st (which I assume is for updated signage on the trails.)
During the Parks board meeting I spoke in favor due to the health and wellness of older people. The one dissenter at the meeting brought up the fiasco going on in Pierre right now with E bikes on Mickelson trail. I told the board, in which many giggled, that if the government in Sioux Falls does the exact opposite of Pierre we will be in good shape. They have turned this e-bike ordinance into a political football like mask wearing and Covid vaccines.
I said the biggest danger is speed, and if we can control speed we can control this.
The SFPD presented a study they did on bike speeds on the trail and determined that the average bike speed is 11 MPH on the trail (15 MPH is the legal limit) and out of 150 users only 8 were going over the speed limit and the highest speed recorded was 23 MPH. No surprises there.
The Administration, The Parks Department and the SFPD all support the change.
Not sure how you have a 2:30 meeting after a 4 PM meeting? Anyway, they will continue to discuss the childcare issues in our town even though we know what the issues are and we need action, not more discussions. I encourage the council to implement ordinances that encourage businesses to take advantage of Federal tax benefits from helping with childcare costs. I would also encourage the city council to put together a resolution acknowledging that the BOE needs to be exploring more options when it comes to after school care programs and public pre-K options. Sometimes public money doesn’t mix well with private enterprise, I think childcare is a good example of this. But there are oodles of programs that can promote more affordable childcare, it just takes bold policy.
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Items 6-7, Transit services for LifeScape and Dakotabilities, $900K. (We have been subsidizing these services for years, and that is a good thing, but it appears with a change in transit providers those assumed costs have risen. I still think the solution that councilor Merkouris has suggested is to just make transit free for everyone in Sioux Falls. Why subsidize one group over another? Basically if you are a veteran, a minor or disabled, you ride for free, or greatly discounted. There are also many other discounts people can apply for. End the silly hoops game. Expand the service areas and offer it for free to EVERYONE. I would even encourage a pilot program of 3 months in the winter and 3 months in summer, and see if ridership improves?)
Item #33, The proposed resolution adopts the job description for a new city council staff position titled, “Executive Support Coordinator”. (While I would not argue with council on whether they need more support staff or not since we probably haven’t added many council staffers in the past 100K of population growth. And with the destruction of the internal audit department by councilor Jensen, council staff has actually shrunk. I have argued for a long time that they need to eliminate the legislative advisor and marry those duties into the operations position. We already pay a lobbyist to handle that stuff, we don’t need a full-time staffer farting around with it. We also should just have two Co-City Clerks who have equal power and duties that they share. As for the new position, not a bad idea, but they should have also been a paralegal so they can assist the council on their main job besides constituent interaction, ADOPTING AND CREATING POLICY. They also need their own attorney. What concerns me about this new position is it seems they will have expectations of them above and beyond what a civil service employee should be expected to do;
While 99% of this paragraph is spot on, I don’t think a city council staffer should be resolving any issues with constituents independently. Emotions, politics, family, etc., can be involved when constituents have complaints for their elected officials. This is NOT the job of support staff. They should gather the information and dump that request into the council’s inbox.
This isn’t rocket science. If the job is to much for you, or doesn’t pay enough, resign. I never understand folks who run for office then act surprised they actually have to do something. Knuckleheads.
UPDATE: I have been hearing rumblings from council they are working on several different transparency and open government ordinances before some of them walk out of office this Spring. Several have been mentioned, but not sure which ones will make it. One of them involves a central calendar on the city website for public meetings and other gatherings and another involves live streaming city meetings on other platforms besides just SIRE and FB. There are also some other goodies coming in February 🙂 but I am just going to sit on my smile for now.
UPDATE II: I guess these loans run thru Federal and State Historic Preservation funds so this is why the neighborhoods were targeted. I do suggest though that the city council comes forward with their own program for other neighborhoods like Pettigrew and Whittier.
Only the city of Sioux Falls would take a great idea to clean up ALL homes in and around historic districts and only target it towards people who can already afford to fix up their homes;
On Wednesday, the City of Sioux Falls announced a new program to improve homes in five residential historic districts and properties on the National Register of Historic Places.
Diane deKoeyer, neighborhood and preservation planner, shared more about the Historic Preservation Loan Program.
Eligible homeowners include those who live in one of the city’s five historic districts: All Saints, Cathedral, Hayes, McKennan Park, and Sherman.
The program is for property exteriors only.
While I am 100% supportive of any program to clean up older historic neighborhoods, the 0% interest loans should go towards ANY home within that district. What good does it do to clean up an historic mansion to its original glory only to have a 700 sq ft home next to it falling over? A neighborhood revitalization program needs to apply to the ENTIRE neighborhood to work. This just sounds like some of Paul’s rich buddies wanting interest free loans to offset the cost of their remodel. This is probably the best example of how trickle down economics doesn’t work, unless you are at the very top.
It kind of makes you wonder who is behind this. Remember the fella who is restoring the grocery store at 9th and Grange? He got a facade easement for the building from Sioux Falls taxpayers, he also got a parking strip paid for by taxpayers. Well guess what, this person also sits on the Board of Preservation and has been remodeling several historic home in McKennan Park. Gee, I wonder who might have pitched this idea?
Allison has been telling me since this summer she was running for city council, I just thought it was for the NW district, but as a renter, and not wanting to compete with another potential candidate in that district she is apparently going for the Big Kahuna.
I like Allison, she is pretty fiery and a real fighter. It will be interesting to watch her at forums, because if she duplicates some of the convos we had this past summer she will shock and awe the constituents.
I have already written off the At-Large Council Race. It is pretty obvious the lead contender will probably have well over $100K in his campaign chest, has significant connections within the established Republican moderates and has a pretty moderate record in the State Legislature. Even as a 3 person race I think Richard will go over that 50% + 1 threshold in the regular election. It is unfortunate that the At-Large race couldn’t be more competitive, but when trying to get an entire city to vote for you, money wins!
I also heard a potential candidates in the NE and SW have decided not to run due to family commitments. Which is unfortunate, because both would have been excellent candidates and great councilors!
l3wis 
