I guess if only a handful of people are complaining, we don’t need to worry about it;
Our investigative team spoke with a California man who was hired by the Sioux Falls PR firm Tallgrass. He said the Mayor didn’t understand how many units Tzadik owned in the city, and the Mayor is now less concerned, knowing those raising complaints are a small percentage of renters.
If only ONE tenant complains, that’s enough to start an investigation, it shouldn’t take multiple complaints, from multiple properties and tenants. Heck, last week one tenant showed up to the council’s meeting with a jar of cockroaches and a jar of nails he pulled out of his drain. I guess after the meeting the gentleman had to to removed from the chambers because he threatened the mayor and called him a naughty word.
“Reach out to the city first. That should be your first step. We can then do an inspection. We can go we can start a ticket, we can start a case and we can try and hold bad actors accountable,” Mayor TenHaken explained.
Oh, how you jest. I think the mayor sums up how concerned he is about the issue;
“The Mayor very much understands how many units they own. But Beth, I’ll tell you this. When you buy a portfolio of properties that are low-income properties, you need to know you need to be prepared to live in that space and work in that space. Okay. And if you can’t effectively manage low-income properties and workforce housing, then you shouldn’t be in that space,” Mayor TenHaken emphasized.
Okay, so what are you doing about it? NOTHING!
As you know I have been battling a crap property by my house for almost 20 years, and I started submitting complaints directly to the code enforcement manager about 10 years ago with no result. In fact, several councilors have asked the administration what is going on with that property and the administration had nothing to report.
The other night I was conversing with a person about the next mayoral election, I told this person that we need a mayor who will do their job according to charter. The mayor’s main duty is administrative, he manages the city departments and employees. He has great power when it comes to code enforcement and compliance. The mayor doesn’t take orders from the council, but he has to follow the ordinances that they pass. A REAL city manager would have taken the bull by the horns after the 1st complaint.
I feel sorry for these folks, because I have had bad landlords in the past also, and if you’re poor or have a felony record, good luck getting safe affordable housing in this town or getting any relief from your complaints.
The mayor, our city manager, has the power to fix this, if he would just do his job.
IS THE SIOUX FALLS POLICE DEPARTMENT EVEN INVESTIGATING PETTY CRIMES?
Speaking of Poops doing his job, he is also the manager of the police department, and I would imagine that public safety would be the most important part of his job, but he doesn’t seem to have the leadership skills to make the SFPD effectively do their job;
In harsh weather and bad road conditions, car accidents are more likely to happen. Some drivers are claiming to have never gotten an accident report from Sioux Falls police.
Hillside Body in Sioux Falls said that in the last year, they have seen that trend.
Customers have come in with no police report and insurance companies consider this a no-fault accident. It can lead to a tough and costly situation for every driver involved.
Accident reports filed by the police do not determine who’s at fault but are used by insurance companies to help prove fault. No-fault accidents get expensive quickly.
“Your insurance can go double, can go triple. There’s really no ceiling with that. That’s a drastic effect on somebody’s life when something as simple as being accountable to your action, receiving the ticket that you should receive and moving forward could’ve bypassed all that,” said Hillside Body owner Doug Washburn.
The state requires a report to be filed any time there’s a fatality, injury, $1,000 or more in property damage or $2,000 total per accident.
If you read the rest of the story you can hear all the excuses the SFPD has for NOT filing the reports in a timely manner.* As the gentleman pointed out, even petty crimes like car accidents, porch pirates and car thieves can cost you a pretty penny and the SFPD should be doing everything in their power to prosecute these crimes. I have heard for several years that if you are a victim of a petty crime the SFPD basically puts the stat into a data base and that is where the investigation ends.
*(Why not hire some temps to get caught up and STAY caught up! It chaps my hide when government employees use that excuse. Why are you telling the news reporter? Maybe you need to tell the council and mayor you need additional staff.)
I look at this as an economic issue also. Why isn’t our SFPD willing to investigate costly crimes? They seem to forget who pays their wages. Maybe they think their salaries come from an unlocked car?
Hopefully the city charter will be revoked by the voters before the next mayoral election so we can get people in city government that actually want to help the community and keep it safe instead of worrying about dead animals, naked Indian murals and jumping jacks.