I figured if I waited a few days into 2024 someone would do the heavy lifting for me. Pat Lalley with Siouxfallslive.com beat me to the punch when it comes for my hopes for this city and especially a mayor who seems to be oblivious to the benefits of open and transparent government;
Either way, the path to good government is not paved with insularity. Rather, it’s openness.
There have been too many instances when the administration appears askew, prone to done deals rather than public oversight.
The original parking lot mural, the botched sustainability plan, the secret contract to operate The Link, the Delbridge taxidermy collection, all these controversies boiled up in 2023 and all share a common thread, which is an effort to keep all the information from getting out, or doing deals in the dark.
That’s unfortunate because behind each project is something good, or at least solvable, in the light of day and with the benefit of public discourse.
It’s a painful process but necessary.
This metropolitan area faces several large challenges in the coming years from transportation to housing to economic segregation.
The leader of the largest government entity in the metro has a huge responsibility, not just to the financiers of growth, but to working class parents, new citizens and old, business owners large and small, clergy and unchurched, families of all shapes, shades and composition.
That really is the problem, this mayor and the past two have never been a mayor ‘of the people’. This is about special deals for special people, and the public can’t be privy to it. Over the past year I have needled several folks in the local media to pursue a suspicious real estate deal between a high ranking city official (privately held real estate) and one of the largest developers in the state. It wasn’t the sale of the property that was suspicious or even unethical, that was normal, it was the price tag. All of this is public records, but you can’t get even one of them to lift a finger to expose these folks.
While I do appreciate Lalley calling out the mayor, it will take a concerted effort by everyone in the local media to push back on this lack of transparency. You heard nothing from them when the SFPD turned off the scanners. Why?
We can’t hold government accountable if we don’t have a 4th estate that is willing to do it. So I applaud Lalley and other independent reporters like Megan Reposa who are willing to ask the hard questions and push the administration on answers.