A Pavilion press conference. Wonder who came up with this splendid idea? (Argus Leader screenshot)
While I would agree partially with the Argus Leader’s managing editor Lalley’s statement – I found the statement puzzling considering I have tipped off and helped some of the journalists at his newspaper with stories. I have contributed to stories by Ellis, Hult and Kirschenmann in the past and besides one of the paper’s reporters buying me a couple shots of Patron, I have received very little credit and zero payment. Which is fine, I just think the information should be out there for the public to see, that’s why I blog, that’s why I like to contribute (The Sunday coupons are nice to, I saved $4.00 last week on soap and such).
But let’s use an example, if you watch this video you will see CEO of the Pavilion, Larry Toll talk about the Pavilion’s financials. I think it is great that the media is covering this, but it was never in the Pav’s plans to have this press conference or for them to do a presentation at the city council’s informational meeting.
It was a little chiding from me (behind the scenes) and with the help of some city officials, the Pavilion conceded to release their financials to the public in a public forum (instead of just posting them on the internets in an annual report).
Are blogs influential? Pat doesn’t think they are, yet he continues to blog about his bike rides. As Cory (Madville Times) said to me in an email about this topic;
Perhaps the Argus could adopt a more Zen approach… or maybe a judo approach: instead of fighting us or rejecting us, accept us as one more source, acknowledge us, use our own momentum to make themselves stronger.
The reason the Argus says blogs are not influencial is there own blog/forum is dead in the water, unless of course you’re into Obama bashing. 🙂
I always come to your blog for the real story. The Argus became bias when they took the city side on the traffic camera. Argus circulation is low and there’s ads or opinions but not much news. I come here or to MSN then might see what the Argus has to say on line. Basically, they’ve become another blog and not a very good one.
I’m impressed with Larry Toll. He’s turning the Pavillion around but still has a long way to go.
He is certainly bringing in a lot of private donations, which I will commend him on.
Hey l3wis. Looked at Jennifers Musings lately? The latest EC blog nearly wiped clean by the thought police. 17 of 20 posts wiped clean. AND, as of right now, no one can comment on anything. A couple of posts by you, a couple by me, a couple by Jennifer, GONE because a huether goon could not handle the truth. Not the first time I’ve lost stuff on the net. That’s why I write my stuff in a word document first, then copy it to the site. Nice to have a record of what the thought police wipes clean for us.
What the ?!?!?! Back in our day, a down payment was just that, a down payment. We bought a new home thirty years ago for $100,000. We put 20% down. That meant $20,000 at closing time, not maybe ‘cookie jar’ money from next year, or the years after. We paid off that 15 year mortgage in ten years. How? We were fiscally responsible and stayed away from credit card scams like our mayor marketed.
Take a close look at out finance directors presentation last monday night.
http://docs.siouxfalls.org/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1475&doctype=AGENDA
It starts somewhere around the 7 minute 30 second mark. If you watch from the beginning you can catch the Entemann rant. Anyway, Turbak is clearly talking about the $3.8 million in unobligated 2nd penny tax money. I guess this is the money the mayor plans on using as a ‘down payment’. Hard to tell though. Like Jennifer says, you city bean counters love to play with wording to make your numbers fit.
Some important project numbers the city would like to use that 3.8 million ‘cookie jar’ money on?
$800,000 Arena improvements (mainly scoreboard)
$1,200,000 Street work
$100,000 Fire Department work at 37th & Minnesota
$200,000 Library upkeep
$300,000 Townhall improvements
$1,100,000 City Hall HVAC Improvements
As you can see, this ‘cookie jar’ money comes up to 3.7 million dollars. That leaves $100,000 for a down payment on a yet to be determined cost for an EC? I guess that’s why Turbak was too ashamed to even list an amount under ‘Event Center Cash Downpayment’.
And please…while you’re here miss beancounter, please explain how we can magically build an amenity filled and comfortable EC for $8333 a seat? Similar projects over the past few years run anywhere from $10,000 to $13,000 a seat.
Polly Amalo
A little further digging shows there to be a software problem with ALL blogging sites using the same stuff Jennifer does. Hopefully, it will all be back to normal before long.
I noticed that the comments were gone, I also noticed that there were software issues, but the software wouldn’t just delete certain comments. Something is going on. But I will defend Jen, she has editorial control of her site, as well as I do. I have deleted comments to, especially by ANON sources. I will say I am upset she deleted mine AFTER she already approved them, I am not ANON. There has been a lot of pressure on people lately, I’m waiting for the Huether goons myself.
Blogger is fucked up right now. I lost the post containing my latest podcast episode, and they’re not allowing new posts at all until it’s “fixed”.
Thanks for the update.
You all are right. The blogger site is down. I am upset too that comments have disappeared and hope they get restored. BTW 13wis, I am curious about your comment that I deleted some of your comments after I approved them. I have never deleted a comment after it was posted, including something you posted. If you blog, you want comments. That’s why one blogs. Not approving a comment is rare for me and if it happens it’s because it is over the top abusive or racist. It’s a public forum for debate. Whether the comments agree with me or disagree is irrelevant.
Thanks Jen. I was referring to my site, I HAVE deleted comments ON MY SITE for the reasons you have stated.
Back when I was a regular poster on the Argus forum, I had several discussions I started memory holed. Things like First Premiers “fee harvesting”, canned hunting, and red light camera discussion genearally got deleted. That’s why I’m here. You leave stuff alone…generally, unless you have to ax it. Same with Jennifers site. She coulda holed me several times when talking about spiked city pensions. But she didn’t, and for that she earns my respect.
For all their faults, blogger does have a good spam filter. I rarely have to delete any comments, although these days since I don’t do as many political posts my comment numbers are way down. But I’ll keep almost all of the ones I do receive up.
Poly43 makes a good point. There may be Huether consultant sabotage going on. I noticed there were some 50 comments on an events center Argus article. Most were positive. Usually, EC articles have say 20 and most are negative. Hmmm.
L3wis, watch here please. Here is REAL information that’s important. If you’re getting harrassment, it’s time to call the attorney general. It’s coming but best to wait for Huether to act on the EC without a public vote.
The Argus & Kelo blogs are dead in the water because the editors demand the same “control” (and by extension – avoidance of offending advertisers) as they achieve with their print and broadcast media. Those editors remain stuck in journalism 201. They have not adapted to 21st century “media” which is far more free-flowing, which unleashed us from tyranny of the editors (and the advertisers).
There may be Huether consultant sabotage going on. I noticed there were some 50 comments on an events center Argus article. Most were positive. Usually, EC articles have say 20 and most are negative. Hmmm.
~Pathloss
Don’t think so. I’m convinced Jennifers problems are a software glitch from an update that went haywire from BLOGGER. Too bad. Lotsa good commentary, and even had a huether goon crawl out of it’s hole.
As for the Argus article you’re talking about? You must be thinking of the Whitney rant. ALL of those articles have been dominated by a character by the username of ‘BoomRoasted’. That username showed up on the Argus about the same time BID was born on Facebook. BoomRoasted spends his time on the Argus blogs and news article hacking away at anything the Arena supporters want. My guess is, (heavy on the guess) BoomRoasted is the same entity that hacked Staggers and presented us with his latest work of art, honest mike. Ih he’s not hildy, he’s one of his lieutenants at BID. How close am I Sy?
Poly rules.
The most ridiculous thing to surface the last few weeks is the “where’s the Arena FB group?” supposed proof that EVERYBODY wants it downtown. Just pure silliness. While I think Whitney is delusional in believing a new EC will result in more concerts, he did make some reasonable points.