Most days blogging I get little grocery store samplings of issues concerning our city and a little light digesting. Not today. I just left the buffet and I am about to hurl.
I will say this, my sources are very reliable, and I have spent a fair amount of time before posting this backing some of the sources up. Unlike our non-free online newspaper, I don’t have to name my sources. And I won’t. If you have a problem with that, start posting your comments using your full name and address.
This information was given to me by a couple of different people, some of it is backed up by documentation, some of it is not. So for now, let’s just say this is speculation, and leave it at that. You be the judge. It is not to hard to connect the dots.
NAMING RIGHTS OF THE EVENTS CENTER
Let’s talk about the naming rights issue, I have a feeling that this will boil over in the public forum soon enough. You know that $60,000 we spent on the naming rights consultation? That is only about the interior not the exterior. Darrin Smith has taken it upon himself to handle the naming of the building. Guess how that is working out? Let’s just say if the events center remains nameless, it will be no surprise. More to come . . .
(how much money is this dude costing us anyway?)
HOW CAN WE PAY FOR A NEW EVENTS CENTER?
This was often a topic. We were promised many different things; a temporary increase in sales taxes, a 25% kick-in from private business. In the end we bonded for it. But what if we had a private business offer to give us revenue to make the bond payments for us every year, and they didn’t want naming rights, just permission to set up shop in Sioux Falls? Sounds like a pretty good idea? Doesn’t it? They might even offer to help us book acts and conventions.
The rumor is the city did get this offer and the mayor refused to meet with them. It’s a little more complicated then that though, the business would have had to get permission from the state and governor also to set up shop in Sioux Falls. But refusing to even hear the proposal and NOT letting the citizens of SF to vote on it seems ludicrous to me.
WHAT IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET WARREN BUFFET?
Pretty easy question, isn’t it? Just as an average joe why would you turn down the opportunity to meet one of the greatest economic minds of our time? Even for 15 minutes over coffee and some biscotti?
Let’s turn it up a notch. What if you had a dilemma, like moving railroad tracks from the downtown of your city you are mayor of said city, and Warren just happened to own controlling stock in the RR you were trying to get moved? Would you meet with him then?
Well, rumor has it that was the proposal on the table to our mayor, and he didn’t seem to find the importance in such a meeting. I hope this was only a rumor.
Mike have you ever played the game of ‘Monopoly’? What properties do you want to buy first?
UPDATE
In my crazy frenzy to post about all this stuff, I forgot another tidbit of information that just happened to drip off my bucket hat in the rainstorm. The Sanford sports complex TIF. Apparently the TIF started out at $700,000 to help pay for the road to the complex. Sanford had a good gripe, why should they pay for a road that also goes to city facilities? Fair enough. So the original TIF was to pay for this road. Overnight it turned into $9 million dollars. (well, not overnight, just when Darrin and Mike took over) And if you ask the city what this money is for you probably will hear crickets. In fact, nobody knows what it is earmarked for. My guess is to pay for the entire complex.
BTW, I have one more rainstorm puddle I am going to post about, but it deserves it’s own post.
You know what the saddest thing about all this is? If it’s true, it really wouldn’t surprise me.
I kinda feel the same way. Sometimes verification is the hardest thing to swallow.
I wish I could say more, but unless you have a lawyer in retainer for me, I can’t.
I like how the railroad tracks have become a nuisance instead of an asset to attract industry. Just help me keep my mercedes free of dust when I park it down on 8th street please.
Jeez, if Mayor Mike had played his cards right he could have met Bono last week in Omaha at Buffet’s conference.
anon – as I told someone today, the RR’s are still the best, most economical way to transport goods in our country. Agree or disagree with their politics, they make people who drive automobiles look like earth killing fools.
Tell us more. Did it have anything to do with pink slime?
I will say this, the reoccurring theme of my discussions is that the business community doesn’t trust our mayor or Darrin Smith. Not just for blatant incompetence or arrogance, but for lack of knowledge of city history, even over the past 10 years. Would love to play a game of trivia over city government with Darrin and Mike, I would whip their asses, and my team mate would be Debra Owen. Because I just don’t like winning, I like crushing my competition.
MMM would buy Park Place and Boardwalk – borrowing 100% of the payment, of course.
“But what if we had a private business offer to give us revenue to make the bond payments for us every year, and they didn’t want naming rights, just permission to set up shop in Sioux Falls?”
That would REALLY depend upon the business. The fact that they need “permission” to come to Sioux Falls and that they are willing to pay for the privledge tells us they probably aren’t all that popular and people would rather they not come around.
Thus it is either another meat packing plant (many city leaders seem to feel we have one too many the way it is even if they won’t admit that publicly), or it is something associated with questionable morality (adult themed businesses, city-sponsored Casino etc).
I’d love to take them to task for ignoring such an offer… but it really would depend upon who it was – because allowing just anyone to come to down could be a horrible long-term mistake and could end many political careers (which is the most important thing to most of these people).
l3wis: “the RR’s are still the best, most economical way to transport goods in our country.”
Exactly. The fact we have let our railroads fall into such disrepair should upset every American. Not only are they much more economical and efficient for moving massive amounts of freight, but they are much faster for moving people as well.
The environmental impact is a huge bonus – but the convenience factor of a high speed rail linking our major cities and metro areas could be HUGE. People talk about the limited range of electric cars, but think of a scenario where you hop on a train in Sioux Falls and two hours later you arrive in Minneapolis or four hours later you are in Chicago – and then you rent a small electric car to get you around the city for a day or two. Then you come back to the train for the return trip.
Not only would it be faster, more efficient, better for the environment… but you could spend half your trip in the dining car bellied up to a bar sipping on Vodka Martinis. Add a stripper car near the back of the train and a casino car up front and they will be packed to capacity for every trip.
My Jersey friends all love the trains.
Craig, you pretty much guessed the business. I will give you a clue, the business needs playing cards to exist.
Whether you are for or against this type of business, doesn’t matter, at least let voters decide if they want the EC to be paid off by their tax dollars or by this kind of revenue. This is not a decision the mayor should be making.
To be honest with you though, I don’t think the governor would have approved the move. This supposedly occurred last May before the council EC location vote.
“You know that $60,000 we spent on the naming rights consultation? That is only about the interior not the exterior. ”
What???? Where was that said?
Oh, I know, PL. I had someone go ballistic on me today after I told them this.
WTF? If you hire a professional to do something for you, you let them do it.
There is nothing wrong with telling your mechanic what ‘you think’ might be wrong with your car, but you sure as f’ck don’t get under the chassis with them.
This is all just a giant mess that future generations are going to be responsible for cleaning up. This is absolutely ridiculous, and a disgrace to the image and stability of our City.
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve commented, but reading and hearing all of this infuriates me beyond belief.
I think you’ve got a whole lot of make believe in this story. What the hell would Buffet want to do with a event center in Sioux Falls SD, nothing. Someone is trying to connect dots that just aren’t true. My guess it’s the downtown babies that are trying to spin new tales to keep the railroad project alive. Here is proof that a casino is not a Berkshire Hathaway investment.
Written by David Neubert
A question about gambling as a business at the Berkshire Hathaway 2007 Annual Shareholders Meeting.
Warren Buffett: “Gambling is a tax on ignorance. It is a shame to see governments sponsoring money being taken from people and their social security checks.”
Charlie Munger: (vice chairman) “You won’t see a casino in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.”
http://www.thepanelist.net/neuberts-trades-finance-10059/301-charlie-munger-on-gambling
Lets leave the poor reporting and tall tales to Smeloland.
Brian, did you read the post and comments? The meeting with Warren was in reference to the RR relocation. He owns controlling stock of BN. It has nothing to do with the EC. A prominent casino did want to help SF pay for the EC, as I understand it, but they really didn’t care what we did with the money, they just wanted to give it to us to have a casino here. This of course is no secret, Heidi-Scott proposed the idea a long time ago, I just never thought it got this far.
How will HisManMike (TM) ever become Governor if he doesn’t accept entreaty from the Reservations ?
Meh, those ceremonial buffalo robes are too big for HisManMike (TM) anyway … unless they sacrifice a buffalo calf to gain a petite version.
OK… I got it now, 3 different topics and your not trying to connect them together. I still find the Buffet rumor highly unlikely. Both Buffet and Huether are BIG D democrats and Huether would S#*t himself to get the opportunity to talk to him as this would a huge boost to his ego in the circle he keeps. This railroad relocation isn’t even on Buffet radar. Any real push to get a casino in the city would really need to start in the state level as that would be the larger hurtle.
Buffet is not a BIG D democrat, even is a real capitalist who has a knack for understanding the business of making money by investing in quality people. The business Berkshire Hathaway invests in are businesses Buffet uses in his daily life. It just so happens Buffet supports some of the formulas for moving the economy forward Obama has put forward in the face of concrete opposition of the TeaBaggers like Thune.
“My guess it’s the downtown babies that are trying to spin new tales to keep the railroad project alive”
Brian, if you’re referring to Build It Downtown, yes, they/we are actively advocating for the rail relocation project as both current and former Senators of both parties worked to (read horse traded) to secure funding as they understood the positive impact it can have not only for Sioux Falls, but anyone who uses rail to ship or recieve products in the State. It will be criminally asinine if we lose that money and basically a kick in the balls to both Daschle & Thune at the same time. The Mayor has repeatedly stated he is behind this project as is the business community. You’d think the Legislature and Governor would be all over this, as the primary beneficiary of better rail transportation is the Agribusiness. The main people who are wobly are the Council, based on the NIMBYs who have only had about decade to get fired up and now are emboldened by their Wal-Mart non-victory.
Beyond that, those tracks come out and watch what happens over the next 10 years, it will make the last 10 look like chump change. Mixed-use, multi-story development yields the highest Tax Revenue per acre and there’s not even a close second.
http://ecopolitology.org/2010/07/28/mixed-use-downtown-development-creates-the-most-tax-revenue/
I could see the mayor obviously miss ideas and concepts like these. After hearing him speak at numerous engagements I’m not too captivated by his brilliance. I hope that he doesn’t write his own speeches and that he defers to some college freshman intern who has never taken a public speaking class before. Now I’m not saying this because I disagree with some of his politics – I say this because the guy comes across as literally clueless. What is even worse is that people elected this man to office! When I see him at one of these engagements I feel like I’m watching Michael Scott on “The Office”. Please sir, hire a speechwriter. Hell I’ll do it for you for free!
Muqhtar, he probably could get Noem’s intern speech writer.
I can’t believe the Buffett rumor. No way an ego like MMM could turn down a meeting with the Oracle of Omaha – even if it would have involved being told there was no way BNSF would kick in.
Why should I buy Argus online when I can buy Naked News cheaper?
30 municipalities across the nation are victims of the Goldman Sachs municipal bonds thing. Sioux Falls is one of them. Money is here for the events center and it’s going into other follies (forbearance). Funds coming in are not designated for the EC so the city blows them on gettiing the mayor, smith’s, and developers rich from kickbacks on inflated non-competitive bids smaller projects. it’s common sense for a business man but the council and general population will not see it until it’s to late. You voted foran events center and you’re getting more baseball fields in Iowa.
Just hold on there Sy… you got the talking point down but they are short on reality. We won’t get jack shit of tax money out of that area because the first thing you will do is ask for a TIF and pay next to nothing for taxes. Why stop with the railraod tracks, maybe you should ask to divert the river so you can fill it in and use that part of the world to put up more beer joints and fugly buildings. We the people of this city (the majority) are sick to death of hearing about the downtown needs…..If you don’t think I am telling the truth about we being the majority, then you best travel out of your 10 block cocoon and talk to the rest of the world. How about you choose some real estate that doesn’t use our tax dollars to build your business?
If my tax dollars are used to take out those tracks I will be lobbying loudly to have this the new location of the third Walmart. That would be poetic justice.
Thank you Pathloss. Think about it, the Smith incompetent decisions concerning the EC rejection, BN rejection and TIF are really pathetic management plan of the city leadership.
If the Hiedi-EC offer been accepted, not only the ‘wrong’ people would have a piece of the action but it is possible the skimming / scheming plans would have been upset. I don’t know, but from years of digging in other financial messes, this one sends up so many red flags the horizon is lost.
There used to be a thing called sunshine laws in South Dakota. Sunshine laws were enacted during the Kniep years to clean up the corrupt practices of the South Dakota business ‘leaders’. The past 34 years of one party rule in South Dakota has allowed types of illegal activities to be looked into. There is a reason why the GOP will take away your right to vote and have a voice, we the people would be convicting them and filling Granite City.
One time I seen the fire department was dumping a bunch of soap and stuff into the river out by there. What I want to know is can we all please be able to do that too now that there is Sanford is going to have a good street to drive on out there?
The GOP? Last time I checked, Huether and Smith are flaming Democrats. This has nothing to do with the GOP. It has everything to do with incompetency matched by a bullying type ego.
Alice, you need to look at what a real democrat is versus then GOP-lite parading as dems. I wouldn’t care which party if they were equal. The current GOP leadership is frontloaded with schemers the den leadership wants to emulate.
So it has to do with a complete flushing of the crooked entrenched office holders of both parties but in SD it starts with GOP.
Our digustingly weak dems hold no power. We have no real dems in any office I know of in SD.
den leadership = dem leadership
Let’s go gramble;
http://video.adultswim.com/check-it-out-with-dr-steve-brule/casino-hunks.html
JLJ, first of all..I’m not a downtown guy other than I like to frequent the establishments and enjoy the scenery. I live on the east side and work on the south side. Second, the tax base of downtown nearly doubled in 8 years prior to 2010 and that didn’t include CNA, the Greenway and other projects like the remodels of the Holiday Inn, Security Bank building, Chevrolet building or the recent changes on Phillips. No talking point, just the way it has been.
And your tax dollars are already spent on the first half of the project, so when that goes away it will only mean the City loses & it completes the trifecta of the Levees, Lewis & Clark, and the tracks where the Feds have left us holding the bag. Ironically, there’s already been Federal money from the DOT’s TIGER 1 & 2 grants flowing into this State to do rail projects and apparently it hasn’t dawned on the City to apply for what it needs to build a solution suitable to all parties.
& BTW JLJ, Walmart is already one step ahead of you:
“The proposed DTLA store, which is part of the chain’s strategy to open smaller stores in urban environments”
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/02/walmart_coming_to_downtown_la.php
Railroad Relocation…..
Burlington Northern (BNSF) has clarified that the “Y” Bridge Alternative was NEVER taken off the table.
This alternative would involve a second bridge over the Falls TO THE NORTH of where the current bridge is. The existing bridge would remain. This option would decimate our city’s namesake.
To add insult to injury, this alternative would also require millions of local tax dollars in addition to the $35 million federal earmark.
I believe that ultimately this option will be eliminated in the environmental assessment (EA) process because of NEPA, Section 4F., which speaks to the protection of parklands.
If ultimately, the “Y” Bridge Alternative is chosen, not even Burlington Northern will be able to stop citizens from using the initiative process** to collect signatures to drive this to a public vote.
Our community would then need to decide which is more important…..
Freeing up less than 20 acres of downtown land for commercial and residential development OR saving our city’s namesake, Falls Park.
How would you predict the outcome of that vote!!??
**The initiative process is part of South Dakota’s State Constitution. Initiative — a procedure enabling a specified number of voters by petition to make a proposal and secure its submission to the electorate.
testor15 gets it. I don’t feel so all alone. Nationally, South Dakota is 2nd place for corruption with grade F in all categories. Georgia is first. Were cities graded, Sioux Falls would be F minus. The best first step to cure this issue is federally monitored and supervised elections.
Wow, 36 comments here. Lewis struck a nerve.
Make that 37.
@cr We already have a bridge over the Falls, a rusty old POS but it serves the purpose. The Park wasn’t decimated when that one went in, it was decimated by all the industrial users who dumped or buried their garbage. It was also the victim of years of neglect by City leaders and poor planning by City founders. It’s been reclaimed by the last Administration and that’s continuing with this one. What’s driving that process is the potential for more people to work, live, play, eat, shop and visit the downtown & Falls Park area.
Also, the second one would be new, and designed to actually be attractive and functional at the same time. That’s a primary reason why it’s expensive, along with the engineering challenges. The Y will allow the switchyard to be placed in it’s proper spot out by all the current and future industrial users off Rice street and if we do the siding option by Cliff Ave behind the State of SD building it will mean no need for the one down by 57th or 69th. If we were really on the ball, we would roll that project in with overpasses at Cliff & at 26th street and the new interchange at 26th & 229. Not only would that create the development opportunity downtown, but you would provide new rail served industrial sites (which we are severly lacking) and also you’d improve the traffic flow & safety at two of the most heavily traveled roads in town.
For once, this City should go big and go long term on it’s thinking when it comes to transportation & infrastructure instead of taking the slower, cheaper and quite frankly dumber path of just doing enough to get by for now.
But, Sy, current city leadership (Mayor AND Council) don’t have the political will to commit to ANY type of long-term investment. They are only concerned about what best serves their next election campaign.
Case in point – the asphalt overlays on Minnesota Ave, 41st Street, and now one block of Phillips Ave between 8th & 9th Streets. Smoother roads until we get through the next election, then costly replacements when the next administration has to truly “fix” them. We’re simply flushing money on these asphalt “repairs”.
RR Relocation doesn’t fit MMM’s re-election strategy. That’s why he is doing everything he can to make it go away.
Sy and Taco, as long as we waste city funds on poor decisions such as the EC there will be no money for infrastructure. So we maybe driving around potholes like in Newark or Detroit.
I preferred the old falls park’s natural biome of cactus and other wild flowers, over the chemlawned masterpiece we have today.
“Case in point – the asphalt overlays on Minnesota Ave, 41st Street, and now one block of Phillips Ave between 8th & 9th Streets. Smoother roads until we get through the next election, then costly replacements when the next administration has to truly “fix†them. We’re simply flushing money on these asphalt “repairsâ€.”
Pretty soon you will get to find out about all the road projects in the Mayor’s neighborhood, like right in front of his house . . . more to come.
I heard an Augie professor recently speak about what a missed opportunity happened at Falls Park. It was a rich archaeological site that has been lost in the rush to develop the Park during the last 20+ years.
Think of how much more that area could have been if it had been developed as an archaeological site and a Park.
His concern is that the same rush to develop is happening at Blood Run. Lyon County Historical Society has just rec’d it’s first grant from the Grand Falls Casino profits, and they want to aggressively pursue development of Blood Run on the Iowa side.
I hope that Native people step up quickly to protect this land and its burial sites because South Dakota wants this as a tourist attraction also.
cr,
Yeah the Blood Run development looks like it might turn into a nightmare of RV hookups and asphalt niceties.
I once was told by one of the guys who worked at the Ageson gravel pit out there, that their digging on the east side higway used to pull out artifacts and human remains from 30 feet below the surface, deeper than any state (IA) archaeologist thought there could be any kind of cultural remains. The policy of the company was to quietly pulverize the bones with their machines on the down low, so they wouldn’t get temporarily shut down by another pesky state archaeological survey. Oh yeah, and that is sooo illegal, too.
cr,
Yeah the Blood Run development looks like it might turn into a nightmare of RV hookups and asphalt niceties.
I once was told by one of the guys who worked at the Ageson gravel pit out there, that their digging on the east side highway used to pull out artifacts and human remains from 30 feet below the surface, deeper than any state (IA) archaeologist thought there could be any kind of cultural remains. The policy of the company was to quietly pulverize the bones with their machines on the down low, so they wouldn’t get temporarily shut down by another pesky state archaeological survey. Oh yeah, and that is sooo illegal, too.