The SF city council will be considering many things tonight.
First in the informational meeting at 4 PM, they will tell us the snowgate test results (even though they have been successfully used across the nation for over 40 years, apparently our ONE snowfall test results trump that). I fully expect the mayor to recommend using them city wide and using this as a campaign issue if he decides to run for mayor again.
Then during the council meeting the council will decide;
Whether you can have chickens.
One councilor has already told me they are voting against it because our current nuisance ordinances cover many of the things this ordinance does. That, and there is no reason why we should have to get permission from your neighbor to have a certain kind of animal. Pretty soon you will have to ask your neighbor’s permission to park your car in your own driveway. Item #29, this is a second reading, so expect some amendments and voting on it. There may even be deferral.
If you can sponsor a park bench.
Item #33 is basically changing the way naming rights will be granted in the community. It used to be quite simple, with just council approval, if the ordinance changes (this is just first reading) it will go thru several committees (appointed by the mayor) before it is finally thrown in the city council’s lap. In my opinion, this is just a backdoor effort to take control away from the city council. Sure, they get to vote on the final approval, but really have no say in the process (think EC naming rights). And when they finally do get to see a proposal, it will have already been through several committees and meetings that the council really doesn’t have knowledge of. I think they should keep things the way they are. If you want to give money to have your name on public property, you should go thru the planning commission, then on to the council for a vote. It just seems to me this is a way for the mayor and Econ office to stick their nose in the process and keep the council in the dark, it’s been working very well for them so far, why mess with success?
Annexing land for Walmart
Item #35 going to be a contentious one. Basically expanding the city limits to include a Walmart and other retailers. I am not opposed to growth, and I certainly am not opposed to the tax revenue for the city. But I have often thought we should focus on the core of our city and work outward from there. This debate is going to get ugly, really quick. I suggest councilor Erpenbach takes a bathroom break before they get to this item.
(PDF Map: 27248304022013125651678
Never a “dull moment” at Carnegie……!!!!
One of the things I am going to be watching for tonight, is how the Mayor and the Council “manage” the public input…….
SO… KELO just said the mayor thinks snowgates are a good thing and needed. BUT KELO made it sound like SF wasn’t going to get them. Is that just a tease to get me to watch at 6:00 or even 10:00.
I think the mayor has figured out which side of the snowgate issue is going to be the winning team. Is he going to try and push to get this done sans referendum? Sure seems like it’s a possibility.
Also, aside from the usual NIMBYism, I don’t see Walmart struggling with this 85th/Minnesota location like they did with 69th/Cliff last year. Given the SD 100 expansion and the existing plans for that intersection (and all along SD 100), that’s pretty much a perfect location. I’m all for continued DT revitalization, but we should also recognize that DT is never going to be an ideal location to provide those sorts of retail options (starting with inadequate transportation infrastructure). Plus, the creation of other major retail clusters will help to alleviate the nonsense that regularly occurs on 41st between Louise and I-29.
As I predicted, the mayor was going to take this issue for himself;
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/snow-gates-get-stamp-of-approval-from-sf-mayor/?id=146038
He is the slimy CC marketing manager he was the day he took office. ‘Someone has a better idea then me? I will steal it and make it mine, figure out how to make money from it, then shit down their throats. BAHAHAHAHAHA!’
BTW, Love how the city is forcing private property owners to get 100% permission from their neighbors to when their chickens can take a shit. Yet, you can have 5 nasty dogs that shit bricks and bark constantly. Oh, wait, you can’t? Why? because that is covered by nuisance ordinances. Just like rabbits and chickens should have been. What amazes me is how people are more scared of a chicken then they are of a vicious dog. I can tell you this, I have seen our Banti rooster on our farm herd a whole gander of geese, then drown in a rain storm, because he was too fucking stupid to find shelter. I have also watched my red healer on the farm (weighing about 30 pounds) take down 700 pound sows. What am I saying? Ordinances should surround ‘nuisance’ and ‘imminent danger’ to fellow citizens. Not numbers, breeds and what is ‘livestock’. Really? Is this how we want to spend our days? Counting pennies while dollar bills fly out the window? Stupid.
I have to take a five minute pee break…
Snowgates!
To be fair, the chicken proposal that passed in last night’s meeting only requires neighbor’s consent if you want to keep more than 6. As a chicken owner, I’m fine with this and I think the option to have more with neighbor’s approval is a good balance between saying it’s completely forbidden and “just go ahead and raise however many you’d like”.
Wyatt, I did notice that, and that made the ordinance ‘better’. But like councilor Staggers and Jamison have pointed out, we already have ordinances in place for ‘nuisance’. When you start dictating numbers over nuisance, you hit a slippery slope. Wyatt, I don’t care if you have 300 chickens, as long as they don’t cause a nuisance.
I watched the barnyard episode last night. Chickenshit to say the least. Seems to me thru the course of the entire nights debates, only two people sitting on the council made any sense at all. That was Staggers and Jamison. Spouting numbers just seemed out of place. Whenever I seen diamond jim I thought of all the noise ordinances him and his business violate. They can crank out 150 decibals all day long til ten at nite and then shut down their bikes and beer tents and pretend they’ve stayed with the nuisance ordinances. What a hypocritical SOB.
Wait till the city attorney gets copy of my letter to Walmart. Walmart must know to play along for TIF money but build their stores anyway they want. The city is ordinances that can’t be enforced because the courts do not recignize them. They do not meet state civil procefures requirements and the case is dismissed.
We’re paying taxes to an organization that is not recognized as government of, by, & for the people. North Korea is within range now because they have a presence in Sioux Falls