Dr. Scott Gottlieb says Noem handled Covid the worst of any Governor
l3wis Hey, Scott, we know. But hey we got Freedom! I’m just not sure what else we have 🙁 FF 9:38
l3wis
Is it time to END the Sioux Falls Mayor’s Discretionary Tax Rebate Program?
We found out a few years ago that the Planning Department in collusion with the Mayor’s office has a list of PRIVATE developer and corporation tax rebates. The kicker is all of the rebates are approved ONLY by the discretion of the Mayor. There is NO City Council OR public review of the rebates. The mayor simply signs off on them. While they can be seen by the public you have to know who to ask. There are NO public presentations of the recipients.
How do they work? Basically a developer or company, or investment group (LLC) makes significant upgrades to the property and a portion of the cost (usually around half) is rebated back to them from their paid property taxes. Like TIFs, it is only an option for a select few and extremely UNFAIR to the 99.99% of property taxpayers in the community.
Now, I’m not going to cry corruption, I’m just going to keep this simple, it is time to end this welfare handout because 1) it goes against the FREE market system but more importantly 2) The mayor should not have this kind of power and control to secretly hand out tax rebates to whomever he wants to.
I think the City Council needs to end this process ASAP.
You will see below how random and highly questionable the recipient list is which adds the element of corruption;
• Endeavor 212 LLC, Dr. Richard Brue, Historic DTSF Property, this one surprises me since downtown property is very valuable and certainly doesn’t need a tax break.
• Smithfield, this company owned by Communist Chinese investors got a massive tax break in 2019 and again in 2020.
• Graco Minnesota Inc, this very successful company based out of Minnesota got a tax break. Why?
• Schenk Properties LLC and AL Properties LLC may be intertwined with Murray properties and they have gotten massive tax breaks in Foundation Park for 3 different properties in 2019 & 2020.
• 4 Suns-I90 LLC, I believe has developed property on North Cliff and 60th, they are based out of Fargo, ND. So I guess we don’t only give tax cuts to the Chinese but also our Northern neighbors.
Third Avenue Lofts LLC, Riverview Square LLC are Legacy Projects intertwined with Norm Drake. So I guess the mayor felt it was okay to give a tax break to a guy involved with the Copper Lounge collapse and the Bunker Ramp debacle.
KV LLC, this one is a mystery, but seem to be based out of Sioux City, SD.
Dudley House area is a disaster
Last Saturday afternoon I rode by on my bicycle and the whole area looked like a garbage truck had exploded, blankets were strewn all over the sidewalks and boulevards. When I took the picture below today, the garbage seemed to be cleaned up (probably blew away) but many of the homeless who are NOT permitted in the shelter, are sleeping on the public sidewalks in front, and it has been going on all summer.
I warned the city council when approving this location that an already strained neighborhood would get worse, and it has. Besides being baffled by why this is being allowed to exist (we supplement the House’s budget) what is the city doing about it? Absolutely nothing!
What makes it even sadder is that the city also employs the house’s director as a part-time employee for CityLink.
One of TenHaken’s campaign promises when he ran 3 years ago was that he would eliminate homelessness. It has actually gotten worse.
There are two solutions we should have done to begin with. The shelter should have been built just North of the jail and not in the middle of a neighborhood on a busy street. Also, the shelter that used to provide cots for the intoxicated should have never closed.
Between panhandling and now the Dudley Sidewalk Slumber Parties our leadership needs to be working on solutions instead of just cutting checks. Of course, this isn’t going on in their neighborhoods, so they don’t give 2 rips.
Why is the Air Guard running drills almost every day?
While I understand the Air Guard pilots do have to run drills and stay practiced and trained, over the past couple of months it has been EVERYDAY! Last Sunday I was doing some lawn work in the late morning and I had to listen to the jets roar. Really? I would be curious why they need to run these drills everyday and fly so low over Sioux Falls. Are we preparing for war or some other mission? Or are we just blowing taxpayer money when most of these drills could be done on simulators? I would think if you are an experienced pilot, you don’t need to be running drills everyday.
Did Mayor Poops vow to get rid of the Poop?
During Mayor TenHaken’s re-election campaign announcement the infamous ‘Sh!t Birds’ that have made a manure monstrosity of our bike trails downtown started to squawk. Paul jokingly said he was going to get rid of them. I hope he keeps his promise. I have suggested for several years they can use air cannons to scare the birds and they will eventually move out of the area. But the biggest opponent of moving the fowl butt birds out of downtown has been the airport saying if the birds moved they could possibly get caught in jet’s engines. Probably just another empty promise from Stoneless.