Startup Sioux Falls is becoming quite the place to photo bomb. The irony of spending around $200K on an uneven deck but failing to meet city code by NOT having a garbage enclosure.
I am starting to figure out what this Sioux Falls ONE is all about . . .
While the city can argue all they want that the parking department is managing their budget well with paying off the bunker ramp you have to question having 50% of your overall yearly budget going to paying off a parking ramp that is used very little.
Some would say it is good that the revenue is supporting the bond payments, but you have to ask yourself what other improvements could be made to parking if we spent that money on ACTUAL improvements to our parking system besides brightly painted wire spool picnic tables (BTW, if the Bunker Ramp wasn’t ugly enough, your white trash, roadside park in Missouri, picnic tables are not helping).
This administration is bleeding so much money lately you would think they are being run by a web developer with no overhead to worry about . . . wait.
Recently Sioux Falls Business did this article about apartment availability.
If you go to my zip code, the average 1-bedroom apartment is $970 a month. You would have to make at least $38,000 a year or around $18 an hour to afford this (30% of income).
I heard a rumor recently that 70% of job listings in Sioux Falls pay $15 or less.
It seems in Sioux Falls we have affordability issues with all kinds of things like groceries, housing, and childcare. Maybe Sioux Falls doesn’t have an affordability issue, maybe it has a wage issue?
But don’t bother our local leadership with that issue, because they will tell us that wages should be determined by the FREE market, you know, the FREE market in South Dakota that allows business owning legislators to take government handouts, or that same FREE market that creates special tax districts so developers can buy skywalks and public art, or the millions and millions we give away for parking ramps that will be obsolete within 10-20 years.
While our local governments are quick to throw money at the top and hope it trickles down to the rest of us, they really need to put their foot where the sun doesn’t shine and get businesses to pay living wages, then things like buying a home or even a loaf of bread are a lot less challenging in our community.
The city council has the power and authority to pass policies that would help wage earners in our community, for example, an ordinance that requires all businesses advertising for employment within city limits list their starting wage, or raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour or more.
When we talk about the affordability of our city, it really comes down to what our employers are willing to pay and little else because all this talk about affordability is just a smoke screen to what our real problem is, CRAPPY WAGES!
The Darkness at City Hall was taken to a whole new level this week when the city said this about denying Forum News a copy of the contract with the Link;
The City of Sioux Falls has denied a request to make public the contract to operate The Link, the publicly funded triage center for people in crisis from addiction or mental illness.
Sioux Falls Live requested the contract from the city on July 17. The city denied that request on Monday, July 31.
The reason given for the denial is that the contract is not technically with the city, but rather with the non-profit created to run The Link, according to Paul M. Bengford, senior assistant city attorney.
“The City of Sioux Falls is not a party to the Agreement you are seeking,” Bengford wrote in a statement denying the request.
WOW!
‘Yeah, you know, that building the city owns and leases for FREE to the Link and helps subsidize with city and county taxpayer money, yeah, we really don’t know much about that.’
The Link was setup BY the city and county, it is occupied in a city owned building. If anyone would have the contract and know what is in it, it would be the city.
Oh, and to state the obvious;
“The Link is an important community resource, and there’s interest in knowing how it’s operating,” said Mary Jo Hotzler, chief content officer for Forum Communications Co., parent company to Sioux Falls Live. “Our interest is in transparency and accountability.”
Heck, I can’t even get an annual report from a non-profit that provides free concerts, what makes you think you get this contract? Maybe there is no contract;
During a city council meeting in July, which included approval of a new three-year agreement between the partners, TenHaken said the source of new funding was “TBD.”
It kind of sounds like most things the city does . . . by the seat of their pants. Recently it was said that the city is looking for a recruiting contractor to help find more mid-management, skilled positions. Maybe the city is having problems finding these people because no one wants to work for a certain somebody. I’ve seen morale take a 180 at places I have worked after certain troublesome management is let go. Maybe the city has an image problem?
I tell people it must be a great place to work, I saw a mid-manager at a meeting a couple of months ago wearing sweatpants and sliders, surprised he wasn’t curled up in the corner with a pillow and a blankey.
With all this darkness lately, it makes you wonder if this is about keeping information from the public or keeping information from a higher authority, and I ain’t talking about JC.
I’m a local visual artist and have worked with local musicians over the years and have argued for a long time they are extremely underpaid and I will go fisticuffs with anybody who wants to cheat local performers (it happens a lot).
That’s why I think this program series is awesome;
Officials with the Washington Pavilion have announced the lineup for a new performance series, called “Live & Local.”
The series will include monthly performances showcasing Sioux Falls area talent, such as singers, dancers, comedians, actors, musicians, artists and more.
The stickler?
Tickets for all nine dates go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. The price is $20 for a ticket plus tax. Visit WashingtonPavilion.org/LiveandLocal to view the full performance lineup and additional details, as well as to purchase tickets.
The average price of a ticket to see national acts at local music venues runs you around $10-15. So for $2 to see a show (there are nine shows) it is a pretty good deal.
I can’t remember the last time I was charged a cover to see a local act (they used be able to charge) that’s because the venue presenting them budgets for their compensation.
As a local performance series there is absolutely NO reason the Pavilion could not have found a sponsor for this so everyone could attend for FREE.
Better yet, cut the salary of the director to fund it.
They did the same thing in the Visual Arts Center charging to see regional visual artists (I’m all for charging for National or International exhibits due to the cost of insurance, etc.) going against their promise of keeping the VAC open for FREE.
I actually think it is petty to charge $2 to see a local act, you could make up that revenue in beverage sales. This has ‘experiment’ written all over it.
I am often amazed when a local arts non-profit presents amazing programming for local artists then turns around and says, BTW, it’s going to cost you. But what makes this different is that the Pavilion receives millions in subsidies from the city in building maintenance and operating expenses EACH YEAR (roof replacement, for example).
I’m sure they are looking to see what kind of interest there is and what kind of revenue could be pulled in. I have no doubt that people interested in seeing these shows will plop down the $20, but do they really have to?
l3wis