South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Downtown Sioux Falls

Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Phillips to the Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: Falls Park or The Falls? What’s the difference?

l3wis 4Comments

UPDATE: Still gathering the tea leaves on this one but what I have heard so far is that the design was done internally (even though the city usually hires that sorta thing out to you know, Poops’ former ad agency). I’m still trying to figure out which one of Poops’ marketing goons in city hall proposed this. I still think they should have named it ‘STAY OUT OF THE FOAM PARK’.

So a few weeks ago I was riding thru Falls Park (I usually do a couple rides a day thru DTSF just to see what projects are going) and I noticed the new sign at Falls Park; this ugly navy blue and orange sign that said ‘The Falls’. Didn’t think much of it because it looked like a temp sign for the Winter Wonderland. I thought one of the local liquor distributors printed it, LOL.

First off, it is called Falls Park, because the Falls are there and it is a park. This is ‘naming’ 101. So I am confused why we wanted to shorten the name, not by much, and create some kind of branding for the park.

I have worked in printing and marketing since 1993 and the best rule of thumb if something isn’t broken don’t fix it. Not sure why we need to rebrand Falls Park? It has been there thousands of years and it’s natural beauty is what makes it.

Now there are upgrades on the horizon, but instead of RE-BRANDING maybe we just need to promote the PARK!

It often cracks me up with Mayor Poops renaming things, but NOT explaining why, because he knows it is just a whim.

I have some feelers out there and hope to have the REAL reason this park was renamed.

As a former city official said to me today; ‘Where were the public meetings to let the public in on renaming the park?’ And this person makes a great point. Let the public in on changing the identity of the park, you might just find some great results. But Authoritarians know everything, just ask them.

When you run a MILITANT ANTI-OPEN GOVERNMENT REGIME, opinions are like diapers.

If I was in charge of re-branding Falls Park I would rip every single piece of concrete out of the park, I would tear down the gift shop and observatory tower and would transform the park into a naturalist site with native flowers, grasses, etc. It would truly be beautiful, and ironically if you used native flowers and grasses, the maintenance would be minimal.

Poops vision is turning the place into Disneyland. How I hate Disneyland.

Curt Soehl Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls Uncategorized

Did Sioux Falls City Councilor Curt Soehl forget what he used to do?

l3wis 1Comments

Curtist the Blurtist was blurting and curting last night at the city council meeting about the proposed GIGANTIC TRUCK ordinance. Kermit Soehl was the only councilor to vote against it, mainly because Curt owns one of these aircraft carriers on wheels. The big argument of the night was public safety and it is pretty straight forward, but Curt wasn’t having it saying that it would cause an economic downturn in DTSF, as if only big truck drivers are the only ones who spend money downtown. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard a councilor say, oh wait, forgot about Countcilor Jensen. But the shocking part about Curt’s vote is he was a former firefighter and president of the firefighters union. I would think he understands ‘Public Safety’ but I guess once you become a insurance peddler those things don’t matter anymore. I hope Curt runs for mayor, he will end up DEAD LAST!

INFORMATIONAL MEETING

At the informational several folks with Sioux Falls Sustainability(?) made comments about the building codes and how they need to focus on energy efficiency. I have heard several stories about newer apartment buildings in town with little to no insulation. One friend told me his mom was paying $150 a month in heat in a 800 square foot apartment. If that apartment was properly insulated and in the center of the building there should be little heating costs.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Downtown Sioux Falls Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

What is the difference between an Advisory Election and a Bond Election?

l3wis 2Comments

First the definitions;

An advisory question is a type of ballot measure that is non-binding, meaning the outcome of the ballot measure has no legal effect on a state’s laws. This type of ballot measure is also known as an advisory referendum, advisory vote, or non-binding ballot measure.

A Bond Election is a type of ballot measure in which voters decide whether to authorize a local government to issue bonds to pay for specific projects or services. It is typically used to fund public works projects such as roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The money raised by the bond issue is usually repaid by raising taxes or other revenue sources. Bond elections are often held in conjunction with other elections, such as municipal or county elections.

We had an advisory election with the Events Center. After citizens voted 54% in favor of building the Denty the city council had to take LEGAL action to take out the bonds, in which they did.

If the election was an actual ‘bond election’ it would have taken a 60% passage to pull the bonds, and since this is a LEGAL election, there would be very little action from the city council to initiate those bonds because the citizens LEGALLY approved the bonds in a LEGAL election.

I am often saying that an advisory vote is actually ILLEGAL because NO LEGAL action is being taken by the public in an election. I have encouraged councilors to have a LEGAL bond election with the Rec bonds and CC bonds. First it makes their job that much easier and secondly you are giving citizens the ability to tax themselves if they choose to (we will need an extra penny sales tax in order for the bonds on the CC to work).

If the city pulls an advisory election on the CC, I encourage any local attorney to sue the city for their ILLEGAL election.

Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Quality of Life Bonds SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

The Predictability of the Sioux Falls City Council is painful to watch

l3wis 6Comments

Former City Councilor Big T wrote an excellent letter to the editor about how the citizens need to vote on the new parks’ expenditures.

I would agree, $77 million dollars in expenses needs to be decided by the voters and I am surprised that most of the council wouldn’t be pushing for a special election to approve these bonds. They will sit and cry and wring their hands about making these gigantic decisions when they can just easily call for an election and wipe their hands of it.

But the pool debate and some of the other debates the new council has been having has been soooo predictable. They pretend they are ‘concerned’ about the expenditures then vote for them anyway. They are NOT concerned and all these media games they have been playing (because someone may be running for mayor) is just smoke and mirrors. They have done this for decades before they have to do a big project. They promise all kinds of cost cutting and savings then once the project gets approved there are massive cost overruns and add ons. EVERY SINGLE TIME! Just look at the Ice Bunker Ribbon; Supposed to be a $4 million dollar project that turned into a $16 million dollar project (the donor must have needed a bigger tax write-off).

The council is going to make it ‘LOOK’ like they are on our side when it comes to financial concerns, but if they were TRULY listening, they would call a special election, but just like the predictability of their policy decisions, I will predict they will forgo the special election, and likely do an ILLEGAL advisory election with the Convention Center tying the two projects together to better SELL it to the public. I guarantee this is what they are cooking up. They did it with the Pavilion and Convention Center, it’s an old playbook.

Not only do we need to demand a special election for both projects we need it to be a LEGAL bond election where it only passes with 60% of the vote.

I would love to blog more about city politics, but the predictability lately has been a gigantic yawn. Oh, but I guess the mayoral candidates are all jockeying for positions, but I think the Skabs and their less then flattering boozer texts may be instigating all of this.

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