Giligan & the Skipper single-handily save Downtown

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Image: Argus Leader Media

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnSHRmf3F5Y[/youtube]

Well if you went to the AL site today and watched the video of Smith and Kant you would think they were the saviors of DT. Remember, Darrin Smith resigned as a councilor before finishing his term, something about having a hurt butt over getting his hurt butt handed to him in the mayoral election, or was it about a job? Can’t remember. This is also the same guy that asked his co-workers in a meeting (right after he started in the development office) “Where do people eat Downtown anyway?”

Yes, Darrin was part of the team that hid up in a 2nd story window DT and watched those crazy loopers from a distance (can’t get too close to those kids, they might make you drink some of there Mt. Dew and SoCo) and proposed all kinds of crazy rules while on the council, including baricading certain streets between 1 AM and 5 AM, nevermind if there is an emergency.

Then there’s Mr. Change the smoking rules for me Tim Kant. He says in the interview that all the loopers did was ‘Scream and Yell.’ Yeah, because when you walk past Stogeez on Friday and Saturday night you never hear anybody loud (the city actually had to change decibel levels DT because of the Stogeez patio).

While Giligan & the Skipper would love to take credit for DT, everyone knows it was the hard and diligent work of Carol Pogones that made DT into what it is today. If anything, DT would be better off without Stogeez, or Darrin Smith.

What does the (organization) Downtown Sioux Falls do?

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I had this question recently asked of me, since I work at a DT business. They also asked if we had a membership. I said we canceled our membership a few years back for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons was they moved most of the festivals to 4th and Phillips, so we couldn’t put a booth in front of our store, besides the fee and commission DTSF would charge on the booth wasn’t profitable. Secondly, when we asked DTSF what they ‘do’ for the membership fee they said besides being listed in their magazine, they swept the sidewalks and watered plants (even though that stuff is city owned and will have to be maintained by the city anyway).

The inquirer was wondering why most of the DT restaurants were listed in their magazine and not ours. I said, they basically punish you for be not being a member by not listing you, which is silly on a couple of levels;

1) It makes DTSF and the magazine look inaccurate, people visiting SF from another city may be following the map in the magazine and asking themselves why certain restaurants are not listed.

2) We pay a membership fee to DTSF whether we want to or not. DT businesses pay a special property tax assessment that subsidizes DTSF. So even if you are not a ‘member’ of their organization, you are still ‘paying’ into them.

I have often argued that we should eliminate DTSF as an ‘organization’ and just sub-contract the magazine and website out to a marketing firm. Eliminate the memberships and just pay the tax assessment, and include ALL downtown businesses on the website and magazine (since they are ultimately paying a special tax to support the organization anyway.)

DTSF often reminds me of the SF Chamber of Commerce. I consistently here members of the Chamber complain about the ‘benefits’ of their membership, and what exactly are they?

Chamber’s and Neighborhood retail organizations across the country offer their members specials. Like discounted health insurance for their employees, or discounted liability insurance. Special leased discounted parking fees. Other cities also have several ‘festivals’ throughout the summer, almost every weekend. In Austin, Texas, for instance that has a DT strip about the same size as ours, closes off the main drag every Friday and Saturday and has a street party, something I have suggest DTSF tries for a summer.

Last year a couple of DT business owners protested the special tax assessment, and for good reason, they asked the question ‘What is the benefit?’

Good question.

DTSF, Please make it stop

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As I was leaving mid-life crisis fest tonight from DT, I shot these picts of a G & R cover band playing on the Phillips Avenue Diner patio.

Yes. Those are white athletic socks he is wearing with his snake print tights.

He was attempting this song, LOL:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7OgIMMRc4[/youtube]

So is Xcel Energy going to reimburse Downtown SF residents for hotel expenses over the past weekend?

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I combed our limited local news media to see if I could find any information about this, and had trouble digging up anything (maybe a foot soldier could point me in the right direction). The only thing I could find was that Xcel made a generous (tiny) donation to the Red Cross;

“In recognition of the great efforts of the local Red Cross to assist affected customers, we’re pleased to make a $2,500 donation.”

Well that was nice of them, considering most of the DT residents that were affected by the power outage never went to the shelter and got a hotel room.

A couple of DT residents told me they thought ‘Renter’s Insurance’ would cover it. I told them, “Xcel should cover it. You are their customer, and you are paying for a service, and when it does not work, you need to be compensated.”

I also suggest that Xcel should pay for the contents of your Refrigerator and Freezer.

Remember, this is a PRIVATE energy company that flies several of their execs back and forth each week on a private jet to different corporate locations, because Gawd forbid they do business via teleconferencing.

This is interesting on many levels. Who is responsible for the outage? Xcel or the City? Who should cover the expenses involved with the outage?

I also find it a bit comical that Xcel thought DT loft residents were going to sleep on a cot next to total strangers. I’m not saying they are snobs, but they certainly are not transients.

I wonder how their lawyers will conduct this Mexican Hat Dance.

Why do our local TV stations continue to be the ‘Alarmist Media’?

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I will have to give a H/T to Hudson for coining the phrase.

I was so mad last night I could barely type, so I figured I would sleep on it, and see if my words would become less barbed this morning. Still mad. As you know, there was a major power outage yesterday downtown, affecting some major businesses in downtown Sioux Falls.

Is this news? Certainly, I cannot argue with that. But some TV stations decided to go overboard and make it sound like DT was a total blackout and the entire area was blocked off to traffic due to the ‘Great Power outage of 2013’. I suppose it had to do with the fact that there wasn’t a blizzard or John Thune press release going on, so they had to create a disaster.

Was the outage bad? Sure. But claiming that all of DT came to a halting stop couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, several DT bars and restaurants were open. I work at one of them. The reports all but killed a normal busy Friday night. In fact at one point in the evening, our establishment was completely empty, 8 PM on a Friday night. Now, I can speculate that January usually isn’t a hopping month for us, but I can also speculate that the local TV media, once again, has blown shit way out of proportion.

I think what bothers me more is that when something like a power outage occurs, it is the TOP STORY, but when other important things happen in our community, the TV stations are in hiding, probably busy flying their drones or playing with their latest snowstorm buttplug thingy.

Did you know last week a small group of citizens addressed the Minnehaha County Commission and got them to back off in restricting petitioners? Well you would not have heard about it on TV.

Our local TV stations seem to be more concerned about scaring old people and precipitation then they are about real news (hate to piss off the city fathers in our town, they might pull their advertising). This ‘creation’ of news has got to stop. Good, solid news stories are all around you, heck, some get handed to you on a silver platter. Where a DT restaurant is going to cold storage there bagged gravy is not a news story.