I think the earth just turned on it’s axis, I agree with the Gargoyle Leader’s ED Board

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Sorry drunk homeless man, my shelter is more important

Holy Shit! Did they take smart pills for once? The Editorial Board uses common sense when writing an editorial:

The point of the pilot project is to manage those costs in a way that saves the county money. Truth is, it likely has saved the city some money as well through, if nothing else, reduced law enforcement costs. For that reason alone, the city should ante up to help defray the county’s costs for Safe Home even though dealing with the homeless is a county function in South Dakota. But more than that, Minnehaha County and the city of Sioux Falls already work together on many different levels, both recognizing their responsibilities in the greater metro area. It would be a shame if the city doesn’t pick up its share of the burden for Safe Home.

It would be a shame. The irony of all this is that the city is the one saving thousands by having this shelter. I have aways looked at this issue in terms of money. If it saves us money to invest a little now – DO IT! It seems city leaders only want to spend money on stuff that doesn’t save us money, like monkey crappers. How pathetic is it that we can’t build a shelter for mentally ill homeless people but we can build barns for pink birds. Talk about F’d up priorities.

City leader’s priorities, once again, screwy

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You would think after the mayor had to kick a transient out of Minerva’s last week that city leaders would understand that by spending money on public safety up front you save taxpayer’s money in the long run? Nope.

Councilor Pat Costello asked why the city should be involved if that funding will take care of most of the project.

In 2008, the Project Safe Home pilot program offered permanent housing to 20 individuals. The county operates Dakota House on North Minnesota Avenue, which is being used for the project.

The project cut annual homeless services costs in half – from $32,000 per person to provide health care, detoxification, other county services and to jail homeless people who ran afoul of the law, to $16,260 per person for pilot program participants.

See, when our Councilors talk about living in a ‘Blessed Community’ they are talking about the one they envision, and it doesn’t include helping the homeless, because as far as they are concerned, they do not exist.

Councilor Greg Jamison said his constituents tell him they support helping homeless families instead and told Brown he would need to be convinced the center could help those families.

Huh? Because only homeless people who reproduce are important? They are ALL important. Greg is starting to sound like his old man on this issue. Like I said, this is about more then helping people, it is about public safety. Or maybe Mayor Munson enjoys getting punched by homeless people? Funny how they won’t blink an eye for $170,000 crappers at McKennan Park or Million dollar windows at the Pavilion, but when it is time to spend money on public safety, it turns into some huge f’ing pissing match.  Guess what, it is okay to spend tax payer money on public safety. Especially when it proves to save us money in the long run and keep us more safe.

They really are dumber then I thought.

You mean spending money on public safety saves us money in the long run? Get out here!

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A plan to transform the way Minnehaha County deals with the most chronic cases of homelessness has cut county spending in half while providing improved care, according to a report that county commissioners heard Tuesday.

How long have we been saying this would save taxpayer’s money in the long run? For eternity, it seems. So why did it take the city so long to commit the money? Good question. “Um yeah, I need to see the hard numbers, uh, before I commit anything, um, I won’t cut the check until I know for sure this will save us money, uh, because, uh, we need to put million dollar windows in the Pavilion and a $170,000 shitter at the McKennan park tennis courts, it’s all about REAL priorities,” – Mayor Munson.

Human Services Director Hugh Grogan told commissioners that with stable living arrangements, Safe Home participants are much more likely to use less-expensive health care alternatives such as the Community Health clinic than emergency rooms.

Get out of here! You mean when we give the needy a hand-up they don’t turn around and give themselves a $165 million dollar retention bonus? They actually find ways to be thrifty and cost effective. Maybe they should be compiling the CIP budget for the city everyear.

But the cost savings, commissioners Carol Twedt and Jeff Barth said, simply are an unanticipated benefit.

Even though you were presented 9 million studies that showed we would save money under this program, you still call it a ‘unanticipated benefit’. Um, please have a cup of coffee before you show up to the next meeting and actually listen to the presenters when they are presenting.

Minnehaha County Commissioner Dick Kelly cautioned that the report does not necessarily paint a complete picture of the program’s effects. It “tells us something. I don’t think it tells us a lot,” he said.

Imagine that, a conservative Republican is being negative and cynical about helping the needy. I’m shocked! When is Dick gonna run out of offices to run for?

Sioux Falls is recession proof? My Ass!

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When are our local and state lawmakers gonna wakeup? Even our half-ass media is reporting this stuff;

The majority of people who walk into the office of the Minnehaha County Health and Human Services need help paying rent because many have recently lost their jobs.

And good thing for our public school system or some kids would not have a warm place to go during the day;

Addressing chronic homelessness should be a priority when tackling the overall homeless problem, Sioux Falls City Council member Vernon Brown said. Establishing services to help the chronically homeless would free up other agencies to help those families with children who need temporary assistance, he said.

I’ll commend you Vernon for your work on this, but don’t you think it is time to build a fire under the Mayor’s and other councilor’s asses to get this moving a little faster? What’s the holdup? The homeless are not just going to disappear if you keep farting around. You should bring this up every single council and info meeting, you should also tell anyone in the media who will listen. I have found the only way to get things done is to keep the pressure on this isn’t about snowgates or indoor pools, this is serious shit.

Funny thing, city hall is mysteriously quiet about this report. No worries, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce chimed in, and if anyone would know about giving good advice about business and the economy, it would be them (as long as you are buying a membership and support higher taxes on food).

Dave Fleck, Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce board chairman and president of Sioux Falls Construction, noted that Sioux Falls’ unemployment is still well below the national average.

But just keep going out to eat, and everything will be just fine in Sioux Falls.