UPDATE: City of Sioux Falls will construct a $70K fence around The Dudley House
l3wis UPDATE: While discussing this with folks we realized there is also a huge conflict of interest with the city giving this money for fence construction. The director of the shelter, Madeline Shields, is a contract employee(?) with the city doing ‘Inside Townhall’ as their moderator. I tried to get her removed because of this conflict several years ago (a raccoon could host the show) but no dice. So now we are giving money to city employees’ pet projects? WOW! I would also be curious what she get’s paid to do a 20 minute show once a month? Any guesses? Apparently $70K. I also had a conversation with a city councilor about this saying I approved of fencing for the employees but that should be the expense of the BDH. Obviously it would have to be withdrawn or amended at Tuesday’s meeting, not holding my breath.
Hey, just make sure you don’t put the fence posts in 5 gallon pails, that’s a NO NO. Item #20, read the explanation HERE!
Essentially we will lease the parking lot for $1 a year and pay for the fence and maintenance. A better approach would be tearing out the parking lot and put in a pollinator garden. This will just make the place look like a prison, and the folks that are now using it for shelter will just move into other parts of the neighborhood and downtown. When you tell a homeless person that can’t sleep on a certain sidewalk, they will just find another sidewalk. You are solving nothing and you may exacerbate the problem. Right now most of them are full view at that location, kick them out and they will disperse all over causing an even bigger problem. Be curious who the brain child that cooked this up? But I do agree employees of the BDH need a fenced in parking lot, but they can pay for it themselves. We keep throwing money at this issue for all the wrong reasons.
CITY OF SIOUX FALLS ALREADY APPROVING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND IT IS ONLY FEBRUARY!
Item #22, well this isn’t good. A little early to start digging into savings. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of this this year. (Note, the $2.5 Million is a donation to us from a private party).
Recently the council approved a 170 unit workforce housing complex that was in a perfect location and guess who was basically the only detractor? Another slumlord in town. I told a couple of councilors, ‘He is opposed because it will steal low income renters from him. I used to rent from this family, SLUMLORDS thru and thru.’ It’s time this city cracks down on these folks. I suggest the council put together a set of ordinances that would basically force slumlords out of operation, we will see if they have the courage. 
