Theresa is featured on Jon Michael’s Forum this week.
The Argus Leader editorial board also gets on board with Stehly and her feelings on the parking ramp;
“Taxpayers have a right to know who the city is getting into bed with,†Stehly said.
She’s got a point. While other members of the council are often at odds with Stehly, this is one instance where they should reconsider their stance and lend support.
Even our local paper is seeing through the charade.
There were two letters to the editor today in the Argus Leader over Legacy’s relationship with the city.
First from a constituent;
Hultgren Construction, co-owned by Aaron Hultgren, was fined by OSHA for work it was doing on the Copper Lounge building at the time of its collapse. Asked whether the city reconsidered partnering with Legacy as a result of these fines, Darren Ketcham, community development manager for the City of Sioux Falls said, “Hultgren Construction is not part of this project.†That statement could be misleading if Legacy is linked financially to Hultgren.
Nevertheless, Legacy Development is ultimately responsible for the safety of everyone living and working on their property and safeguarding the integrity of what was once a contributing building to the Downtown Historical District. It failed at both. How then did they become the city’s choice as its partner in the proposed parking lot and how does the city justify their decision?
Nutty? Right? How does a development company that has ran roughshot over DT development get awarded such a RFQ without greasing some palms?
Councilor Stehly also responds to concerns over Legacy;
This proposal would be a unique collaboration, with tax dollars supporting the parking ramp and a private investor (Legacy Development), building the outside retail structure. We have been told that the city’s share in this could be more than $18 million. We have also been told that it could create 200-300 new parking spaces. This is a very expensive parking proposal. There are questions about who will maintain the structure of this building and what liability the city would have if the private businesses would not be able to support their part.
Even if we did get 300 spaces for public parking, that is 3x more then what a normal parking ramp space costs (Aprox $20K). Even with all the controversy surrounding Legacy, why on earth would taxpayers want to pay $60K per parking space, when the going rate for a stand alone parking ramp is $20K.
The Sioux Falls city council (6 of them) need to wake from their deep sleep and realize this proposal is bad for tax payers in every shape and form. It costs too much, it’s the wrong location, the funding effects our 2nd penny, and the developer may be sued in a wrongful death suit. Any councilor or elected official who would vote for such a horrible plan has to be stark raving mad.
First Fiddle-Faddle does his best bang-up cracker-jack job of defending their investors;
Pfeifle said another protection the city has against improper investors is inherent in how the project will be financed. It’s assumed Legacy Developments will be financing at least a portion of the construction costs. Ignoring a state law barring the improper investing in a project, Pfeifle said, could jeopardize it and void it entirely, preventing the financier from getting its money back.
Yeah, we don’t need to see the investor list, we can just ASSUME they are doing the right thing.
Then I also see Legacy has their fingers in the newly announced Win Chill warehouse at Flopdation Park;
Win Chill, a refrigerated food storage and distribution center facility, will be built on a 54-acre parcel at Foundation Park. Legacy Development CEO Norman Drake said the facility will provide cold-storage for food companies in order to ship products to and from Sioux Falls and surrounding areas.
Besides the fact that we are allowing a development company that may be sued over the Copper Lounge collapse to build our DT parking ramp, and now benefit from over $30 million in infrastructure from taxpayers, Mayor Huether went on to say at the press conference reveal that this warehouse will produce good paying jobs.
Nothing wrong with warehouse work, it’s an honest living, but I would be shocked to see if they pay forklift operators $18-20 per hour. Even if it did, I’m not sure spending $30 million in infrastructure is worth the 35 or so jobs this place will produce.
Once again, our state and city leadership, in partnership with some questionable developers (who don’t use union labor for their projects) suckered the taxpayers out of millions for some corporate pigs benefit.