Want to prevent VD and Crime? Find God.

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On the B-N-B show this morning, Greg was preparing listeners for the Mayor’s monthly visit at 8 AM Tuesday (I guess we need to get our adult diapers and barf bags). The topic? The rise of violent crime in Sioux Falls (can’t wait to hear the softballs Greg throws Mike).

One of the reasons my newest obsession is listening to B-N-B‘s show is because of the ‘wisdom’ his listeners dole out. It usually has me in stitches. A caller this morning did not disappoint. This person called in this morning and was talking about the drastic increase in STD’s in young adults (15-25) in Minnehaha and Brookings counties, and at first it sounded like he had some good arguments to make. Then he asks Greg, “Why do you think there has been this drastic increase?” He told Greg it was because of the lack of ‘God’ in young people’s lives.

While a good moral compass isn’t a bad idea, he couldn’t be more wrong. The problem is the lack of education and awareness. When AID’s was running rampant in the homosexual community, they started educating and the rates went down.

The same could be said about crime in Sioux Falls. One of the biggest factors is drug dealing. The community needs to be educated on what to look for, we also need to be getting to young people sooner about drug use. We also need to go whole hog on creating neighborhood watch programs that don’t cost taxpayers diddley, and guess what THEY WORK!

But if I had to take an educated guess as to why crime has increased so drastically in Sioux Falls over the past 5 years, I think it is much simpler then we think;

• Officer retention has been very bad, and SF police officers QUIT at a record rate last year. Not giving a decent COLA didn’t help matters.

• Drug use is going up (happening across the country) and with the lax gun control laws in our state, it is much easier for people to have (get) guns and use them (violently).

• The recession caused a lower class of working people, which tend to commit more crimes, especially when it comes to domestic and drug matters.

• The Boomtown campaign to get people to move here wasn’t well thought out. I don’t think this campaign helped to get professionals or higher income blue collar workers to move here, it got people who were already desperate and suffering where they lived to move here, and let’s face it, wages are not stellar here. In fact, if anything professionals are leaving faster then we are bringing them in. Don’t believe me that lower income workers raided our city? Then why have we seen our food banks and shelters expand so dramatically over the same period of time? While we asked people to move to Sioux Falls, we were not to specific of who we wanted really coming here.

• Also, as a caller this morning pointed out, our core neighborhoods in Sioux Falls are deteriorating, Why? Because we have thrown so much money at big development and urban sprawl, not just tax dollars in the form of TIF’s and Federal dollars but banks have been investing more in the ‘big projects’. How is it that we continue to break building permits each year, yet affordable housing in Sioux Falls is disappearing so fast?

• Lastly, our past and current police chief along with their boss, the mayor, have ignored all the warning signs, and the continue to ignore them.

As we continue to ignore our lower income workers and not pay them better wages, they begin to get desperate, and with desperation comes criminal activity. Maybe we need to hand out more Bibles?

Alt Mayor driving Real Mayor Bananners!

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I have been enjoying Alt Mayor’s tweets, and I think I got the person narrowed down (more on that soon).

What I have admired recently is their calling out the mayor on transparency (oh the irony) and offering to sell the account to the city.

But what is even more funny is that it is driving the mayor crazy he can’t bust this person. It seems he threatened some kind of legal action with the State’s Attorney and Twitter, but like most things 1st Amendment, the mayor is no different then Sandy Jerstad yelling at a porn shop owner, you can’t muck with the 1st Amendment when you are an elected official.

Also, ironically, the Alt Mike has been pretty kind to the real Mike, besides a little snark about pool passes and transparency, they certainly haven’t been mean.

Once again, Real Mike proves just how ‘real’ he is when it comes to modesty.

Has Mayor ‘High Crimes’ been ignoring the Elephant in the room?

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Great timing on denying our police force a decent raise. We are simply not going to get a handle on this by not maintaining and retaining a decent crime fighting force. This information should not be surprising. In the last mayoral election, candidate Jamison warned us we needed to get a handle on the matter;

3. Sioux Falls, SD
> 5-yr. violent crime rate change: +69.1%
> 2011 violent crime rate: 215.1 per 100,000
> 2015 violent crime rate: 363.7 per 100,000
> Murders in 2015: 3

Between 2011 and 2015, the violent crime rate in Sioux Falls rose from 215 incidents per 100,000 residents to 364 per 100,000. The number of aggravated assaults in the metro area more than doubled from 288 to 679 incidents. While violent crime levels are often greater in areas with high unemployment and poverty, the typical Sioux Falls household earns roughly $4,000 more than the typical American household, and the metro area’s unemployment rate has fallen over the last five years to 3.3% — far less than the national figure of 4.7%.

According to the Sioux Falls Police Department, the rise in crime is largely due to the city’s growing drug problem. The number of total police calls and drug seizures by Sioux Falls police has increased rapidly in recent years, with the amount of seized meth quadrupling from 9.8 pounds to 38.0 pounds from 2015 to 2016.

UPDATE: Mayor Huether needs to ‘Man Up’

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Fantastic letter by the Granddaughter of Dr. Robert Giebink who donated the land originally for the Glory House & Ice Hockey center;

The now defunct Sioux Falls Ice & Rec Center is where I learned to skate. Where my grandfather, Dr. Robert Giebink (Doc), would watch me play hockey. I used to wave to him through the plexiglass and watch him smile and cheer me on. No one knew that it was his doing that allowed such a recreation center to be built. He was the man who donated the land necessary to construct not just the SFIRC, but the Glory House, as well. And you know what? He never sought recognition or glory. There was no parade in his honor, and he refused to have his name on the buildings. That’s the kind of man he was: quiet and selfless. Now I only wish my mayor had a fraction of the humility and respect he did. Mayor Huether needs to man up and be a little more like Doc.

You mean like NOT take $500K from taxpayers for a private tennis center then plaster their name on the building?

I hope the next mayor gets out a wrecking crew to remove all things ‘Huether’ from public facilities, like his stupid quotes on the wall of the indoor pool and events center. In fact, I would be willing to tear off those letters for a 6-Pack of crappy beer.

UPDATE: Also attached a letter that was read at the council meeting last night by Doc’s daughter, Joan Giebink (DOC: Joan-Giebink )