South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Road Funding

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Road Funding Sioux Falls

‘Infrastructure Mike’ makes his debut

l3wis 10Comments

monkeymike

“Enough monkeying around folks, we are gonna fix these dang crappy roads with the day god gave us.”

When I first started watching this interview(?) I had to make a double take to make sure I wasn’t watching Reid Holsen interviewing Mike on CityLink and not Matt Holsen on Stormland TV. It was sure nice of Matt to allow the mayor to drive him around and pretty much write the story for him. I wonder if Matt also let Mike edit the video. Great piece of journalism, maybe Randell Beck will award you a Pulitzer? Probably not, but, I see Green Bay Packer tickets in your future (or maybe the mayor will buy you a Coors Light at the company Christmas party).

Enough of that.

Doesn’t anyone else find it a bit ironic that shortly after a municipal election where the winning candidates talked about fixing our roads, the mayor has a change of heart (he also changed the name of the Administration Building to the Public Services Building). Maybe he could sell sponsorships to the place? I think the Darrin Smith Commemorative Building has a nice ring to it, after all, the first phase of construction will leave half the building unfinished, seems fitting.

So after spending a lion’s share of the 2nd penny kitty on play things and fun houses the mayor is all of sudden concerned about our roads. Awww. It really warms a heart.

“That’s how I’m going out the final two and that is repairing and rebuilding and replacing this infrastructure and yeah including some of the bumpy roads in our town,” Huether said.

That should have been your priority when you were sworn in to begin with. With dwindling tax revenue over the next two years and bond payments coming from the 2nd penny like a payment on a sub-prime credit card, just how much can you spend on roads? No worries though, Infrastructure Mike has it handled with his personal press secretary Matt Holsen and Stormland TV.

Education funding Road Funding

Solutions to education and road funding

l3wis 3Comments

article-2268492-01E93DB500000578-660_634x427

I don’t know who is more ignorant, my students or my state legislators

I recently thought a way to get more money for both would be for the public schools and counties split a statewide room tax. We could dedicate 100% to fixing roads and paying teachers.

I have often been baffled that the state doesn’t have such a tax, especially with all the business travel to Sioux Falls and tourism travel across the state.

Road Funding Taxes

Assbackwards road funding ideas

l3wis 13Comments

I was watching State Senator Mike Vehle talk about road funding ideas on 100 Eyes yesterday and just about spit out my coffee. One of the ideas is to PUNISH hybrid and electric car users. Mike suggested that Electric car users should pay an additional $80 registration fee, and Hybrid an additional $40, because they don’t use as much gas or no gas at all. Ludicrous. Most of those vehicles are very light, and do little damage to the roads, my Hybrid weighs under 1,500 lbs. (and the way I drive it, I doubt it touches the road much at all). Basically, what Mike is saying is that we should start charging people who ride bikes on the roads, because hey, they are using the roads and not contributing a gas tax.

You have to realize, we also fund road maintenance through sales taxes to, something us hippy Hybrid drivers and bicyclists also pay.

He also suggested that in the future we use a satellite monitoring system to track mileage. Really?! That is one of the most jackass ideas I have heard so far.

Let’s face it, the solutions are simple, and Mr. Content Strategist Lalley brought one of them up.

“Why not just lift all the exemptions that exist?”

Exactly!

For instance, farmers not having to pay registration on monster tractors and trailers that tear the crap out of the roads. START CHARGING THEM! Farming is a business, just like a contractor, and if they have to register their vehicles, farmers should to.

There are also other fair and equitable ways;

– Raise the gas tax.

– Charge registration based on weight and usage of vehicle. The heavier the vehicle, the more you pay.

– Tax vehicles the same rate as food and utilities. This idea is way past due.

– Have dealerships charge taxes at the time of purchase and give you license plates, why are we using county resources for this? Grocery stores collect taxes for the state, why can’t car dealerships? (This was a suggestion by commissioner Jeff Barth)

Once again the brain trust we call our state legislature wants to punish the poor and wise instead of the people who are actually damaging our roads the most. And we keep re-electing these fools.

Road Funding Sioux Falls

If a new road is essential for growth, jobs and development – why the secrecy?

l3wis 25Comments

If you don’t give us taxpayer money, we are packing our bags (where have we heard that one before?)

The public becomes suspect when in one breath government tells us we must subsidize private industry for our benefit then turns around in another breath tells us that industry must remain secret;

They won’t name the employer but think they can secure state and federal money to help pay for a new roadway to accelerate improvements in the area.

“It’s a major organization we want to keep in Sioux Falls,” said Darrin Smith, city director of community development.

————————–

“The company wants to keep its identity confidential, and we’ll honor that,” Barr said. “There’s no commitment on their part or our part, but anytime a company opens the door to relocate, you want to make sure you have a competitive option for them.”

If they are asking for public money, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that they remain confidential. If you want our money, fine, fess up. Secondly, I find it very hard to believe this company would be packing bags if we don’t build this road for them. I do think this road is needed in that part of town, but to make it sound like we are going to lose jobs and businesses if we don’t build this road is a stretch.

I have no idea who this business is, but if I had to guess, here is a pretty good clue;

Much discussion now is about another city business that has outgrown its location and might be looking at the park for a new plant.

I’m guessing it is the metal recycling plant that wanted to move in the old stockyards, and the city has been jumping through hoops for them so they WON’T locate in that location. If anybody else has the facts and wants to confirm that, please comment.

 

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