It always amazing me how citizens only show up when there is a crisis and their bottom line is threatened.
I will commend the people who have been showing up to the meetings lately. But where are they when the city is bilking us with higher taxes and fees? Unneeded bonds for play palaces? Massive tax rebates in the form of TIFs to the wealthy developers? Massive violations of open meeting laws and 1st Amendment rights?
Oh that’s right, none of those things matter if it doesn’t affect your personal finances. All of this sudden concern in government overreach remind of this lyric from a Nashville Pussy song,
‘Sit on my ass, smokin’ bad grass, tellin’ everyone I’m King.’
The irony of all these ‘concerned citizens’ is that none of these ordinances, resolutions or other proposals violate your civil liberties because they didn’t have any legal teeth. That is obvious. You don’t have to believe me, do a little research. They were a ‘strong suggestion’ from government. That’s it. Also, as I have said before, in a time of crisis the government should be helping us, especially our employers, in how they can create a safe work environment.
As asked today at the city council informational meeting, what are the city employees doing right now while collecting a paycheck? No real answer. As I mentioned before, some of them are working, and very hard. But a lot of them are not. So why are the rest of us putting on our boots each morning to keep this city going but the city employees are not? They could easily be manning employer hotlines with advice on how to keep a safe work environment. They could be going to these businesses and helping them create a safe work environment. They could be helping with food giveaways, etc. They are not. Why? Instead of trying to ‘strongly suggest’ what we should be doing, here is my suggestion; If you want to collect a paycheck from taxpayers you must earn it. That means you must be working, either at home or in some other capacity. If you don’t want to do that, you should be furloughed without pay and your job will be given back to you when you decide to return. Now I don’t blame these employees, I blame the mayor, who is the city administrator and his main job according to charter is managing city employees. So while he has failed at trying to manage private employers and employees, he has given some city employees an extended vacation. And why would they argue with that? Paul, if you don’t want to dictate to private business what they should do with their employees, why are you giving some of yours time off?
We Love work. That’s all we know.
So why do people in this country, state and city want to fight so hard to go to work in this time? First the obvious, we live paycheck to paycheck, secondly, we know nothing but work. South Dakotans are hard workers, because they have to keep their heads above water. While South Dakotans are good people, with deep faith and giving hearts, we are not real cultured. Why? Because we don’t have the time to become cultured, because we value work more than anything else and it is really sad. Until about 5 years ago, I worked two jobs on an average of 60 hours a week. I lived the hypocrisy I just mentioned. Where did it get me? Well a little more money in the bank, aching feet and bad sleep habits, but in the past 5 years I have had a lot of thought about all the things I have missed out in life because I was working. Other countries also value work, but they also value culture and R & R just as much, and they balance the two. How sad is it the only time we decide to protest government is when it comes to working, but never protest them when they don’t give us more time off to enjoy our families, friends, faith and culture. The Civil War may have freed the slaves, but we are still slaves to the system, and we are willing to risk getting Covid to defend that modern slavery. Wow!
Mayor TenHaken has been passing the gavel a lot these days
I find it a bit ironic, because I have been pushing for years that the chair of the council should run the meetings and the mayor can be a member of the audience and comment when called on. Maybe PTH agrees with me on something? Oh, and can you sigh a little bit more at the regular council meeting tonight? Annoying.
Bravo to Councilor Kiley (and I really mean this, even if he is a rubber stamper) for making a statement about how serious this virus is, by stating facts. FACTS! Thank You Rick!
l3wis 
