Sioux Falls City Meetings, Aug 20th
l3wis 
SF City Council
Is Hultgren still involved w/new building at former Copper Lounge site?
Hultgren may still be profiting from something he helped destroy (May 10, 2018 City Council Meeting);
Item #13, Transfer of 2018 Retail Liquor License, including Sunday sales and video lottery terminals, from Pave LLC, Pave, 130 South Phillips Avenue, to Pave LLC, Pave, 130 South Phillips Ave and Level 2 of 136 South Phillips Ave.
This transfer of the Liquor license is for the rooftop patio for Pave. That patio is above the new Lewis Drug Downtown, the former Copper Lounge site. While there is nothing nefarious about extending a license for a rooftop patio, Pave’s ownership is questionable. Originally Hultgren was a substantial owner/stakeholder in Pave. Is he still? And if so, does our city council and licensing department know?
It seems Hultgren may still have his hands in the cookie jar. As I told the council last night, this fiasco will continue to replay, over, and over again in the media.
Anti-Citizen (Municipal) League continues to lobby against our best interests
The taxpayer funded legislative lobbyist Muni-League decided to rear their head again with the city council’s supposed ‘legislative’ priorities (Item #15). But some councilors weren’t buying it. Stehly had an issue with TIFs, some wondered how the county’s priorities got mixed in with it, and councilor Brekke was curious when they even talked about it.
The rumor going around is that a couple of councilors met with Minnehaha County Chair, Heiberger and cooked this up with the help of the Muni-League.
And let’s talk about them. We pay them to lobby for higher taxes (they continually try to sucker the legislature into letting cities raise an extra penny tax for ‘special projects’ with a sunset clause. NO taxes ever ‘sunset’. Once implemented, they are there forever. Look at the 3rd penny entertainment tax in SF for paying off Pavilion bonds. That tax was supposed to sunset after the bonds were paid off. That was 4-5 years ago. Still exists. They also support TIF’s which are nothing more than a tax rebate/welfare program for developers. Most times they have little to NO economic impact except raising property taxes on the rest of us.
It’s time the city cuts ties with the Muni-League. The Sioux Falls city council already has a legislative director/operations manager that makes close to $100K a year. The council praises his hard work, and he is very capable of lobbying for the city. As taxpayers we don’t need to pay another lobbyist to lobby against our interests.
Sioux Falls City Council engages in a ‘Healthy Debate’
I have to say it was refreshing to watch the city council tonight (from my comfortable stool position at Club David). They engaged in a very respectful debate about the agenda items, while challenging the city directors.
I have to say that it has been over a decade since I have seen this. I really believe that the former administration stifled this debate by cutting off several councilors and calling on his army of ‘rubber stampers’ to shame other councilors into ‘going along’ while praising city management.
While many have told me they are disappointed in the lack of engagement by the current mayor and chair of the meetings, I would say I quietly applaud Mayor TenHaken for letting the city council conduct their business without his interference or the interference of city directors. He is doing the right thing by ‘chairing’ the meeting and NOT ‘dictating’ it.
Some might argue it may be his lack of experience, and that may be true, but I also think he knows that this is ‘their’ time and NOT his.
While I have my disagreements with some of the things said tonight or decisions made, I really think that the sausage making was done the way it is supposed to be done. The legislative branch (the council) hashing this out without the influence of the mayor’s office or a department.
Bravo to ALL eight of you tonight for keeping it real, and conducting city business in such a concerning and passionate form. Let us not let history repeat itself moving forward in this new term.
No more steps in the River
So I guess the city council is about to debate expanding the River Greenway. The steps into the River came up again. Please, we don’t need this expensive, Roman like structure to continue along the river. This stupid design was cooked up by Jeff S. Cherapa and Mayor Munson in some middle of the night, backroom deal in which Smilin’ Dave promised all kinds of stuff to Jeff (in which he got – because he threatened to sue if he didn’t).
But let’s face it, the steps into the river are not only expensive, they look ridiculous, are not environmentally friendly, are unsafe and do NOTHING to clean up the river.
Trust me, this wasn’t the first time I have brought this up, when they were being originally proposed I said it was stupid.
Why?
Well not only would you save millions, it would look better and help with runoff if you designed it differently. My idea then, and now has not changed. You line the banks with natural/native, organic flowers and plants that help the runoff. You widen the bike trail, and you put in multiple mini-parks with benches and more natural landscaping. Not only would it look a 1oox better, it is environmentally friendly and saves millions in concrete expenses. On top of that the flowers along the banks act as a natural barrier to the very toxic waters, which helps safety.
The geese also need to be driven away using air cannons to force them to nest elsewhere. I have often thought spending over $10 million on a river greenway that is covered in goose sh*t really misses the mark. From Falls Park all the way to Cliff Avenue the geese nest and cover the trail in crap. The noise from the air cannons annoys them and gets them to move without killing them or hurting them.
I have also said that signs about the toxicity of the river need to be put up at Falls Park and spots where people might want to take a dip along the greenway. A bright yellow or red sign with a skull and crossbones poison symbol would do the trick. I have often thought if you made people aware of the high levels of E-Coli in the river, they would not go in there. People, it is like swimming in your toilet after you dropped one. Stop doing it!
So please. Let’s use fiscal smarts, environmental smarts and safety knowledge to expand the River Greenway and not steps into a river a couple of clowns cooked up in the basement of city hall.