Oblivious
l3wis 
SF City Council
Quality of Life Bond? WTF?
I got tipped off about this a few weeks back, but thought it was a joke. Well I heard more info today from some little birdies. It may be coming down the pipe. The planning department and the mayor’s office didn’t find a need to tell the councilors yet, that’s the rumor anyway (and it wasn’t on Jodi’s Facebook page).
Basically they are working on a loan to upgrade the Zoo, and Great Bear, and some other pet projects by taking out a bond. Yup, all during a recession. Because, if one thing is important during a recession, it is monkey crappers and bunny hills!
I don’t think the city should have bought Great Bear and the Zoo to begin with, my philosophy has always been if there is a ‘need’ for something, it will at least be self-sufficient. The city golf courses actually make the city money every year. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE USED AND NEEDED!
More to come on the amount and details, once I remember my Facebook log-in.
PS- There is also another storm brewing at City Hall, but I’ll let the MSM handle this one. Let’s just put it this way; if you are still ignorant to the fact that Munson is fiscally irresponsible, you’ll know for a fact after you hear this story.
SF Neighborhood; ‘Jesus can park here, but not Allah.’
Every once in awhile a Sioux Falls City Councilor surprises me. Bob Litz did this yesterday when he asked Mike Cooper from the Planning department this question (Jan 20th info meeting), in reference to the zoning of the NEW Islamic Center,
“Why is there a disparency between what the fire code requires in occupancy and what the zoning commission requires?â€
Cooper responded, “It’s very complex.†And he added that the fire department has different standards. Uh, well duh, Mike, that’s why Bob asked the question. Shouldn’t the fire department and Zoning commission be on the same page?
But this isn’t about occupancy, it’s about bigotry.
Cory from Madville writes a great post about the veiled bigotry that I have been concerned about for awhile towards the new Islamic Center.
It all started a few weeks back at a SF city council informational meeting (Jan 5th) when a ‘concerned citizen’ (Ignorant/Hypocritical Protestant) took pictures and shot video of African-American immigrant Muslims protesting Israel’s attack on Gaza across the street in a public park from the other Islamic center on 6th street. Councilor Staggers asked the gentleman what his feelings were on the First Amendment, and the guy seem to be confused about it’s meaning and started talking about city ordinances, etc. Staggers reminded the citizen that the U.S. Constitution trumps all municipal and state laws and as long as their protesting was peaceful he couldn’t do anything about it.
Later at the City Council meeting I thanked Staggers for reminding the citizen about the First Amendment and I also said publicly if any of these protesters feel threatened or intimidated by the local authorities that need to contact the National Coalition Against Censorship or the ACLU for legal advice.
This is flat out bigotry because of their faith, that’s it, and it is pretty obvious. I will say the city and council have been doing their best to handle the zoning issue as smoothly as possible, it’s the citizens in this neighborhood that are causing problems and continue to hassle the city about restricting them, even though most (Christian) worship facilities in Sioux Falls are in residential areas.
I don’t belong to any religion, so I don’t care if people are dancing naked around old sprint car tires in their churches, just as long as they follow zoning rules they have the right to do whatever they want to in their church, the First Amendment guarantees it.
I suggest the Islamic Center contacts the ACLU and get some legal advice before this thing blows up into something bigger.
No money for salaries but plenty for fancy-smancy windows
Oh, the Pavilion continues to amaze and bewilder;
The winning bid, submitted by Sunkota Construction, came in at $779,400. The project had a budget of $925,576 with an estimated price tag of $791,000.
Funny, how all of sudden once the media covered the Pavilion and city hall screw-up over the cost the city decides to be fiscally responsible on a project. See what happens when the MSM in Sioux Falls tells the citizens what are beaurcrats are up to? They become more accountable.
Good thing I wasn’t at the SF City Council Info meeting yesterday
I would have needed this to get out of there.
View the BS slinging here (click on Jan 12 – info meeting).
First it started out about how rezoning issues with Sanford need to be handled differently in the future. Councilors point out how poorly the way notices are posted and mailed out to homeowners. Amazing. If you were opposed to how it was handled why did all of you (besides Staggers) voted for it?! You knew before the vote that this stuff wasn’t handled correctly, you should have voted NO! Saying something after the fact is a wash. If you want to send a message about how the zoning was handled you do it when you vote – not piss and moan about it after the vote at some little known info meeting. Christ-sakes-alive, please shut off your TVs and engage your brains before voting at meetings.
Secondly the Pavilion showed up to tell the community about a new program(?). They will be open from 5 – 8 PM on the first Friday of each month. Hate to break it to you, been there, done that. I suggest as the marketing manager of the Pavilion you dig up past records about your programs. BTW, it was wildly successful, so wondering why you got rid of it in the first place. You should be open every single night from 5-8 PM so people who go to school or work during the day can enjoy your programs. Of course, that would make sense . . .
Thirdly, a info meeting would not be complete without another theatrical performance by Greg ‘Grease Lightning’ Jamison and his sidekicks Vernon and ‘Biceps’ Bob Litz. I could go into a long description about windbreakers and AC/DC shirts, but ya gotta see it for yourself. It is about a new Event Center and imaginary checks. Funny stuff.
I will summarize that they now are comparing us to the Fargo Dome (I guess they gave up on the Qwest Center comparison). Well, for one, Fargo is a massive college town, there isn’t a larger events center for hours and hours away, and they haven’t sold out many events over the past 20 years (Thanks Costello for that tidbit of info). Staggers, of course is the only councilor to remind them raising retail taxes to build this is a very bad idea, and suggests they use private money instead. Then De magically makes up facts, again. ” The last poll I saw has shown overwhelming support for a new event center”- . (Paraphrasing) De does this quite a bit, so I’m challenging you De, if this is true FREAKING PROVE IT! I do agree people may support it, but not thru retail taxes. It will fall flat on it’s face if you plan to build this with a tax increase on groceries, etc. De also mentions that our tax burden is low in Sioux Falls, yup, and wages are to De.