South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sioux Falls

Denny Sanford Education funding Sioux Falls

Students at National University in San Diego, not to happy about Sanford’s Gift

l3wis 5Comments

Would be nice to hear some chatter like this in Sioux Falls;

When the billionaire T. Denny Sanford meted out cash, his philanthropy often begot physical tributes. Hospitals plastered his name on emergency rooms and nursing homes; bronze statues were erected in his likeness. In the case of National University in San Diego, the school’s chancellor reportedly displayed a cardboard cutout of Sanford following a $350 million pledge in 2019. The university agreed to name itself after him, too.

Now, following reports that Sanford has been investigated for possible possession of child pornography, some National students are calling for distance.

“They should just give the money back,” said Perry Craz, who is pursuing a master’s degree in special education and teaching. “I don’t see any benefit by having Sanford’s name put on the top of the ticket.”

If, and that’s a big if, Sanford gets indicted on any charges and convicted (I’m not holding my breath) Sioux Falls would become the laughing stock of the Midwest for all the money we sucked out of him. It reminds of the scene in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ where George sees the name of the town as ‘Pottersville’ or should we say ‘Sanfordville’.

Liquor Licenses Sioux Falls

Ratholing Liquor Licenses

l3wis 2Comments

I have been wondering about this for awhile, and glad to see Snevelicious did a story about it;

“Really, if it’s just a change of address, not a change of ownership, they’re just playing a game,” said Greg Jamison, a state Representative from Sioux Falls who also spent eight years on the Sioux Falls City Council.

This happens quite often. Just recently a national franchise sports bar parked their license at Casino so they can complete their building. Or my favorite, a liquor license jumped from a 2nd floor insurance office to an ice cream shop and now to a vacant space.

I hope Joe does some more investigating on this. It’s time to get rid of liquor licenses as assets. Someday I hope to sell my driver license for $400K 🙂

Elections Mayor TenHaken Property Taxes SF City Council Sioux Falls Taxes TIFs

UPDATE: Mayor TenHaken to announce re-election campaign a day before trying to sneak in a tax increase thru resolution?

l3wis 23Comments

UPDATE: This is NOT a fee increase, just an annual notice that the fee exists and renewed, it has since 1992.

City Council Members and Council Staff,

Good afternoon. A resolution (per City Ordinance 96.033) will be presented at Tuesday’s City Council
Meeting to levy an annual front foot assessment fee for street maintenance and repair. The special
assessment funds are used to partially fund the highways and streets operational budget for the
repairs and maintenance of our city streets to include pothole patching, asphalt surface
maintenance, and street sweeping.The front foot assessment fee has been in place since 1992.
The front foot assessment fee will be $1.00 per foot for 2022 and has not changed since 2009.
Attached is the resolution and on the back is the amount that has been collected for each respective
year since 1992.
Thank you, Mark Cotter


It looks as though Mayor Poops is finally going to announce he is running. The irony of this is astounding when you consider that on Tuesday night he is trying to push an over $9 million dollar tax increase thru resolution (item 21) which is legally dubious since tax or fee increases normally go thru the ordinance process of 1st and 2nd readings AND a presentation to the council in advance. Some councilors I spoke with didn’t even know it was on the agenda.

According to the math (thanks Mike Z – I updated his numbers);

Looks to be a new tax being created assessed on the residents of Sioux Falls, is this true?  $1.00 Per foot per property along our ‘streets’. If we have a total # of 900 centerline street miles in this city (1,800 if you include both sides of the street), and each mile is roughly 5,280 feet, this tax generates $9,504,000.00 for the city to be used to maintain and resurface highways, streets, and roads in the city. With a $654,000,000 million revenue stream, is a new tax really necessary?

Once again Paul is showing us his lack of transparency and his dark hatred towards open government. Most government’s would have put this thru a vetting process with it’s public works department, the city council and the citizens. Not to mention in the same night there will be a property tax increase (item 15). You also have to remember we spent most of the $50 million in Covid money on play things and gave away $144 million in tax rebates this year. It looks like we will be heading into the dark abyss for another 4 years unless Paul gets one heck of a challenger.

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: Is QAnon sponsoring a park bench in Sioux Falls?

l3wis 15Comments

UPDATE: Last week I noticed that the ‘Q’ on this bench was removed. It was confirmed to me by a reader that it was ‘professionally’ removed and not just tore off by some punks after he inspected it. So was it really sponsored by a ‘Q’ supporter? Another city mystery like the 24 hour Panhandler Sign 🙁

So this is an interesting new sponsored bench next to bike trail in Yankton Trail Park. I would be curious who paid for this and what it stands for? Is it a person? Not sure.

Property Taxes SF City Council Sioux Falls Taxes

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Sep 14, 2021

l3wis 0Comments

Informational Meeting, 4 PM

Presentations on the City Council and Mayor’s 2022 Budget and Covid
(what is surprising in the City Council Budget is the expenditure of over $200K for the City Election. I have NEVER seen it that high. I would be curious about the explanation on that one.)

Regular Meeting, 6 PM

Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #20. It’s a mysterious what this is, but it seems like some partnership for transit. Be nice to have a presentation and explanation instead of burying it in the consent agenda.

Item #15, 2nd Reading, Property Tax Increase. Of course the Rubber Stamp Council who gave away $144 million in TIF tax rebates this year has NO problem with raising our taxes by millions in a Covid economic recovery.

Item #17, Resolution, Moving the Sculpture Sea Dream from the DT Dog park location to Prairie Green Golf Course. I wonder if the artist was ever consulted about this? I know once when I talked to him about the sculpture at an Augustana art reception (he used to be a teacher) he was irritated that people would call it ‘the golf ball’.

Item #21, Resolution, Levy Front Assessment of $1.00 per foot. Maybe I am missing something here, but shouldn’t this be 1) a 1st and 2nd Reading and 2) an explanation as to why we need this in conjunction with a property tax increases?

#22, Resolution, One Sioux Falls. So this is a perfect example of something that belongs in the resolutions category on agenda, meaningless word games from the mayor’s office.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

Audit SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Internal audit has a busy schedule

Uncategorized

It’s the little things

South Dakotans State Legislature

What the?

Drinking Liberally

Drinking Liberally Update (8/23/24)