Revolving City Hall Door
l3wis 
Sioux Falls
Tell the Sioux Falls City Council it is time to lift restrictions on the recreation trail
I have been working on a new re-write of the bicycling ordinance so it would allow electric devices with throttles to safely use the shared used recreational trail, this is what I came up with so far;
95.031 WHEELED VEHICLES
Wheeled vehicles in the parks and upon recreation trails shall abide by the ordinances governing the operation of such vehicles and need not be limited to paved areas. Trail Users shall operate their vehicles in a prudent manner and with due regard for the safety of others and the preservation of park property. Users must keep to the right on recreation trails unless passing someone. Vehicle operators will apply the “10-10 Rule” – wheeled vehicles are required to be traveling at less than 10mph when within 10 feet of pedestrians. Maximum speed on recreation trails is 18 MPH (29 KMH).
95.031.1 WHEELED VEHICLES
PROHIBITED ON RECREATION TRAIL.
It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or operate any vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine, any licensed vehicle, any vehicle with side-by-side seating or any vehicle designed specifically for road usage. Vehicle limitation and trail user etiquette and speed limit signs will be posted at each entry point on the recreation trail. This section shall not apply to or limit authorized vehicles on the levees for maintenance, patrolling, and flood emergency purposes.
I am opposed to a speed limit, but I figured setting it at 18 would be the most logical since most E-Bikes are set at that max speed.
As I have discussed with several councilors and the Active Transportation Board, the real danger on the rec trail is speed and those who cannot ride safely because of the speed. Most people who are using electric assist devices like E2 bikes are usually in that 70 year old range and ride responsibly. In fact over the past week I have been counting bike commuters on the trail near 26th street. Over half of the bikes are E2s.
Even the owner of a local bike shop commented at the meeting if people are using these devices on the rec trail, what does that say about the safety of riding these devices on our roads.
Well, we didn’t get a very good rating recently in that department.
I’m not saying this will fix all the problems on the rec trail, but as the Parks Director pointed out at the meeting there hasn’t been any serious injuries on the bike trail in recent history. The current ordinance which restricts these devices has been on the books for 5 years, passed in the middle of winter, has never been noticed (until recently) and has never been enforced.
It is time to look at doing this differently, and the council is coming around. I do know that councilors Neitzert and Cole are working on a re-write that would lift restrictions and impose a speed limit.
I encourage you to email the entire council HERE and give them your feelings on the ordinance change. If you ride an E2 or different electric device let the council know why you ride it and why it is important to allow them on the rec trail.
While I have stopped riding my E2 on the rec trail, many others have NOT. Just today in a short one hour ride I saw ten E2s (all over the age of 70) an electric skateboard (he was over 50) and a one-wheel (teenager).
City of Sioux Falls using Water/Sewer fees to supplement ‘other’ projects
As I took a deep dive into this sorted document I noticed a trend, water and sewer fees are being used for all kinds of projects, not just roads (I understand that when there is a total road replacement you have to do some pipe replacements). But many of these projects have NOTHING to do with the water and sewer.
No wonder they didn’t have to raise electric rates, they just use sewer money to upgrade that utility! Not sure what new office furniture at the electric plant has to do with flushing my toilet but I’m sure councilor Jensen has an explanation.
As I said during this public input (FF: 26:30) the city sets up all of these separate ‘weirdo’ funds to pay for projects thru the redistribution of these fees, and the proof is in the pudding. I counted over 20 projects that use water and sewer fees to fund them and have little to nothing to do with water and sewer.
Speaking of the water and sewer plant, over the next 5 years the city plans to spend over $329 MILLION on the combined water and sewer plant (I would assume these numbers don’t include interest and bond repayments).
Hey Paul, maybe Theresa was lying, it isn’t going to cost us $300 million, it’s $329 million! How dare she mislead the public like that 🙁 Maybe at the next council meeting Paul will publicly chastise Stehly for UNDERESTIMATING the costs!
Jesus approves of Mayor TenHaken’s sustainability plan. That’s one.
The mayor had to call in clergy to defend his plan. The Sustainability Director of Augustana and Professor of Christian Values had to tell us that we need to follow our (Christian) values and love thy neighbor. He was inferring in his sermon that the Mayor is doing just that and we need to get on board even if we disagree because the mayor is righteous in his sustainability goals.
There was one good thing that came out of this presser, lot’s of fertilizer.
City of Sioux Falls official admits to ‘selective’ code enforcement
We have always assumed this was going on, so it was nice to hear one of them admit to it;
And if you’re thinking your call will be logged, that may not be the case.
“Really, not every phone call that comes into our department gets logged,” said Kevin Smith, director of planning and development for the City of Sioux Falls.
So what is the protocol for documenting a complaint?
“It really depends on who took the call,” said Smith. “And did they have enough information on which address you’re calling about.”
City officials say if you want a follow-up call to your complaint, the responsibility is on you to ask for it.
I’m surprised they even make the code enforcement officers show up for work anymore.