South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sioux Falls

SF City Council SFPD Sioux Falls

The lack of transparency with recent Sioux Falls shootings is appalling

l3wis 12Comments

As you may know, the city of Sioux Falls is not big on transparency. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about planning, city employees, elections or the police department, this city and administration can’t wrap transparent government around their heads even if they tried.

Recently two men were shot in our city and the SFPD has yet to give us a motive. There has been a lot of speculation but more then likely both shootings were related to drugs. BUT THAT IS JUST A RUMOR. There have been NO arrests and NO motive given to the public.

I have friends that live very close to both neighborhoods and they are nervous that someone may be randomly killing people after failed robbery attempts.

So why doesn’t the SFPD just tell us?

I think it stems from a deeper affliction in our city as a whole. Those in charge have a deep hatred towards common sense, transparent government and it has an effect on our society as a whole. It also is no coincidence that closed government institutions are usually ran by a majority of authoritarian conservatives. There is only 2 democrats that serve on the Sioux Falls city council and only one of them is active in the party (I’m not even sure the other one is still a member of the party).

I wish I could snap my fingers and make this administration and city council more transparent over night, but I believe there is little hope for the ones currently serving. We need to elect open government advocates that believe in real non-partisan city government. I don’t care what party they belong.

I will be blunt, I don’t give a rat’s ass about business and development deals that may fall thru or get interrupted because you tell us the truth about why someone was shot, we live in this community together, and the citizens matter, start telling us what is going on so we can help solve these crimes.

*I wanted to give an update to my post about the armed guards at the Levitt church service. I recently attended a Saturday night concert at 8th and RR. There was about 500 people in attendance. I saw about 3 private security officers walking around at the event and NONE of them were carrying a gun.

Affordable Housing Brandon Downtown Sioux Falls Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls TIFs

City of Sioux Falls planning affordable housing development in Southwest Brandon

l3wis 19Comments

Well not quite Brandon, but almost. (FF 1:30)

As I understand it the development is in between Washington HS and the city of Brandon on a current empty lot. They will use a TIF to help pay for the roads and utilities. The most affordable houses will be slab on grade (NO basements, not even unfinished), 1,000 sq ft, single stall garage, $250K.

I think a better approach would be building NO attached garage and putting in unfinished basements with egress windows so the basements could be finished later and a garage.

What is silly about this is that when we have talked about building density in our core and providing more affordable housing this was NOT what people were asking for. But it should be NO surprise since the public had ZERO input and the councilors were met with privately about the plan. This video is the first time anyone from the public has heard about it.

I think doing a pilot program in central Sioux Falls would have been a better way to go. You pick a 8 block area that needs some help. The city could use a TIF to rebuild the roads, sewer, water, sidewalks, curb and gutter and street lighting. Community Development could provide loans to fix up the homes in the affected area and Affordable Housing Solutions could demo and buy up empty lots for new housing in the area. Building slab on grade houses next to Brandon with no apparent public transit service will do little to solve our affordable housing issues in the core of Sioux Falls.

2nd Amendment SFPD Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Council needs to crack down on irresponsible gun owners

l3wis 18Comments

UPDATE: Oh, Oh, Oh, but stolen guns are NOT a problem;

And South Dakota as a whole has also seen a rise in the amount of stolen guns reported recently as well. Data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives showed stolen guns recovered in the state rose from 252 in 2014 to 796 in 2020.

As we know, it seems lately Sioux Falls has become a fine place to pop off guns. We also know that most criminals don’t go through the trouble of background checks to get a gun. Normally it is done illegally and an easy way to get a gun illegally in Sioux Falls is to steal it from an unlocked car.

Why anyone would leave a firearm in an unlocked car is beyond me. I mean, if you own a firearm for protection it should be in one of two places; either on your waist or in a locked case inside your home.

We also know that if the SFPD recovers a stolen weapon used in a crime they have many resources to trace that gun back to the original owner. I think that is why many people who have a gun stolen from an unsecured location like an unlocked car probably don’t report it was stolen.

While I will defend Chief Thum that the police are usually reactionary there are things they can do;

Chief Thum says there is no simple answer to stopping gun violence. Making sure people are held accountable is one step.

“I think a lot of times people say what are police going to do, well the reality is once the trigger is pulled it kind of too late,” said Thum.

Transparency is the first thing that comes to mind, like sharing more information about what happened so residents can assist in finding the criminal. But the Chief and his information officer need to start being more vocal about where the guns are coming from and how many are being stolen in Sioux Falls due to irresponsible gun owners not locking up the weapon when not in use.

I suggested to councilor Starr a couple of years ago that the city council needs to write an ordinance that fines $1,000 to a legal gun owner if their gun is stolen and used in a crime. And I don’t mean stolen from a locked safe in the basement, but from an unlocked car in the driveway.

Like panhandlers, there is only so much you can do to stop people who commit gun violence, but if you start getting tough on the source like fining people who hand money out of the windows of their cars or people who don’t lock up their firearms properly maybe we can alleviate some of these problems.

If the sole purpose of owning a firearm legally is to protect yourself from a criminal, then why would you leave that very protection in your unlocked car? Because you are NOT a responsible gun owner and you should pay a price for your negligence.

The 2nd Amendment, like the 1st is very broad, but lawmakers have the right to regulate both of them.

Audit Sioux Falls

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Council Audit Committee meets Thursday, August 25

l3wis 11Comments

Normally this wouldn’t be a blip on the radar, but there have been rumors swirling around city hall that the internal audit manager left, I guess we will find out on Thursday.

UPDATE: You will notice that the agenda is NOW posted, and while there is no mention of the internal audit manager leaving the position, most of the presentations are being done by two of the other existing auditors including the committee’s handbook. We will see if this will be brought up in the committee’s new business remarks at the end of the meeting.

UPDATE II: There was NO mention of the audit manager leaving during the meeting today though the two remaining auditors who had to do the presentations did touch on how the assignments are being ‘covered’. Audit board member Dean Buckenberg asked about being able to hit goals with being short staffed. Still no mention that the manager left.

Most people would wonder what that means?

Rumor has it not only did the audit manager quit, she went back to work for mayor, not sure if it is in the housing or finance department.

I wonder how long the City Council will continue to try to hide the audit manager leaving? Surprised she might be working for the mayor considering she may want to fulfill her life long dream of owning a pet store and being a ROCKSTAR! (Neitzert quote).

1st Amendment Joe Sneve Media Sioux Falls thedakotascout.com

South DaCola welcomes The Dakota Scout

l3wis 6Comments

There has been some speculation out there that I may be competition with the new media coming soon in Sioux Falls. Hardly. Even I know that what my blog offers is mostly my editorial view on what is happening in local government and my enduring fight for transparency, common sense, and good government. I even hope to assist them in any way possible.

I am thrilled that Jon and Joe are launching an alternative to the hospital, food truck, developer welfare crazed local media.

Almost every day I see our local media miss the big stories that effect local governing.

During and after the last local election there were two big stories out there about Councilor Dr. Sarah Cole that not one single media outlet in Sioux Falls would cover;

• Before she voted for herself, Cole had NEVER voted in a local election even though she had lived here for almost 10 years.

• She received $17,500 from Mayor TenHaken’s PAC as a campaign donation.

It has always amazed me when I will hand a story to the media on a silver platter they do nothing with it. I hope Jon and Joe don’t fall into this pattern.

Recently I was reading comments on social media about how our local officials don’t listen to constituents and how we need to make them listen to our concerns and needs. This is true, I have been doing it for 16 years and have seen many positive changes in Sioux Falls due to my diligence and the diligence of my readers but what really needs to happen is there needs to be a full court press to change the makeup of these bodies which means getting the public involved with local elections, not just voting in progressive candidates but volunteering for their campaigns.

The regular Sioux Falls constituent is getting clobbered at the ballot box because of low voter turnout and the massive amount of money being thrown at candidates by the ruling elite. It is unethical and dark.

I’m hoping The Dakota Scout starts to uncover how this dark money has turned our local government bodies into impractical, ignorant, rubber stampers that virtually do NOTHING for the everyday citizen in Sioux Falls let alone hear anything they say.

I wish them luck! Telling the truth about things can be a very lonely place sometimes, but it is always rewarding.

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