Snowgates; If you believe in the political process, show up next Tuesday and give em’ Hell

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I will be straightforward about this, we need to pack Carnegie Hall next Tuesday night at 7 PM for the vote on the snowgate election resolution. Whether you agree with snowgates or not is not the matter at hand, this is about doing the right thing and calling the election ASAP. That would be in the Spring of 2013. Let the public vote on the matter. I know that only 3 councilors have expressed that they support the Spring Election (Staggers, Jamison, Anderson) and 2 councilors yesterday basically said that they oppose the Spring 2013 election (Entenman, Aguliar).

This is what I am asking from you;

1) Show up next Tuesday, and if you are too shy to testify, that is okay, your presence alone will help the cause. But I do encourage you to talk.

2) Call these 4 councilors and encourage them to vote for the Spring 2013 election. Explain to them that this is about ‘doing the right thing’ and honoring the will of the petition signers. Above and beyond anything else, that is the REAL job of our elected officials, doing what is right for the public good.

Councilor Dean Karsky • 351-8571

Councilor Jim Entenman • 334-2721

Councilor Michelle Erpenbach • 321-0793

Councilor Sue Aguilar • 334-8245

I would also like to remind any of the councilors that may still be on the fence about when to have the election that over 7,000 signatures were verified. That is WELL OVER some of them got in votes to be elected to council;

STAGGERS: 6,793 (At-Large)

JAMISON: 1,406

ANDERSON: 1,399

KARSKY: 1,552

ENTENMAN: 16,609 (At-Large)

AGULIAR: 4,058

ERPENBACH: 2,466

ROLFING: 11,269 (At-Large)

Snowgates: Petitions good. Now let’s call this election.

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We got recent news that the snowgate petitions have been verified, and they are good. City clerk Hogstad will be making a presentation on Tuesday about it. Now it will be up to city council to call a date of an election. We are not sure where they are going with it, but they bascially have two choices. Spring 2013 or 2014. We hope they choose this Spring.

What is not clarified is if the Public Works department will test them properly this year. But we have been organizing a crew of volunteers to watch, video tape and photograph city snowplows using them. It’s 1984 all over again, except it’s the other way around.

I also have word that Henke (they make the Hi-Gate, the best snowgate in the business, that we are testing this year) is willing to come to SF and help the operators maximize their usage with free consulting. They also contend that after a snowplow operator is properly trained on the equipment they can run the plows up to 20 MPH.

Snowgates; Contact SF city councilors about calling the Spring Election

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I am listing the direct phone numbers of the four councilors who may be on the fence about Snowgates. Please call them and let them know you want them to call the election for this Spring. They will be discussing the election on Tuesday at the informational meeting.

Councilor Dean Karsky • 351-8571

Councilor Jim Entenman • 334-2721

Councilor Michelle Erpenbach • 321-0793

Councilor Sue Aguilar • 334-8245

Snowgates Timeline

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I wanted to give an update and timeline of where we are on snowgates.

• Petitions were turned in on Tuesday

• The clerk’s office is validating them

• After validation, the city council has 10 days to call an election

• At the next city council informational meeting (I think next Tuesday, Dec 4th) City Clerk Hogstad and the city attorney will be answering questions about the special election.

• When the city council calls the election, they will have a choice between calling the date for either this Spring (2013) or Spring (2014).

I guess we will just be in a holding pattern until then.

Snowgate Petitions turned in today

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Around 8,300 petitions were turned in today. I would like to personally THANK Theresa for heading up this endeavor. Say what you want to about her efforts, she did this petition drive for the citizens of Sioux Falls. She is slowly becoming an old pro at this. It took her and over 50 volunteers under 10 weeks to get the signatures. Beyond making sure it gets on the Spring ballot, Stehly has told me she will not be that involved after that. She thinks this is up to citizens if they want them or not. I did tell her though that I will actively educating the public on their advantages, and after the council calls the election date, we will have a marketing plan in place.