South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sanford Hospital Sioux Falls

Sanford Merger Meeting doesn’t go so well

l3wis 5Comments

If you watch this video and read the online comments you come to the conclusion that the welcoming wagon isn’t being rolled out for Sanford. Several if not most of the people who testified, testified against the merger including advocates of the University medical center, children’s heart medical care, nurse’s unions and mental health officials.

Ellison said his office is conducting its own investigation into the merger plan, along with taking public comment, and expects to make a decision sometime around the end of the month on whether to intervene.

“We’re going to test it for its compliance with antitrust laws, test it for its compliance with the charities laws. And then we’re just going to ask ourselves, is it good for Minnesota?” he said.

As the public meetings and comments on the merger continue it will be interesting to see how the AG rules on this.

1st Amendment Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings Planning Commission

Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken’s Administration oblivious to transparency

l3wis 11Comments

The one thing PTH has NOT kept secret; his total disregard for open and transparent government.

You would think after the failures of the bunker ramp due to the lack of financial transparency they would have learned something. Nope;

The city won’t say if or how many developers have expressed interest in buying or leasing the unfinished downtown parking ramp on 10th Street.

“Ultimately, this is how we set up the process,” said Dustin Powers, community development coordinator for the city.

Dustin, just who is this ‘WE’ you speak of? It certainly wasn’t the public that requested this process, or the legislative body, the city council. Maybe it was the mayor’s COS, who is a former executive for one of the largest developers in the city and state. Her former employer has ‘mysteriously’ received millions in tax breaks, land deals, TIFs, etc. since she was appointed. Are they on the short list? We will never know.

It’ll be a lot of behind-the-scenes work until the city chooses a potential buyer/lessee and makes that information public.

Yup. And once again we have learned nothing about the benefits of open government.

Public Utilities Public Works Sioux Falls snow removal Snowgates

Is the City of Sioux Falls violating ordinance when plowing streets?

l3wis 22Comments

It doesn’t fail, when you run a city blog as long as I have, whenever it snows I hear about the removal. I have come to the realization that most people are being nit-picky, but the latest blowback is concerning.

SNOWGATES. By ordinance the city has to use them, unless they decide not to. I know, seems like a pretty big out. During and before the petition drive, Staggers and especially Stehly did extensive research on them, and unless the snow is super wet they work well up to almost 20 inches. The city continues to use a mulligan on them, but they could have been easily used the last two times, which brings us to another problem;

CLEARING INTERSECTIONS. One of the benefits of having snowgates is clearing intersections when the north/south and east/west streets are cleared, instead of creating a massive windrow they can be alleviated immediately.

But one of the glaring problems is this;

Looks like the city is supposed to be clearing snow curb to curb.

I have also heard the city has scaled back on private contractor use. I am not opposed to that, and would rather see city union employees getting the OT instead of a private contractor, but you wonder why this relationship has changed?

Isn’t life so wonderful that the only thing we have to bitch about with local government is how they take the white crap away?

I have often looked at things like public transit and snow removal as basic economic development. When people can safely get to work and make wages that’s a good thing. You kind of wonder how many folks were either terminated or reprimanded during this past storm because they couldn’t make it to work?

Local government is easy. Collect taxes, provide essential services.

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls Burger Battle goes Beefless?

l3wis 10Comments

Not quite, BUT the traditional rules are being bent a bit this year.

I asked DTSF recently about the traditional rule of having a beef patty base and if that still applies? They told me that since the Cattleman’s Foundation no longer sponsors the event they have dropped those parameters.

Good to know. I have bugged DTSF for years to bend the rules anyway and allow restaurants to make their burger patty out of any protein base (fish, fowl, beef, pork, lamb, plant, wild game, etc.) can you imagine the concoctions? Nothing beats a lamb burger with tzatziki and feta!

This year one participant is offering a 100% Bison patty (don’t get it cooked over medium rare, or it will taste like a shoe) and another participant, while using beef, is offering a sloppy joe on a hoagie.

Like I said, I am all for dropping the beef patty rule, but it would have been nice to know that before this year’s battle has begun, you wonder what if the participants knew?

food tax Mayor TenHaken Property Taxes Sioux Falls Taxes

Mayor TenHaken proclaims it is time to focus on infrastructure

l3wis 10Comments

DakotaNews chief softball pitcher, Brian Allen, recently did an interview with Paul asking him what we should focus on in 2023. Paul said it was time to get back to focusing on infrastructure.

I guess it only took 5 years for Paul to figure out the simple premise of local municipal government; you collect taxes and fees and provide essential services like road maintenance, water and sewer, public safety and outdoor recreation in our parks.

Ever since Mayor Munson, the city has focused more and more on chipping away at our 2nd penny for things like leather chairs for a private movie theater, landscaping and ‘other stuff’ for a private research facility, butterflies and tennis courts while giving massive tax breaks to welfare queen developers.

When former city commissioner Loila Hunking proposed the 2nd penny tax decades ago it was to be in a lockbox and only to be used on road maintenance and in rare occasions other infrastructure projects, since then the penny has been on a wild spending spree that has little to do with the pothole in front of your house.

It often cracks me up listening to past and current mayors and city councilors talk about how we need to ‘get back to’ focusing on infrastructure.

Don’t be fooled by the promises. There is going to be a big fight in Pierre this winter over reducing the food tax and property taxes, one of the proposals will win at the end of the day (I think the property tax cut has a better chance). Mayors and councilors across the state will be crying about the revenue loss and will be asking how they will be able to keep up with essential services and infrastructure.

Let me give you a little advice; stop spending our tax dollars on stupid sh!t.

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