I guess the city snowplows have been moth-balled for the summer

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This morning, I was finally glad to merge on to the interstate on my way to work. It seemed the State DOT snow plow operators remembered to set their alarm clocks, I can’t say the same about the city.

Yes, I understand that the snow will probably be gone by 5 PM today, but would it have hurt anything to go out at about 5-6 AM this morning and plow the main arterials like Cliff, Minnesota, Marion and 41st Street with just one pass at least? The ridges down the middle of the road were so high, my car was hydro plaining at times, and the ridges were also holding back the water from flowing into storm gutters. A horrible mess that could have been corrected over a couple of hours by our Public Works Department.

I know money is tight, but it could not have cost that much to call in workers a couple of hours earlier to do a job they are already punched in to do on a normal Monday anyway.

Public Works Department; HUGE FAIL!

Posted in: Public Works, Sioux Falls, snow removal

Living History of my Great, Great Grandfather Charles Blachnik

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This is my Great, Great, Grandfather that will portrayed in a living history.
On Saturday afternoon June 17 at 2 pm during Czech Days in Tabor, Darrell Beran will be portraying Charles F. Blachnik, his great grandfather, telling about his life history. The presentation will take place in the Czech Heritage Park starting at the museum next to the post office on the main street. Darrell is just one of five presenters portraying different Tabor pioneers that day. There is only one performance, so don’t be late. Please let other members of your family know about the presentation as I am not sure I know all of them. Cost is $5 per person which includes a kolache and bottle of water.
Oh and don’t miss the family museum while you are there!
Posted in: South Dakotans

Cameraman Bruce’s thoughts on Annexation

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What a bunch of crap, C-R-A-P. Our esteemed soon to be retired Sioux Falls City Council Chair has said in the Argus Leader article “Do we want a lot of areas that look like Old Orchard?” Oh my gawd, how ignorant can people be?

There are several neighborhoods in Sioux Falls without curb, gutter and sidewalks including my neighborhood. Some specifically move to them because they have NO curb, gutter, storm sewer and sidewalks. There is a function and charm to neighborhoods without out our outdated curb style designed so badly it breaks snowplows if the drivers are not trained properly. To the people who think all houses must be painted brown based colors like our City Council Chair prefers with the greenest golf course grass and big brick mailboxes, too bad, we have freedom of choice.

Not all houses and yards have to look like your golf course duplex maintained by a landscaping company for their efficiency. Old Orchard, Split Rock Heights, Hall’s Addition and more are neighborhoods with a flavor the owner residents want to retain. Hall’s addition and Old Orchard are long established formerly rural neighborhoods with permanent agreements with the city of Sioux Falls to never be forced to have curbs, sidewalks or storm sewers. Those of us who live in the areas know there is never a need and in the late 1980’s attorney A.J. Swanson fought for the right to keep them out forever. An additional negotiated pieces for Hall’s Addition is 20 mph streets and their own water wells – FOREVER. Did you know Old Orchard has the right to keep horses?

There are many things to be negotiated in the annexation fight. The city staff and a few members of the Council are full of themselves in these issues.

Bruce Danielson

Posted in: Annexation, Sioux Falls

Indoor aquatic center ‘Wall of Lies’

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wall-of-lies

I think Cameraman Bruce and I figured out why we were not invited as media to see the indoor pool before the public. They didn’t want us to see the ‘Wall of Lies’. I just hope taxpayers didn’t pay for this piece of propaganda.

Besides the fact that this hasn’t been discussed for 60 years, there are many claims on this mural that don’t add up. The first one (which I didn’t take a picture of) is that Nelson Park (Drake Springs) would have been the home of the first indoor pool (if that darn Theresa Stehly didn’t get involved) her name wasn’t mentioned on the article, but it was clear who they were trying to throw under the bus. The outdoor pool passed at that location of an almost 2/1 vote. Though Stehly didn’t know it at the time, it would have actually been a poor location for an indoor pool. An aquatic consultant later told the city that because of ground water issues at Nelson Park, building an indoor pool at that location would have caused major maintenance concerns. In hindsight, we should be thanking Stehly.

speller

The only one recommending the Spellerberg site was the mayor. The voters had no part in that decision. As for the convenient parking, you should have seen the zoo with traffic that was backed up both directions for at least a half a mile on Western Avenue tonight. Where will all these people park when there is a swim meet? Good question. I have often argued that the city should have partnered with Sanford at the Sports Complex for an indoor pool. Plenty of parking and room for expansion. We are literally land locked at Spellerberg, and with the expansion of the VA, expect parking issues for years to come. Eventually the city will have to take out more green space at the park to build a bigger parking lot.

debt-lie

Now let’s move on to the ‘advocational sessions’ and the pack of lies surrounding the outdoor pool vote. The public NEVER voted for an indoor pool, they simply rejected an outdoor pool, as I said, in a campaign paid for by taxpayers that had so many half truths in it, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But I take issue with the crafty language the city used with the funding, ‘. . . which included no additional City debt,’. While that statement in itself is true, we basically turned a loan over for the levee bonds. When the Feds repaid us for that loan, instead of using the money to pay it off or using it for infrastructure, we turned the debt over to the pool. We still have to pay off those bonds, so this is essentially a white lie. There is still approximately $13 million of unpaid debt.

And lastly, the mayor couldn’t resist to get his name on wall in the building with one of his silly quotes;

ac-mayorquote

And the $1.5 million dollar a year subsidy we have to pay to run this place will warm everyone’s heart.

As I mentioned above, a better option would have been partnering with Sanford or even the school district on this project. If anything, the aquatic center is a failure of prudent vision in acquiring such a facility, and we will all be paying for that mistake for years to come.

Posted in: MIDCO Aquatic Center, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Developer doesn’t get it

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The Oakview neighborhood was successful, for today anyway;

Lloyd Company plans to withdraw its application to rezone this land at 6th and Bahnson at the next city council meeting after hundreds of neighbors complained.

So what were those main concerns the neighbors had? They were really simple; density, drainage, traffic, crime. They have gone to several council meetings and expressed these concerns to the council after the Planning Commission was tone deaf;

. . . it’s just more about the density and the affects of that rippling down to water, traffic and overall safety,” Burke said.

So how did the developer respond to these very simple requests, that’s right, by ignoring the 700 Pound Gorilla(s) in the room;

Lloyd Companies went on to say it has a long standing history in Sioux Falls of building and managing apartment communities that provide safe, clean and affordable housing.

The statement goes on to say ‘While we appreciate the neighborhood’s concerns and have withdrawn our request to rezone the land, despite having taken the time to address key points from the neighborhood, we know that the end result of our project moving forward would have meant that families had an opportunity to live in an area where their kids could get to and from schools, a community center, a park and a library safely – which is something that we believe is incredibly important and should all want for our community.

Huh? The neighbors never really brought up affordable housing, but they did talk about density. Their major concerns were evident. Drainage and Traffic.

Why is it so difficult for developers or better yet our planning department and planning commission to wrap their heads around the fact Sioux Falls is built on a pancake? It can only soak up so much syrup before it starts running off the sides of the plate. It time the planning department faced the facts and grow up already.

Posted in: Developers, Development, Planning Commission, SF City Council, Sioux Falls