UPDATE: Sioux Steel Development wants to get a TIF, as we suspected

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UPDATE: You will see in the Planning Commission Working Session on December 3, they are already going to be talking about the TIF for the Sioux Steel Development. They will try to ramrod this TIF through as fast as they can before anyone notices what is going on.

I will stick with my main four arguments against this TIF;

• Free Enterprise and Capitalism. I think this development will do just fine with private investment and doesn’t need any tax rebates. It is just corporate welfare.

• The development is already going to receive around $10 million in tax payer subsidies from the River Greenway upgrades.

• Sioux Steel is moving all of their operations out of Sioux Falls to Lennox and replacing those good manufacturing jobs with low paying hospitality jobs.

• TIFs have yet to be proven they improve the overall economy of Sioux Falls. Oh, sure, they help the bottom line of the developer, but NO comprehensive study has ever been done in Sioux Falls showing TIFs pay for themselves in economic impact or workforce development. All they really do is raise taxes on the rest of us.

It will be interesting to hear the arguments as to why they need this TIF. It also will be interesting to hear how they are building a parking ramp twice the size of the bunker ramp for the same price.

The rumors were true, the Sioux Steel development is asking for $21.5 million in a TIF for their project they are coordinating with Lloyd Companies. They say it will be used to offset the costs of an 8 story parking ramp with over 900 stalls. Interesting they can build a parking ramp twice the size of our bunker ramp for the same price.

This is the area we should have put the bunker ramp to begin with. So now they want a tax rebate to build a parking ramp when we will have an empty one sitting downtown.

And isn’t the timing of this project also interesting? Suddenly the city didn’t want to work with Lamont so they breached the contract and now ‘another’ hotel is being announced DTSF that wants a tax rebate to build a parking ramp. And isn’t it interesting that the Mayor’s COS used to work for the developer who is working on the project and is considered an expert in writing TIFs?

As for the TIF, you know my feelings on them. They have yet to prove that the TIFs that already exist in Sioux Falls or ones we may grant have ever helped our economy. They have certainly done one thing, raised property taxes on the rest of us. And every time I have asked to show evidence all I hear is crickets. Even if I was for TIFs, I would certainly question why this development needs one? We are already going to invest $10 million in the river greenway along this development (essentially paying for their riverside landscaping and curb appeal, walkways and bike trail upgrades).

But the biggest reason we should oppose the TIF is that Sioux Steel will probably be moving all of their Sioux Falls operations to Lennox and NOT relocating in Sioux Falls. Why would we reward them with a TIF as they are taking their manufacturing business elsewhere and replacing it with low paying hospitality jobs?

Of course, most of the council will support this, and probably will give us NO evidence that TIFs work. That’s because the evidence doesn’t exist.

Posted in: Developers, Development, Downtown Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, TIFs

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Nov 12, 2019

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Sioux Falls Informational Meeting, 4 PM

Some really good presentations, this will probably be better than the regular Council Meeting.

The first presentation is on light pole corrosion. Here is the full report. I found this statement interesting;

Corrosion damage noticed when replacing poles hit by vehicles

So it seems there have been NO regular inspections of the light poles. Hopefully a councilor will ask about this during the meeting.

The 2nd Presentation is on the upcoming Municipal election this Spring. City Clerk Greco will give the presentation. Here is the full report.

Some important dates are circulation of petitions and turning them in. You can pick them up on Friday, January 31, 2020 and turn them in by Friday February 28, 5 PM. Take note David Zokaites.

They also split a precinct in half in Lincoln County.

There is also a handy website link for all of us local government nerds. Notice there are NO links to the candidates intent to run forms. So far three candidates have filed.

The last presentation is juicy, it is questions about the Bunker Ramp. Here is the full presentation.

In the PDF, you will notice there is NO designation on who answered these questions from the administration. I have been told it is COS Erica Beck. Here is some highlights.

There is parking demand for nearby tenants downtown, and we want to meet those needs with a safe property.

LOL. The parking ramp across the street to the South is often NOT full.

Oh, and the city has determined that we need to take the ‘Contractor’s’ advice. Isn’t that interesting. A contractor who had to take down a crane and get screwed out of building a multi-million dollar hotel all of sudden is advising us on how to fill the holes.

We also need a generator to run needed safety lights, signage, etc. This could all be done by solar polar, and they know it. Instead of investing in this, they should invest in a solar system.

Question #3 is an interesting one, and the answer is even more intriguing;

Question 3: Can you provide the change order requests clarifying services to be covered?

No. Formal change orders for the $1.5 million are expected to be submitted, reviewed, and noticed to the City Council sometime in December and available for inspection at that time. The City is unable to officially move forward with change orders until after the effective date of the increase in the capital budget.

The administration is ALSO suggesting there will be MORE change orders. Oh, GOODY! And there is NO allocated monies for improving the facade. Maybe some artists will submit an another Third-Eye Deer Mural FOR FREE that will be painted over?

They also guarantee that the parking enterprise fund is sustainable. That one made me keel over in laughter. They also say they don’t expect further legal costs. Yeah, and monkeys will fly out of my ass.

Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM

Item #6, Approval of Contracts.

HR wants more money for ‘Leadership’ training.

I guess we are paying Sanford for child care educational training. How nice. Are they also giving training on Medicare fraud?

Item #14, Resolution to approve the extra money for the parking ramp. I think this will pass, but I also think there may be an amendment to reduce the amount (Which I think will fail).

Item #16, Ordinance, 2nd Reading. Adding s supplemental appropriation of $3 million for snow removal and operations thru the end of the year. Now they may have the money to sand the streets when a 1/4″ of ice on them.

Posted in: SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Can we ever make the Events Center campus ‘Walkable’?

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I know people already accuse me of being a Debbie Downer, but I am afraid we can never make the EC campus an entertainment district.

I moved to Sioux Falls in 1991, and always have lived close to the Downtown area and have lived by the Avera campus for the past 17 years. In this time, I have watched downtown evolve. There was only a handful of restaurants and businesses downtown in 1991, it has taken almost 28 years to make it to what it is today. I’m afraid to say, you are not going to create that kind of atmosphere around the EC campus overnight if ever.

The Washington Pavilion was the gamechanger downtown. It helped to bring in other eateries to the area. The EC and CC just hasn’t had the same impact.

The new EC and Convention Center before that should have NEVER been built in their current locations. Like the bunker ramp downtown, the city continues to polish a turd in the EC campus area.

While I agree we need another hotel in the area, turning it into a ‘walkable area’ is a stretch. I saw this on Sunday afternoon. I planned on riding the entire bike trail until I got to Russell Avenue where the trail was blockaded for the air show, so I had to ride my bike along Russell to downtown. While the sidewalk was nice and wide from the bike trail to about the Sheraton, it was a different story once I got past West Avenue. There is NO sidewalk, only a concrete angled embankment that you can’t ride a bike on, let alone walk on. The service road along Russell is in bad shape and riddled with potholes.

Along my ride on the sidewalk past the campus I noticed that NOT only is there nothing but parking lots there is NOTHING inviting about the area. Between Elmwood Park on Kiwanis and West Avenue it is literally a barren wasteland.

Besides adding onto the convention center by demolishing the Arena and tearing down the baseball stadium for a hotel, I’m not sure what we can do to totally change the area. Sometimes mistakes of the past just can’t be fixed, and if they can, it won’t happen overnight. I still think that a wiser use of taxpayer dollars would be rebuilding our core neighborhoods with a redirection of TIF money and other rebate programs. It would have a greater economic impact then anything we do at the cursed EC campus location. Enough of the corporate welfare and private/public partnerships that only benefit the top.

Posted in: Event Center, Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Events Center Campus Book Club makes DRAFT recommendations

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From a South DaCola foot soldier today;

The task force will make a final recommendation and cost estimate on August 21, but this is what they are looking at;

• Demolish the arena and double convention center to 120,000 sq ft. (I think it would be much cheaper to use the facility and make it into a 2-story convention space structure. But I’m sure some engineer with ties to a contractor told them to tear it down instead (Actually, there is a representative from Journey Construction on the Taskforce). Did you know the Arena was basically built as a storm shelter? It is a fortress, it will cost well over $2 million to tear down).

• Build another on-site hotel through a public/private partnership. (While I agree, we need another hotel at the site, it should be done privately. The city should either sell the land or lease it. I guess we learned nothing from the DT Parking Ramp Bunker downtown).

• Demolish SF Stadium and re-locate. (I am all for tearing it down and using the land for a new hotel, BUT, if it is relocated and built somewhere else, it should be with private money).

• There was also NO mention if the public gets to vote on the deal. This could easily cost us $50 million if NOT more, it must go to the taxpayers to decide.

I guess there was NO sign of the media at the meeting this morning, so you are hearing it here first, as usual.

Posted in: Event Center, Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Argus Leader ED board holds back important details in their attack on councilor Stehly

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It’s often easy to attack someone when you leave out the important parts.

UPDATE: After talking to a few folks about this editorial tonight, I think a better approach would have been to write the article about the dysfunction of the council as a whole. They all have their faults and strengths. Not one single councilor is to blame for the breakdown. While some are louder than others, sometimes inaction can be just as harmful as too much of it.

Ever since Mr. Myers took over the helm at the AL the place has been on a steady decline and it culminates in their attack on a city councilor. It’s funny how he has so many choice words for a person with a high level of integrity, like Stehly, but doesn’t have the courage to call out one of his key staffers or even fire them after they majorly screwed the pooch. And better yet, it didn’t even make the pages of his fine paper, worthy of a front page story, he just put the person back on their beat like nothing happened. Of course this person never committed a heinous crime like calling someone on a Saturday before Easter . . . the SHAME! The Shame!

I first want to apologize to city councilor Theresa Stehly, I feel bad she has to take the full weight of this diatribe even though she has had support from other city councilors and most importantly citizens on these issues. I’ve known Theresa long enough to know that she just doesn’t wake up in the morning and decide to be on the wrong side of an issue. She listens to her constituents and even reaches out to those with a differing opinion. I can’t say that about the rest of them. She’s an AT-LARGE elected representative of the citizens FIRST! The news media, developers and any other whiny ass, give me, give me, give me organizations in this town should be at the back of the line. The lion’s share of taxes and fees that fund this government come from the citizenry as a whole. We support this community through Federal income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and ever increasing fees. She represents us more then any city councilor has since the council form of government was formed under the Home Rule Charter.

What makes the attack even more suspicious is it comes out just hours after the paper put up a story about the failing parking ramp. Another story Cameraman Bruce had to give the paper on a silver platter, just like the EC siding and the EC secret settlement. All along the way, it has taken us ‘unqualified’ journalists to light a fire under these paid ‘qualified’ journalists. I was actually laughing when recently Mr. Myers wrote about the SNAP suit and mentioned how hard the paper went after the EC secret settlement. He failed to mention that it took Bruce and I weeks to convince them that the settlement stunk, and they fought us along the way, yet now Myers is playing ‘We are the Champions’ on the headphones in his brain.

Why do I bring up the Parking Ramp? While councilor Starr did support Stehly on trying to stop the project, Theresa was the only one vocal enough to say this was a bad deal, many citizens agreed. So instead of praising Theresa for standing against this colossal f’k up, they write an editorial lambasting her about not voting for an unqualified candidate for the Internal Auditor.

But let’s review all the things Mr. Myers and his prestigious ED board left out to make a more compelling argument against Stehly;

Two days after the call, councilors Neitzert, Christine Erickson, Marshall Selberg and Rick Kiley issued a press release condemning Stehly’s automated call and rebutting her claims that the months-long hiring process was being “ramrodded” through.

It may have been a ‘months long’ hiring process (which it wasn’t), but magically after only 3 weeks of online ads and 15 unqualified applicants they decided to pick Mrs. Nelson instead going back to the drawing board. They also were so proud of the selection they posted it on the agenda without a BIO or background of Mrs. Nelson 4 days before a special council meeting over a holiday weekend. But, you know, that’s not ramrodding . . . WTF? It is also interesting that there has never been a stated reason why the last auditor left so quickly after being appointed and whether the administration is going to replace Mrs. Nelson. The three councilors had a very good reason to be skiddish.

Stehly accused Neitzert of calling her a liar.

Listen to the interview for yourself, Neitzert does call her a liar and being slanderous, an actual violation of the city council’s ethics code, but notice how the ED board twists it. Not only was it an ethics violation, it was also untrue. Nelson’s husband was one of the players behind the VERY controversial parking ramp (as we are finding out) Shana has NO experience as an internal auditor or supervisor and has several conflicts. Please, identify these ‘LIES’ for us. NO one in the media or on the majority of the council has been able to prove what Stehly was saying was a lie(s).

As pointed out in the editorial, the city council has been dysfunctional, and it started way before councilor Stehly came aboard, she has just shined a light on the dysfunction of the rubber stampers and the big wheels that fund their campaigns and it has them really pissed off, and now they apparently have the ear of the ED board.

I told Theresa to wear this as a badge of honor, it must have been a slow week at the paper to have to attack an individual like this. Apparently Bruce and I need to step up our game and give them more things to investigate.

Posted in: Sioux Falls