What does the (organization) Downtown Sioux Falls do?

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I had this question recently asked of me, since I work at a DT business. They also asked if we had a membership. I said we canceled our membership a few years back for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons was they moved most of the festivals to 4th and Phillips, so we couldn’t put a booth in front of our store, besides the fee and commission DTSF would charge on the booth wasn’t profitable. Secondly, when we asked DTSF what they ‘do’ for the membership fee they said besides being listed in their magazine, they swept the sidewalks and watered plants (even though that stuff is city owned and will have to be maintained by the city anyway).

The inquirer was wondering why most of the DT restaurants were listed in their magazine and not ours. I said, they basically punish you for be not being a member by not listing you, which is silly on a couple of levels;

1) It makes DTSF and the magazine look inaccurate, people visiting SF from another city may be following the map in the magazine and asking themselves why certain restaurants are not listed.

2) We pay a membership fee to DTSF whether we want to or not. DT businesses pay a special property tax assessment that subsidizes DTSF. So even if you are not a ‘member’ of their organization, you are still ‘paying’ into them.

I have often argued that we should eliminate DTSF as an ‘organization’ and just sub-contract the magazine and website out to a marketing firm. Eliminate the memberships and just pay the tax assessment, and include ALL downtown businesses on the website and magazine (since they are ultimately paying a special tax to support the organization anyway.)

DTSF often reminds me of the SF Chamber of Commerce. I consistently here members of the Chamber complain about the ‘benefits’ of their membership, and what exactly are they?

Chamber’s and Neighborhood retail organizations across the country offer their members specials. Like discounted health insurance for their employees, or discounted liability insurance. Special leased discounted parking fees. Other cities also have several ‘festivals’ throughout the summer, almost every weekend. In Austin, Texas, for instance that has a DT strip about the same size as ours, closes off the main drag every Friday and Saturday and has a street party, something I have suggest DTSF tries for a summer.

Last year a couple of DT business owners protested the special tax assessment, and for good reason, they asked the question ‘What is the benefit?’

Good question.

Posted in: Downtown Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls

A lot to pack in – SF City Council’s Working Session

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwblvqir-s[/youtube]

Wow, just looked at the agenda for this meeting tomorrow, are they going to also try to solve world hunger?

Call To Order

2. CIP Presentation by David Bixler, Budget Analyst
3. Discussion of Specific Projects Requested by City Council
A. Project #11007 Street Maintenance Bldg/Satellite Facility – $2,150,000
B. Water Department – General Questions
C. Projects #14038/#14042 East & West Side Dog Parks – $497,000 each
D. Project #14030 Aquatic Facilities Development – $19,475,0005 Minute Break
E. Washington Pavilion – General Questions
F. Libraries – General Questions
4. Open Discussion

5. Presentation of 2014 City Council Division’s Budget

WashPav General Questions? LOL! I have a list.


Posted in: SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Washington Pavilion

Mayor Announces 2012 Top Ten Wins for him, but not for Sioux Falls

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SNARC ALERT!

Mayor Mike Subprime held a press conference yesterday, January 29, 2013, at 4 a.m. at City Hall and presented what he considered the top ten wins for him and his ilk in Sioux Falls City government during 2012.

Mayor Subprime presented a countdown;

#1. Pension changes in City government will save taxpayers millions, enabling us to spend those savings on more spray parks and special interest club sport facilities. We successfully identified strategic pension changes affecting current and future employees in order to reduce and stabilize rising pension costs. The savings over the next 30 years from these changes is estimated to be over $300 million, in which we will spend on building a new events center to replace our current events center that has not been built yet.

#2. Sioux Falls inks record-breaking naming rights deal for Events Center before the voters even approved building the facility! We successfully negotiated and signed one of the richest naming rights deals in history for a market our size when the City inked a $20.75 million, 25-year deal with Sanford Health, First PREMIER Bank, and PREMIER Bankcard to name the new Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, and we did it all in the dark with blindfolds on!

#3. Big-time manipulation of figures, economic development, job creation and growth!

• $490 million of construction activity permitted, the second highest year in history. Thank God we included the Events Center in that number.
• Over 2,000 jobs created. (I personally pulled that number out of my ass)
• 3.7 percent unemployment rate (We of course included part-time, teenagers and the underemployed in that figure)
• Great teamwork with Sioux Falls Development and the Governor’s Office. In fact, Pat Costello only hung up on me three times.
• Record boardings at Sioux Falls Airport. Still waiting for them to return.
• 158,800 citizens now call Sioux Falls jail!

• Over 8,000 citizens signed the snowgates petition, then we gave them the middle finger, told them to shut up and go home.

#4. The old River Ramp comes down. A new Hilton Hotel sprouts up! A goal of the City for more than a decade was finally accomplished in 2012 with the removal of the 50-year old River Ramp parking garage in downtown Sioux Falls. Ground was broken on a much-anticipated 136-room Hilton Garden Inn & Suites complete with conference room meeting space, restaurant, and lounge estimated at $30 million, with millions of developer welfare handouts from taxpayers for TIF’s, landscaping, and a squirty-squirt park, all of which is gigantic waste of money just like snowgates.

#5. Team Policing is a huge success in keeping citizens safe, but not from stray bullets in shootouts with suicidal maniacs! The Police Department’s reorganization effort and Team Policing Initiative resulted in many cutting-edge programs. The hospitals even changed their free meals program to the SFPD. Trust and communication between Police and community members have been enhanced along with providing education on personal safety and the security of property, unless of course you are in violation of city ordinances, then we will haul your ass to jail and threaten to sue. The Pettigrew Heights neighborhood is just one of many success stories in 2012 that we will claim to be a success again in 2013 and 2014 without really cleaning up anything, but if we continue to say it is a success enough times it just might magically happen.

#6. “Our new Events Center” is going up and taxpayers secured incredible interest rates without the place costing a dime! The official ground breaking for the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center was held on August 30. The foundation systems and on-site utilities were completed WITH MONEY FROM THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FUND instead of from the bond fund, and the McCart Park parking lot (that will have to be replaced by a parking ramp eventually) and the new gravity flow sanitary sewer main were constructed off site to ensure its reliability the next time we have to dump your shit in the Sioux River. We are ahead of our goal to have 85 percent of the work performed by local subcontractors and suppliers that we just happened to have already picked out even before the first Events Center task force met.

An overall interest rate of 3.13 percent was achieved on two bond sales composed of taxable and tax-exempt bonds to raise the needed $114.5 million in financing. These outstanding rates will result in interest savings of millions of dollars when compared to the interest costs initially forecast for the Events Center project, but like I said already, it won’t cost you a dime. In fact, the Events Center will be so profitable I project we will all be getting our money back sometime in 2057 or 2058.

#7. Lewis & Clark water is flowing into Sioux Falls just in time to make it appear the $80 million we spent on it wasn’t a total waste of money! A new and critical supply of water from the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, which draws water from the Missouri River, was tapped on July 30. Construction was completed on a one-mile, 20-inch diameter water transmission main to connect the Sioux Falls water distribution system. Lewis & Clark water provides Sioux Falls with a drought-resistant supply offsetting demand on the Big Sioux Aquifer, the main source for the city (even though we will probably only really need water from L & C about 2 or 3 days out of the year). Without the Lewis & Clark water, lawn watering schedules and restrictions would be much more restrictive in an extended drought period, but during a drought you shouldn’t be watering your lawns anyway, unless you are an obsessive compulsive selfish prick.

#8. Surpassed the 200-mile mark of our “SMOOTHER ROADS AHEAD” campaign, and man am I tired, next time I am going to drive it instead of running it! In the past three construction seasons, we have repaired, rebuilt, and/or replaced over 200 lane miles of inner core roads. This work improved the driving surface, reduces driver delay, creates safer roads, and adds capacity to the arterial street system. Believe it or not, #8 is actually true.

#9. www.siouxfalls.org website is completely redesigned and receiving rave reviews from city employees who are in denial of how poorly it operates. There has been a complete redesign of the City’s official website, www.siouxfalls.org. Not sure why, maybe the media services and IT people needed something to do besides pretending to fix things. The new website provides a more complicated navigation structure, outdated design, and an almost non-exsistant search function. Over 20,000 pages of my press releases and 20 GB of data were restructured for my massive ego. Please check us out today (but stay away from the council meetings page, it probably isn’t working) And try the fun game ‘Find the council meeting calendar’.

#10. Our City’s “piggy bank” keeps growing while our debt is at a record all time high! We balance progress with drunken sailorness in Sioux Falls! Despite news of governments at all levels around the country struggling to live within their means, we just say fuck it and say ‘Charge the Card’, the Finance department is anticipating the City of Sioux Falls will add dollars to its general operating reserves for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW while adding 10x that to our debt rolls. Although originally budgeting to use $3.8 million in reserves, the City’s modest revenue estimates and strong budgetary management practices ensured the City remains fiscally strong with General Fund reserves, which exceed policy targets. Finance is also forecasting excess capital improvement plan money that will be utilized to its fullest soon, like when we run out of money building the Events Center.

Posted in: Mayor Subprime Mike Huether, Sioux Falls

My suspicions about the SD Democratic Party trying to assist municipal candidates are confirmed

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As I have reported in the past, the SD Democratic party got involved in municipal politics.

But before we dig into the article, I want to commend three people for coming forward;

• Ellis for working hard on this story for weeks to get it out in the mainstream media

• Ben Nesselhuf, chairman of the SD Democratic Party for finally being honest about their involvement (though I do not agree with it).

• Kyle Vanderlinden for telling his story;

In the weeks leading up to this year’s City Council elections, the top official with the South Dakota Democratic Party and Mayor Mike Huether met to discuss the four races.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes. They talked about family, life and other topics. But they also addressed the upcoming campaigns.

The party was interested in helping Democratic candidates, a step in building the party and grooming candidates who, once successful on the local level, might have a shot at higher office. But first, Democratic Chairman Ben Nesselhuf wanted “to make sure we weren’t stepping on any toes” with the mayor.

Nesselhuf said the meeting was a “courtesy call” to ensure the party’s participation in the races was OK with Huether.

Also present at the meeting were Zach Crago, the party’s legislative director, and Darrin Smith, the city’s director of community development and public parking. The mayor gave the party his blessing.

You get the feeling from reading this first part that the Mayor has pull in the SD Democratic party, and my suspicions of a governor run are in his future. As for Darrin Smith, I wouldn’t take much political advice from a guy who couldn’t even finish his council term.

“I just don’t like to get involved in elections like that when they’re nonpartisan,” said Munson, a Republican. “And that’s the way it should be. In the position, you have to work with Republicans and Democrats.”

Munson is right on one level, I don’t have a problem with the SD Democratic party supporting DEMOCRATS, but when they are throwing their weight behind someone who is a Republican, that’s a NO-NO, and I HOPE they learned a lesson, Knudson got her butt handed to her.

“One of the things he (McGovern) tried to do was to get Democrats to run for as many offices as possible — to not let Republicans run unopposed,” Schaff said.

I totally agree, but like I said above, support candidates with in your party, or at least indies that share some of your political values.

Smith said he attended the meeting to discuss the Democrats’ efforts to repeal Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s economic development program. Smith, a Democrat, supports the governor’s program and he wanted to explain why the Democratic efforts were wrong.

No, Darrin, you are wrong. The city’s economic development plans under your watch is to give as many handouts to private industry as possible. As a former ED office employee told me once, we have plenty to offer businesses that want to relocate here besides giving handouts; High productivity at lower wages, no state income tax, the best parks and schools of any city our size in the country, and top-notch public safety. It’s kinda like selling someone a $200 Weber grill for $100 then also giving them a $100 rebate.

“I remember going out of my way, telling them, look, city staff are available to educate and inform,

Yeah we had a city employee who was good at that job, and you fired her. As for getting an education on city politics from a councilor who quit, wouldn’t that be like an 8th grade dropout teaching calculus?

Kyle Vanderlinden was one of two candidates challenging incumbent Councilor Greg Jamison in the Southwest District. Crago emailed Vanderlinden, writing, “A few folks have asked us about your City Council race against Greg Jamison, and I’d love to be able to tell them a bit more about you, how they can help, and how we might be able to help you in a non-partisan fashion.”

Vanderlinden met with Crago. During the meeting Crago said Vanderlinden would need about $15,000 to beat Jamison. But Vanderlinden said he was uneasy when he was questioned about what he thought of Huether’s achievements. Vanderlinden said he had no problem with Democrats working with him, but he was uneasy that Huether might have been involved. He turned down the help.

This is where the waters get murky. While I do believe the meeting happened, I still question just what kind of involvement Huether had with the races, especially De Knudson’s campaign.

Jamison, a Republican who gets mentioned as a potential mayor candidate, said he appreciates that Vanderlinden declined the help and hopes his challenger runs again. “Kyle Vanderlinden has the exact character and integrity we need on the City Council,” Jamison said.

This is why I endorsed Kyle, I think he is bright with a ton of potential. I also think it takes a lot of integrity to turn down an offer like this. I truly commend Kyle for coming forth with this story and telling both Ellis and I about it, right after the election.

“The one person I probably would have enjoyed working with was De Knudson,” Huether said.

When she lost, however, Huether said he called her opponent, Kermit Staggers, to congratulate him.

This is true, I was standing right next to Kermit when he got the call.

Nesselhuf helped gather signatures to get Knudson, a Republican, on the ballot. Nesselhuf served in the state Senate with Knudson’s husband, former Majority Leader Dave Knudson, and is a family friend. There was no Democrat in the race, and Nesselhuf said, “I didn’t have any problem helping her out.”

Sorry, Ben, still doesn’t make it right, especially after Jesse Vavreck was asked to step out of the race (a Democrat) who I told Kermit had a better chance of beating him then Knudson.

The party didn’t hold a fundraiser and didn’t do anything inappropriate, she added. But individual Democrats cut her checks.

I don’t think they did anything inappropriate either, our 1st Amendment rights guarantee we can support any candidate we want to, whether they are in your party or not. That isn’t the point. I have a problem with the secrecy of the deal and the counter productivity of supporting candidates out of your party.

 

Posted in: Democrats, Elections, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

UPDATED: Why is Mayor Huether donating money to a Republican who used to be a Democrat?

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Updated: Kyle is Mike’s cousin’s kid, that is why he is giving him money, according to Mike.

And giving him twice as much now that he is a Republican?

As I was reading this post by Madville Cory, I found this little tidbit;

HUETHER, MIKE & CINDY 05/01/2012 $500.00 Individual

But in 2010 they gave Kyle half that, when he was a democrat; 11523

As I have discussed in the past, it was no secret that Huether encouraged Knudson to run for city council again (A Republican) and the SD Democratic party helped raise money for her.

The waters are beginning to muddy between the parties in SD. The political climate in SD is starting to look more & more like a Huertterite colony gene pool then a straight forward, left against right. It’s more like the Republican-Light-Dems vs. the Tea-Bagger-Republicans, while the elitist, established Republicans sit on the top of the mountain and just laugh.

The irony of this is Mike’s denial he is running for higher office (governor, or something else). He recently told a radio DJ that I was ‘spreading rumors’ about the governor run.

I never said he was running, all I said was I ‘heard’ he was considering it through various sources. He has yet to deny it publicly.

Posted in: Mayor Subprime Mike Huether, Mike Huether