Boulevard Landscape Ordinance to be discussed w/Public Input

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MEETING ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15TH AFTER 4:00 COUNCIL INFORMATIONAL MEETING

CARNEGIE TOWN HALL, Council requesting public input!

A proposed ordinance could affect hundreds of property owners who have landscaping in the boulevard area. Councilman Greg Jamison is putting together an ordinance which will address this issue. Many homeowners and businesses have worked to beatify this strip of land between the curb and the sidewalk. This ordinance could mandate that this landscaping be ripped out.

Areas that may be targeted are: medium to tall grasses, rocks of any kind, large boulders, mailboxes and landscaping by the driveway, corner plantings, fencing and shrubs on either side of the sidewalk, pavers and flowers. Several council members have told me that if this ordinance passes, the city will also be required to remove the rocks, daylilies, grasses and Russian Sage on city property. This would include the area by the downtown-library and the McKennan Park Boulevard.

Please call the men on the Land Use Committee and let them know how you feel about this effort. They are:

Greg Jamison 310-1930

Kenny Anderson261-5132

Kermit Staggers 376-4056

Rick Kiley 367-8102

It also would be beneficial if you called the representative for your district and the Mayor. You can get this information from the city clerk’s office 367-8081

There is a Land use committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, December 15th, after the 4:00 Council informational meeting.  The meeting will be at the Carnegie Town Hall.  Watch the Argus for further updates. They have assured me that they will cover this issue.

Theresa Stehly, 332-1363

Posted in: Code Enforcement, Public Works, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilors Karsky & Kiley approve of inefficiency and poor customer service in city government

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During the December edition of ‘Inside Town Hall’ four city councilors had a discussion about Project TRIM (Or as we call it Project Tree Tax). Councilor Staggers of course believes like many cities throughout the Midwest (Brandon, Brookings & Kansas City for example) that the city of Sioux Falls should trim the trees in the boulevard. As a Brandon city councilor brought up in a joint meeting with SF city councilors, “It’s just more efficient and accurate.” then policing homeowners to do it. Councilor Erickson believes the way the city goes about policing the policy is cumbersome and could use improvement.

But councilors Karsky and Kiley think it works just fine (mailing out vague letters about the trees that need to be trimmed, sending out city employees to tag those properties but not identify the actual branches). Kiley goes on to say that it would cost to much for the city to trim the trees. That statement in itself is ridiculous. As the Brandon city councilor pointed out, they discovered it was cheaper to contract out a licensed arborist to just go out and trim those trees then to go through the ridiculous process of paying city employees to drive around and tag properties then send out letters when the time could be better spent at just trimming the violating trees to begin with. Then there is the matter of the adjoining property owners not owning those trees anyway because they sit on city property.

No surprise to me that Kiley and Karsky would find the process A’ OK as is.

Posted in: Dean Karsky, Project TRIM, Rick Kiley, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Best of DaCola

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Buddha says apply for a new job

What dad says

Yeah, how did this grass and rubble pile turn out?

Mike’s first quest to control the local MSM

Corn cob

Consent Agenda money transfers still pisses Huether off to this day

The Development Foundation knew about this 5 years ago . . .

So how did dissolving the SE Arts Council work out? We are getting a livestock museum

The tale of two Mikes

The secret Leprechaun?

Avera should just get their own cigarette brand

Book Reports are due

Lil’ Thurd, it’s a poop block party! Don’t cry about it.

What were these guys thinking?

How wrong was I about this dude?

Zoinks!

I do have a price.

Posted in: Cartoon, South DaCola Fest

The city is debt free, just ask this guy

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Always love reading letters to the editor ‘defending’ politicians. There are so many other great people in our community doing great things, I think it is waste of editorial space with these type of letters, especially when they are full of holes, which is ironic, because the purpose of this guy’s letter was to point out the inaccuracies of another letter;

Other degrading and untrue statements were as follows, “Kermit Staggers needs to help keep expenses down and establish morality and honesty.”

As long as I have known Kermit he has been a fiscal conservative who believes in integrity and transparency, I don’t think he has ever hid that from the public.

But this line takes the cake;

A great many cities in the USA are bankrupt, but not Sioux Falls. I have heard that not only are we out of debt, but have a surplus of funds.

While it is true we have a surplus fund that is required by our charter for emergencies (I believe it is around $35 million) the city debt is actually hovering at around $400,000,000.00. Not sure who told you we were debt free, but it sounds like something you would have heard from a politician at a meet and greet.

In the following years, history will show that our Mayor Mike was one of the best liked and most progressive mayors in Sioux Falls history.

I hope you are right. I also heard that Bill Janklow didn’t have to resign from Congress in disgrace, Richard Benda killed himself using a branch, and Mike Rounds had no ties to EB-5.

Posted in: Mayor Hubris, Mayor Subprime Mike Huether, Mike Huether, Sioux Falls