South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

What’s going on with ash tree removal?

l3wis 4Comments

Next Monday (Memorial Day) ends the time period in which Ash trees can be removed from the city this Spring. I have a tree that has been marked since last Fall and have seen no tree removal trucks in my neighborhood.

Now I understand that they can still remove them this Fall (after Labor Day). I also get it that the weather has NOT been ideal (saturated ground) but why hasn’t the city released a statement basically telling homeowners that have trees marked that they will have to just wait until Fall? I have already received 3 mail notices of the removal and have spoken with the private contractor back in February.

Maybe the city attorney is telling the administration not to talk about it in case someone wants to sue 🙂

Lewis & Clark

Iowa denies Lewis & Clark funding

l3wis 4Comments

I had a foot soldier send this to me in the mail (no, not email, the other one).

Not sure who it was, or the point, but hey it is an interesting read;

Funding for the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System will not flow from the state of Iowa anytime soon.

The Iowa Legislature did not approve a $1.8 million federal funding advance for fiscal year 2019-20 and a $1.7 million federal funding advance for fiscal year 2020-21 that were requested by the four non-connected Iowa members of Lewis & Clark, which are the cities of Hull, Sheldon, Sibley and Sioux Center.

I have often been critical of L&C, and probably why the article was sent to me. I have often thought L&C exists for L&C. Discuss.

Elections SF School District

How will the Sioux Falls School District pay for staffing of the new schools?

l3wis 4Comments

And I’m not just talking about teachers. You also have support staff, administrators, janitors, resource officers, etc. There is also utilities and maintenance.

This question came up during the campaign for the bond election. The administration blew it off and pretty much said they will figure it out later and the state gives money for each student. This of course doesn’t solve the problem.

So where will the money come from? My guess is that the SFSD will ask for ANOTHER opt out to fund the operations and staff. They really have NO CHOICE. We saw it with the shortfall this year.

So why wasn’t this clarified during the bond election campaign? I think I answered that question. They didn’t want to scare the taxpayers anymore. What most people don’t realize is that the $300 million dollar debt is only for brick and mortar. Not only is it ONLY for that, it is ONLY for the finished product. Moving forward we are responsible to maintain it out of NEW funds.

The SFSD is fleecing it’s residents. As brought up in the current school board debate our levees may be lower than surrounding communities, but our property values are extremely inflated, especially in Lincoln County.

It will be interesting to see how these new schools will be funded, because it won’t be from hopes and prayers.

Elections SF School District Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls School Board – Dem Forum (5/17/19)

l3wis 3Comments

I want to commend all the candidates for not making this into a ‘Mickelson Money Fest’ most of them have kept their campaign budgets LOW so far. Of course we will see what is spent after Tuesday, but I think for the most part they are on a level playing field. The one interesting thing I found though is that Nan Baker says her occupation is ‘Community Director’ but doesn’t list an employer. Hmm.

Employment Sioux Falls

We don’t need more services for the poor – we need higher wages

l3wis 14Comments

There was an announcement this week that the School for the Deaf was purchased to become a center for helping people living in poverty. As we all know, it will probably be tied in with some kind of ‘Ministry’ like most services for the poor are in Sioux Falls. But that is NOT the issue with the project.

It seems over the past couple of years our services for the poor have been exploding in Sioux Falls even though unemployment is very low. Feeding SD has expanded, the Banquet is building another location, The Barrel House restaurant has held several fundraisers for school lunches, The Bishop Dudley house has been built and likely will expand, the St. Francis House is expanding and so is The Glory House.

The Thrive report last year told us the problem, people can’t afford housing in Sioux Falls on the wages they are making. Sioux Falls also doesn’t have rent control ordinances.

While I commend those who want to help the working poor, creating more services for the impoverished doesn’t solve the underlying problem, LOW WAGES, Right to Work laws, and restrictions on Unions.

Not only do higher wages help to relieve poverty, they actually help the economy. When people make more money, they spend more! Raising wages would be a boon for our community.

I also see a secondary solution to poverty. I think the city, county and state should invest in a FREE birth control program, and I’m not just talking about FREE condoms at Monk’s House of Ale Repute, but women being able to get a prescription FREE. In Colorado State, with the influx of taxes from Marijuana sales they implemented a FREE birth control program. In the first year of the program’s usage, teen pregnancies were down 40%!

I know the good Christians in Sioux Falls want to do the right thing and help the poor, and we will never be able to eliminate poverty totally. Some people can’t work due to disabilities, some are just too old and others are just damn lazy. But I think workforce development tied in with family planning would go a lot farther then handouts, which are just subsidies to companies who want to pay low wages while the stockholders get richer by the day without paying a corporate income tax.

We need to stop the ‘Whack a Mole’ mentality when it comes to poverty in Sioux Falls. We need to start paying people living wages and educating them on SEX.

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