“They didn’t provide us calculators in journalism school. (Argus Leader media screenshot)”

I’m no math wizard myself, but if the Argue Endorser’s ED Board thinks we can build an indoor pool for $6 million, they need to go take some finance courses at Colorado Tech;

That makes the aquatics center project, which is listed as a $6.7 million facility on the mayor’s budget, logical.

Actually, that is a typo, it is listed at $7.3 million on the mayor’s budget, but let’s not get worried over semantics just aquatics.

The ‘Actual’ cost of the indoor pool at Spellerberg hasn’t even been released to the public, but if you take into account that the Drake Springs indoor pool was supposed to cost $12 million, inflation and the fact that the Spellerberg pool is larger and more complicated, your looking at about $20 million for the facility on the low end.

As for the neighborhood coming together;

This time, it is nice to see citizen leadership, a healthy exchange of ideas and the promise to continue to listen.

Well, that isn’t what DaCola has been hearing. There is already a strong opposition group, and if the council and mayor plan to shove this through, you may see another election, which AL’s Publisher calls ‘fiasco’s’ (Watch this interview with councilor Erpenbach in which Beck called citizens voting on an indoor facility a fiasco.)

But let’s move onto other recreational facilities in Sioux Falls.

Indoor tennis facility
Project details: Seven-court indoor facility at the Sanford Sports Complex, with the potential to expand to eight courts.
Total estimated cost: $3 million
Private fundraising: $750,000 so far. The chamber-approved fundraising campaign begins in April.
Public funding: The 2013 city capital improvement plan budget includes $500,000, pending City Council approval next month.

Talk about a blatant conflict of interest on the mayor’s part! His wife is the president of the SF Tennis Association! It would be like me asking for the city to fund a Boston Terrier dog park if I were mayor. What a bunch of hogwash.

Either you support this stuff or not, go vote at argusleader.com;

12 Thoughts on “The AL Editorial Board seems to have trouble with math

  1. I cannot believe the Publisher and the Executive Editor of the AL did NOT check their facts BEFORE writing an editorial endorsement of the proposed indoor aquatic center.

    Check out page 98 of the paper version of the CIP Budget,

    and page 103 of the on-line version, you will see the true numbers:

    2013 Design 563,700

    2014 Construction 6,708,371

    for a total cost of $7.3 million.

    The number quoted in the editorial is for an OUTDOOR pool, and has nothing to do with the potential cost of an indoor aquatic center!!

    This wording is taken directly from the above-mentioned pages:

    This project funds the design of an aquatic facility at Spellerberg Park to replace the existing OUTDOOR pool. In addition this funding would be sufficient to fund construction of an outdoor seasonal aquatic center. However, as an alternative, a year-round indoor aquatic facility is also under consideration and the public has been engaged to provide input toward the ultimate decision. The year-round facility is contingent upon community support and private contributions funding a portion of the project. Program funding as outlined on page two contains DEBT SERVICE ON A QUALITY OF LIFE BOND ISSUE TO FUND THE COST DIFFERENTIAL if the year-round aquatic facility is selected. PRIOR TO MOVING FORWARD WITH DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A YEAR-ROUND AQUATIC FACILITY, THE CITY COUNCIL WOULD NEED TO APPROVE A BOND ORDINANCE TO SECURE THE REMAINING FUNDING NECESSARY.

    It was very easy to check the facts…..I wonder why the leadership of our community’s local newspaper could not have done the same??!!

  2. Then there was the big article, which I didn’t read, but basically it amounted to is that all the recreation in Sioux Falls is sports related. There must be more to recreation than sports, however it seems like that is all the city is concerned about.

  3. Testor15 on August 26, 2012 at 8:10 pm said:

    Because they don’t even read their own rag for information.

  4. OK:

    – new hockey ice? I get that – it’s rapidly becoming a popular sport in this state and a good facility is probably worthwhile.

    – Sanford’s Octagon? Fine – they can build what they want.

    – indoor pool? Having a hard time with this one – too easy to mess this one up. Can the city keep the admission price low enough so everyone can use it? Will they give into every little idea (spray area, waterslides) that could add more and more costs?

    – indoor tennis? This is a hose job of the worst order. His Man Mike must have forgotten a wedding anniversary or something. Now maybe I’m wrong here, but I don’t think tennis is remotely popular enough to justify this extravagance.

    – The Sanford Premier Giant White Elephant Sink Hole Center? Ummm, right…

    Look, the argument about creating a higher quality of life for residents and attracting tourists/tournaments sounds good until one realizes that no one will come here when the infrastructure (roads, sewers, etc) turns to crap and there’s no money in the kitty to foot the bill. Hey, Mikey – recklessly spending money like a congressman doesn’t guarantee you get one of our delegations’ seats. Besides, you’d get your ass whooped by that other classic clueless Man Mike – Rounds…

  5. CR – Thanks for the clarification.

    hmr – As Staggers pointed out in the article also about the operating costs. Once we build these places, we gotta keep them up.

  6. I see the poll didn’t go in favor of supporting rec investments, but it wasn’t working most of the day yesterday;

    http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=POLLARCHIVE&ShowCategory=POLL

  7. Pathloss on August 27, 2012 at 6:32 pm said:

    It will be my pleasure to pee in the new pool. I foresee protesters on both sides streaming or squatting for the ribbon cutting. Soda Pop needs a pool and tennis. Monkeys get exclusive crappers & geese get granite steps into the river to poop on. The city discriminates against Soda Pop.

  8. Pathloss on August 27, 2012 at 6:34 pm said:

    Other than animals, who’ll use these expensive exclusive country club features?

  9. Pathloss on August 27, 2012 at 6:38 pm said:

    Huether & his wife can use their own pool & tennis court. If it’s to far out of town to go home, we should pay their country club membership. Much cheaper than 20 million or so we need for infrastructure work.

  10. Pathloss on August 27, 2012 at 6:44 pm said:

    It’s to much work unwrapping cases of Baby Ruth’s to dump into the pool every week. Seriously, the only way to stop these crooks is sabotage.

  11. “Soda Pop needs a pool and tennis.”

    LOL! Funny you bring up Sodapop and tennis. Everytime I take Sodapop for a run we go thru McKennan Park by the tennis courts and I can usually find a stray tennis ball for him. He really likes the nice ones, Wilson or Penn. Well the other day we were riding thru and I found one outside the courts by the clubhouse. So I picked it up and a girl chased me all the way to the swimming pool to get it back. I gave it back to her, I figured they need to save all the money they can so they can contribute something to the new facility.

  12. Pingback: Why is the mayor’s wife asking for CVB marketing money to promote her new cookbook? — South DaCola

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