The man in charge of building permits for Sioux Falls announced yesterday at the Public Services meeting that the EC got its permit (starts in the middle of the meeting). Councilor Staggers questioned the siding issue. Bell told him that even though it may not be asthetically correct he said it is structurally sound. Kermit questioned the gaps and holes in the siding, and Bell said the insulation was also sound and would prevent any issues.
What does this mean? My guess is it will probably never be fixed, and if it is, it will just be a quick patch job. My assumption all along is that someone signed off on the cheaper method to apply the siding and that person/entity (I have no clue who it is) is covering their tracks. Once again, it seems the public will be left in the dark.
At the beginning of the meeting, councilor Erpenbach seemed to want to have more control over what food vendor trucks are doing in our city (they are mostly monitored by the state). I found her statements ironic and hypocritical after she just recently scolded the rest of the council about micro-managing the Events Center when it comes to ticket sales. She doesn’t seem to be concerned about citizens getting ripped off at a building that they are paying the mortgage on, but seems to be concerned about people dropping napkins around food trucks and being able to eat at 3 AM. Go figure.
I find her arguments about limiting the food trucks hours of operation completely ignorant. The whole point of being open at 3 AM is so they can serve food to people leaving the bar. If you limit their hours of operation, they just won’t be operating at all.
It a done deal. A constructive
Change order was done by mmm or cotter. They can’t keep their mouths shut
Except to tell lies and orchestrate damaging a good local roofing contractor. Mmm has gotten good
City employees to be flying monkeys for him.
The siding issue is a slow motion disaster. I would encourage anyone who has any question about this to simply walk up to the siding, get up close and look at it. You can see the huge gaps, the flashing issues, the wide open holes where water can get in. Talk to someone who knows about siding, they’ll confirm what a mess this is.
Remember a while back when they had this press conference where they talked about putting up these ‘mock ups’ on the building so we could see how they would ‘fix it’? Never happened. No explanation whatsoever. No communication whatsoever.
I also suspect that someone authorized the change to use this siding and its going to cost us dearly. If I understand correctly Koch Hazard architects specified a different siding altogether. I am totally mystified as to why it was changed, and then when it was changed why it was installed horizontally. From what I follow it would have worked had they installed this vertically as it is designed. I can only guess, and that’s all it is, that it was changed presumably to save money.
I have a feeling if we (the city) were completely innocent in this and victims of say a bad contractor, the city would be stating that loud and clear at the very least. The fact that there is absolutely nothing from an administration that holds press conferences for just about everything and is very good at marketing and communication speaks for itself. Common sense tells you this amount of quiet can only mean one thing, someone in the city goofed big time, and we’re just hoping it goes away. I think they just will continue to say its just cosmetic, no big deal, and hope the issue dies because people like me who can talk at public input but don’t have any real power or effect will be the only ones harping on it.
Its always possible the quiet is because they have a legal process they are working through, but again the fact that we don’t get anything whatsoever from an administration who is usually very talkative I think speaks for itself, probably, just using common sense.
What I’ve always wanted was this to be fixed, and a full accounting of what happened and why. I don’t think we’ll probably get either. Particularly when you have one councilor pushing this, while the rest of the council apparently sits in a supine position without saying a word, or if they do its to attack that councilor for asking questions and daring to ask city staff tough questions.
The lack of transparency and accountability is truly appalling, as is the fact that most of the council isn’t demanding the public to be informed.
Transparency isn’t holding press conferences to talk about things that reflect well on you, its being willing to admit mistakes and being willing to let the entire story be told even when it doesn’t reflect well on you.
I urge citizens to keep demanding answers and a full accounting of what happened.
is it possible some of the restaurants in town want the food trucks shut down at night?
Who complained? Fryin’ Pan?
Mr. Bell sanctimoniously proclaimed the events center is safe for occupancy. So be it. When the sides pop out or there’s interior support failure he may have to answer some questions, but this time in front of a judge. Meanwhile, we must live with this. He’s riding in a car with 1 lug on each wheel. Good luck sir.