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Make the Events Center ‘Great Again’

Mayor ‘High Crime’ Mike was on the Greg Belfrage this morning (podcast should be up by early afternoon).

He started out by blabbering about the pool and how he got a lot of flack for wearing a shirt while diving off the high dive. He said he wore the shirt, because his secretary, communications director and wife told him he needed to wear it in the name of ‘decorum’ and he commented that he wasn’t ‘Putin’. I guess you have to take off your hat while talking to the council and mayor, and put on a shirt while swimming with them. While I can understand his wife asking him to wear the shirt (she has seen him shirtless, maybe) I’m wondering when his secretary and communications director have seen him shirtless . . . Funny how he was concerned about ‘decorum’ at the pool during public appearances, but the day before he lied to the public about voting for the indoor pool. I guess good decorum doesn’t include telling the truth. As for not being like ‘Putin’ I disagree, they have similar leadership styles 🙂

He also had a moment of ‘honesty’ and told the good folks of Sioux Falls that the pool wouldn’t run in the black.

Duh, Duh & Duh.

But he continued by saying ‘unlike the events center’ (running in black). It often amazes me how the mayor can go from saying something truthful to saying something false in a matter of seconds.

Let’s go over this again for the kids who were late to class. While the EC may cover its operations costs with revenue, the maintenance and mortgage on the facility are about 3x the revenue taken in. In other words, while SMG and Ovations are making money, the tax payers of Sioux Falls are footing the mortgage on the EC out of the 2nd penny, not revenue from the EC. Hardly ‘operating in the black’. In other words if you ran your personal business the way we run the EC you would be bankrupt in less than a year.

The mayor also touched on the Administration Building, and peddled the silly notion that Rex Rolfing’s 10 golf buddies told him they supported the building, and that was enough to defy the citizens and the city council 3 times to spend $25 million on a building we don’t need. Funny that the mayor didn’t bring up the ‘buzz off’ letter he received last week from the Minnehaha County Commission reminding him that they are absolutely NOT interested in leasing space at the building, ever.

The next caller got the mayor’s gander up a bit. He talked about working with the traffic engineering department and the police department to reduce speeding in his neighborhood for the safety of the children (he lives near Endeavor School) and after several conversations with them he was wondering why ‘nothing’ is being done. Mikey doesn’t like it when citizens accuse city employees of doing nothing, besides, it takes effort to lean on a shovel or belly up to the Avera Hospital lunch line. But you know what doesn’t take effort, Solar powered speed signs, as the caller suggested. They also are very inexpensive and effective at reducing speeds. The mayor said he would do some checking into why we are not using them. What a short memory our mayor has, a few short weeks ago, councilor Theresa Stehly made an amendment to the city budget to buy some of these signs to ‘experiment’ with them in high speed problem areas (FF: 1:19:30). The council voted her down after Public Works Director Mark Cotter said they don’t have the ‘staff’ or ‘time’ to move the signs (they are simply held to a post with brackets). I think Stehly is going to be on the Belfrage show sometime this week, hopefully she can explain how the signs work, since our mayor is doing ‘nothing’ to promote them.

But the highlight of this morning’s show was when a caller called the mayor ‘High Crime Mayor’ and said crime has ‘gone through the roof’ since he has been mayor. Like Donald Trump, Mayor Mike interrupts the caller and says ‘Wong’. I will defend the mayor on one level, the caller could have worded it a little less rudely, but his premise of the increase in crime is true. In the previous mayoral election, the increase in crime rates was a topic of discussion, at least in the Jamison camp, the mayor was in complete denial of the crime increase, and his previous Corvette Convertible driving police chief had his back and wasn’t concerned about it either. Fast forward a mere 3 years, different story. The mayor rambled on about how he is tackling the meth problem in Sioux Falls by having a ‘press conference’. As I have mentioned before, meth or as we called it ‘crank’ has been prevalent since I have lived in Sioux Falls (1991). For the mayor to claim that he is being tough on crime while giving SF police officers dismal raises and ignoring an epidemic that was around long before he showed up on the scene is ludicrous.

He was so pissed about the ‘high crime mayor’ comment he couldn’t stop talking about it the rest of the show.

Truth hurts I guess.

Speaking of public safety, I guess now the SFFD is now saying (mostly the chief) that his employees don’t have to go through the same diversity training as the police officers after the transgender incident at the jail. I will update you on this as soon as I get more information.

UPDATE: The mayor also bagged on the referendum and initiative process saying it was too easy to get things on the ballot. Hey Mike, it is your party that is putting these initiatives forward.

13 Thoughts on “‘High Crime Mayor’ Huether

  1. It’s very simple. We need more officers, a bigger fleet, and we need to go to a precinct/district system. It is silly to have all the officers report back to 5th and Minnesota at the end of the day with a city as large as ours, which continues to grow in population and geography.

    How will we pay for it? That’s simple, too. It’s a priority…. You fix the plumbing or furnace before you go on vacation, don’t you?

    Sure meth is a problem, but a greater police presence will lessen meth’s contributory impact to crime in this town. Didn’t Munson’s past strategy towards the Pettigrew Heights region, in time and place, prove this to be true?

    Are you worried about the “Ferguson Factor” with a greater police presence? Well, I would argue that that concern is a legitimate one, but it is a legitimate concern with or without an adequate police force in this town. That “Factor” is a potential internal cultural issue with any police force, but my guess is that in a town with a growing crime rate and with challenged resources to deal with it is more likely to foster a “Ferguson” incident than one that is adequately staffed – because of the enhanced demands and stress placed on a system which struggles to keep up with a growing challenge.

  2. To piggyback off of what Winston says, I also believe that we have to have well trained officers. That means requiring some kind of criminal justice degree, diversity training, and good physical and mental health (and maintaining that health). Military racist drop outs need to be relieved of their jobs.

  3. anonymous on October 25, 2016 at 4:12 pm said:

    You can always tell when you have hit a nerve with Mike, because l3wis, you are right, he won’t let it go, he just keeps talking.

  4. anonymous on October 25, 2016 at 4:15 pm said:

    Bottom Line:

    Guns and meth and no significant consequence unless the feds are involved……

  5. If I were mayor, first off, I would have recognized this rise in crime when it started, between 2010-2012. But Mike was too busy building playlands and annexing land like a maniac to pay attention. Since he finally ‘gets it’ if I were him I start massive saturation patrols in the troubled neighborhoods looking for meth labs in cooperation with the Feds and drug dogs. Sitting on our hands waiting for drug dealers to shoot each other just isn’t cutting it. I have often said the main objective of any law enforcement agency should be ‘prevention’ instead fiddling around creating crimes.

  6. l3wis is exactly right, a massive saturation patrol needs to be started immediately in the “troubled neighborhoods.”

    I also think the Mayor and Council members need to start doing ride-alongs with officers on a regular basis to get a better feel for this problem…. Hopefully, some are already doing this(?)

    The police also deserve a better than 1.5% pay raise as well. It is my understanding that morale is low at the SFPD because of turnover and the added stress which has been placed on all forces throughout the country due to recent events. A better way to deal with the latter problem would be to hire more officers to reduce overtime and the collateral stress which comes with such a reality.

    The City should also look at retaining a graduate student in criminal justice who could use Sioux Falls as his or her case study for a doctoral thesis using algorithms to predict crime, its frequency, and potential locations. And the mayor should start each morning out with a crime briefing from the Chief of Police analogous to the Presidential daily national security briefing….. We need to get on this now!

  7. The D@ily Spin on October 25, 2016 at 7:09 pm said:

    Simply, stop building sports palaces and focus on problems (mostly crime). Police officers are slobs. If they’re proud to serve, they’ll launder their uniforms and pass on McDonalds. Police in other cities are inspected before they go on duty and sent home if necessary. We respect you if you represent and respect the uniform. All police should have body cameras with daily downloads and storage. They protect citizens and police. You’re hiding something if you won’t wear one. Don’t agree with substations. Don’t give Huether more kickback reason to build million dollar buildings. Part of a patrol would be coming back to downtown. It’s through crime problem areas that need consistent attention. A precinct near a golf course would be nothing but a country club.

  8. The D@ily Spin on October 25, 2016 at 7:14 pm said:

    Huether’s not Putin. There’s such a thing as more wicked and corrupt. Putin is a man. Huether wears boy sizes.

  9. Warren on October 25, 2016 at 8:33 pm said:

    Listened to this podcast at noon. mmm pulled a trump on caller Mark, who simply stated a fact. Drug crimes in this city and state are escalating at an alarming rate. Of course mmm put Matt down several times. belfrage, for his part, was high fiving mmm. If brlfrage were in any way, shape, or form, doing his job, he would have asked why his hero cut funding to a drug prevention program, Prairie View Prevention by $103,000 in 2016. Maybe because he also gave $500,000 to his wife’s tennis courts in 2015?

  10. The Guy from Guernsey on October 26, 2016 at 7:42 am said:

    The “90 Seconds with Mayor Huether” puff piece done by Belfrage and his production staff belongs on CityLink. It is on par with the digital fellatio pieces served up by Reid Holsen.

  11. be part of the solution on October 26, 2016 at 3:07 pm said:

    The mayor and the police are more concerned about arresting the homeless people for minor offenses and housing them in jail for the weekend so our downtown can look attractive. Wake up! Homeless people do not commit crimes, they have no money or resources to be criminals! Start targeting the meth pushers and work your way up! Our city is looking more and more like a young Detroit!

  12. I cant wait till he runs for sometihing again

  13. The Guy from Guernsey on October 28, 2016 at 7:18 am said:

    moses, can you imagine the psychological triggers which can be deployed by a political opponent?

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