Ayn Rand died as a penniless gigantic hypocrite in public housing while drawing Social Security and Medicare. But the neo-cons would never tell you that.

This past weekend I was helping some friends in the neighborhood near the School of the Deaf. This is a long established working class neighborhood of small houses quietly existing on the hills between the traffic of East 10th and 12th. It’s the kind of neighborhood long ignored by many because they are busy making ends meet. A neighbor approached our group and asked if city “police” had contacted them about sump pump plumbing. Apparently, this neighborhood had recently been canvassed by city staff and told they needed to replumb their sump pumps to dump into their sanitary sewer connections instead of out on their lawns. They had been told the lack of proper curb storm sewer intakes or drainage has caused a problem with water and ice buildup on the streets surrounding the Eugene Field A+ Elementary school.  It is interesting, we now have a sewer system emergency requiring the spending $260 million and at the same time we appear to be telling a neighborhood to overtax it more? In the rush to spend a large sum of money we are forgetting to research underlying causes. Where else is this information being spread to force the spending of $260 million?

I have attached an article. It might be a long read for some, but it is important to understand how government seems to work today, especially when we look closely at our city government. It brings to mind a woman I dated a while back who had been a member of the Ayn Rand “collective” in her younger years. We would have hours of discussions (if you can believe I would do such a thing…) discussing Randian thoughts and concepts. I completely disagreed with Randian ideas, still do. I had spent 1983-4 reading a lot, centering on Orwell, Rand and their concepts while I traveled parts of the world seeing ramifications up close. My current views of our Sioux Falls city, state of South Dakota and our Federal governments are based on this background. I see our government levels going in the wrong direction of “I” instead of “WE”.

Our government was created under the idea of “We the People” not “This is mine, you don’t get any”.

I look at every action, including the lack of planning for a sewer plant expansion as a self-serving. Our past mayor worked to satisfy a bunch of “ME” or selfish projects. These projects were done to enrich the “ME” crowd at the expense of the rest of us.

I agree we must plan for the future of our town’s infrastructure but the secret nature of study and financing of the sewer project is suspect. There are several people and groups enriching themselves in this poorly conceived or delayed $260 million project. If this project was on the up and up, there would have been a public discussion to educate us for the last year or two.

This sewer project reminds me of the secret nature and fake stories of the Events Center, indoor swimming pool, Administration Building, Foundation Park utilities, ambulance service and so many other projects jammed down the citizen’s throats all as emergencies. If these projects were so important, why weren’t they open to the public for full review? If these projects are so critical why are they discussed only in secret meetings and only then brought up when the money is to be borrowed. Why are these projects always at critical mass and the world is going to come to an end if, we don’t act right now using the limited information given and then only shoveled out for public viewing in the couple of weeks before a vote by Council?

In the recent city election campaign, there was a discussion by one successful candidate to finally start the Council on its required Charter duty as the city’s policy making body. A policy body to set the how and whys the hired mayor and staff would have to work. As of right now, the Council are constantly being insulted as lapdogs of pseudo staff and hired special interest “experts” who are only concerned about the “I” of their positions and not the “WE” of the citizens who own the governments. I have little sympathy for the Council’s  position

I disagree with every statement made by Ayn Rand and her collective. These are not the values of our country’s shared history. These greed values are the roots of our current unrest in this country and our town of Sioux Falls. There are many employees of Sioux Falls who are being twisted in knots because they are also citizens of Sioux Falls. They see the problems based in the secrecy and the conspiratorial nature of planning then implantation of the latest emergency to be solved. As our city government moves along to the next emergency to be solved, our elected leaders might understand why certain information is made available by the many city voices asking us basic questions such as “WHY?”.

The questions come from our fellow citizens trying to understand poor planning, based on the immediate needs, to satisfy what appears to be a greed.

There is no emergency to spend $260 million on a sewer project today or next week. This is similar to “no emergency” to spend $24 million on an office building. There was no emergency to spend $24 million on an indoor swimming pool. Our past administration liked spending money for any new edifice, a plastic naming badge could be attached to. Why can’t this Administration and Council take a few more days to educate the public of through a real discussion. Don’t just use the marketing magic or same talking points to wear people down. Real education takes work but in the end it the public will be satisfied they were actually, really informed.

If this project so important, why didn’t this get discussed and put as a public need for the recently past elections? If is 10 years overdue, where were our staff “experts” raising the alarm bells during the past 10 years? Just because we are having issues today doesn’t mean we have to run scared to the only solution pseudo self-interest experts thro at us. Why didn’t our “experts” raise alarm bells to tell us it was coming and let us know to start planning for it ten years ago, or even last year?  Why has this not been discussed publicly after the disastrous sewer line blow-up of 8 years ago should have created the public policy to solve it in a timely manner?

Why does it take a forgotten neighborhood with a special school to remind us of the screwed up messaging, planning and lack of cohesive policy directives causing so many of our town’s “emergency” issues?

Bruce Danielson

20 Thoughts on “A sewer question in Sioux Falls leads to more policy questions, Open letter to City Council (G/P Bruce Danielson)

  1. WOW….Meds

  2. LJL, how would you like your meds?

  3. Warren Phear on November 28, 2018 at 9:39 pm said:

    ljl…Wow, is that all you got? Explain yourself. We are anxiously waiting for your worldly opinion on this. Just something. Something more than WOW.

  4. Make no mistake, this project got dumped on this Mayor and Council.

    Why didn’t the past administration help lead a discussion for a solid Sioux Falls future?

    If you look back on the work southdacola has done and the work I have been involved in for so many years, you will see MMM did nothing to prepare us for this inevitable need.

  5. Seriously…. A small rate hike in sewer rates to pay for infrastructure whips you int a tirade that includes An Raynd, “ME” and greed. You forgot to include Hitler.

    And you wonder why people don’t take you seriously.

    Take your damn meds.

  6. Taco Bar on November 29, 2018 at 1:48 pm said:

    Event Centers and indoor pools are far more fun than new sewage plants….. We all want to go on vacation, but who wants to replace the furnace?

    (“Do you think if we had gotten a new sewage plant out of the last guy, that he would have been willing to have belly-flopped into it at 6am?”….(Darn!))

  7. Ljl proves once again he is so much of a f’ing d-bag that he doesn’t understand the bigger picture. This isn’t about the size or cost of the increase, it’s about having an increase at all. There is no reason to raise rates when we have the money available in the 2nd penny to pay for this. Unfortunately the last clown at city hall decided to raid it for his ego.

  8. Warren Phear on November 29, 2018 at 4:37 pm said:

    ljl, just a small rate increase??? You do understand how compounding rate increases work, don’t you? In 2006 sewer charges were 9 million. 2019 shows sewer charges will be estimated at 32.7 million. By 2021 they will be 36.7 million. Quadrupled, by simple compounding over a 16 year period. Just a little? Yeah right.

    So, when a councilor, KILEY, says his sewer rates only went up 70% since 2007, he is

    A) Lying
    B) Stupid
    C) Both

    Watching him over the years I’ll say C.

  9. I also like how he didn’t mention what his consumption was in 2007 compared to today. I can guarantee with all the conservation programs since than, it was probably half.

  10. Amazing – the poor planning of storm sewer system in a neighborhood developed in the late 1940’s leads to an exploration of an economic conspiracy theory today. Wow.

  11. f'ing d-bag on November 29, 2018 at 6:30 pm said:

    So now it’s not about the increase but the fact Huether pissed our money away?.? How does this “Open Letter” help fix the issues of the day? There was elections and the majority of the citizens (not me) voted to build shit we don’t need. GET OVER IT.

    Yes I understand compounding interest. What does that have to do with the 2nd penny sales tax? We will have to pay interest regardless of how we pay it back. If we don’t have the cash in the bank, it has to be borrowed, don’t you get that? No One builds anything on monthly payments.

    Even Councilor Stehly doesn’t disagree with the project or the funding. She’s concerned with the debt being repaid on growth thats not guaranteed.

    The problem with being this openly crazy is you give folks like Huether and his friend all the ammunition to say ignore the nay sayers, they’re just crazies.

    Again Scott, your being burned by letting your nutso pal post on your blog.

  12. Ljl, you know, I figured out who you are a couple of months ago, so I have been enjoying your commentary, would never expect this from such a well read professional like yourself, but your past wasn’t exactly that peachy keen.

    As for the vote. Wrong. No one voted on the indoor pool or the Administration building, or the $500K to the tennis center. As for the EC vote, that was non-legally binding and the city council ultimately made that decision based on an advisory vote. If it would have been a legal bond vote it would have failed since it did not muster 60%. So let’s get our facts straight.

    Actually the only good thing about this project is that we will get a state loan at I believe a 2.5% interest rate, which is awesome, but I’m still puzzled why so many people are up in arms using the 2nd penny collateral or even payment? It’s purpose is for infrastructure, not pools and palaces. This wasn’t a decision the citizens made, this was made years ago, so I don’t understand why all of a sudden it’s forbidden to touch the precious 2nd penny for actual ‘needs’. Somebody needs to take meds and it’s not Bruce or I.

  13. come on on November 29, 2018 at 8:21 pm said:

    If we pay for the sewer plant expansion with 2nd penny money, that’s even less money the city will have to pay for road work…and it seems they can’t keep the roads fixed as it is. We already pay out what, 9 mil a year, for the grain bin? My axles won’t be able to handle it if there’s even LESS money for road work. Lol!

  14. D@ily Spin on November 30, 2018 at 8:17 am said:

    Huether’s gone. It’s time to rebuild Germany with a Marshall Plan. The first step is to thwart the city into bankruptcy. Otherwise, debt is the elephant in the room that prevents repairs and expanded infrastructure. Bankruptcy is what worked for California cities. Wall Street got their commissions. Use stupid upper middle class national bond investment greed to pay for Huether. Trump took bankruptcy twice. It’s a regular form of business.

  15. Anyone who actually watches the CIP budget process each August knows that there are numerous places the Council could make cuts.

    The eight who sit on the City Council hold the purse strings and represent all Sioux Falls taxpayers. They seem to need lots of reminders about that!

  16. What amazes me is all the time and effort they spend on trying to get the seat and once they are there, they do nothing. It’s like a status symbol to them, something to mark off their bucket list. True leaders get elected because they want to solve problems and help people. Watching our city council in action sometimes is like an episode of the Muppet show.

    I got an email response from one of them the other day about the 5G to which I didn’t even respond because their two sentence response to me was pathetic. They told me ‘I’ had to seek out the City Attorney for answers. NO, McFly, you are my elected representative, when I ask you a question, you need to track down the answers for me. When Admundson and Fiddle Faddle were city attorneys ‘I’ as a constituent was NOT ALLOWED to ask direct legal questions for the city attorney. Has something changed?

  17. Cool… drop by any time now that you know who I am. Doors always open. You don’t make things personal remember!

    We voted on the EC and the pool (yes it was for the indoor pool) and your dumbass pal Bruce f’ed up the admin building vote (which I wasted my time signing) so that’s all on him. As for the pickle ball courts, I didn’t see any outrage from the city folk and you two didn’t drag out a petition. That would have been a lost cause anyways.

  18. That’s funny, because when I voted in that election there was a mention of an outdoor pool, but no indoor pool on the ballot. Not sure what election you were talking about. The EC was a non-legally binding election. The only legal action taken was by the city council to build it. As for the admin building, even if the signatures were accepted the time frame would not have allowed the election. And while he did mess up the petition form, it was the city clerk’s job to look at it when he stamped it. Recently in Yankton when they did a drive for their indoor pool vote, they discovered the petition was incorrect also, but the city clerk let it go because it was ‘city clerk’s responsibility’ to make sure it was right to begin with. You know, the actual job of a city clerk.

  19. I Voted on November 30, 2018 at 3:55 pm said:

    No Where On That Ballot were the words, Indoor Pool.

    Expect a fight over the pool at Frank Olson.

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