• Sioux Falls gun owners continue to leave their precious possessions in their unlocked autos. State law prohibits the city council from passing idiocy ordinances to stop it.
• Sioux Falls official city flag FINALLY gets approved. Various local schwag vendors rejoice.
• Sioux Falls School district puts on the ‘Transparency’ mask with some grandstanding about task force meetings, then after the election (tabulated by the finance department) the act has ended.
• The Emerald Ash borer rears it’s head. Where is George Washington when we need him?
• Mayor TenHaken decides to post the audio of the Parks Board meetings on the city website (we still don’t know who is talking) but they may be video recorded starting in 2019.
• Councilor Stehly asked for an Ethics opinion from the commission on petition gathering. Told her they couldn’t give an opinion until she told them what she was gathering it for. Go figure.
• City does wage study (so they can screw the unions) but doesn’t do a study on Director/Manager salaries. Shocker. My research shows they are extremely overpaid.
• SF Planning Commission continues to pass zoning items based on favoritism instead of facts.
• City enforces a DTSF ordinance that requires bars/restaurants to have rope barriers between the sidewalk and patio. I guess patrons can’t see the dividing line . . .
• Dem Forum moves to Royal Fork after the VFW gives them a couple hour notice they have decided to eliminate lunches.
• I win the Public Input contest, commenting 26 times within a year.
• We are told the Sewer plant expansion was never a secret (just it’s cost, when we were going to do it and the impact on our rates).
• State puts out report on TIFs. Tells us nothing about their economic impact (funny, because there isn’t one).
• The Railroad Redevelopment Project gets one RFP than tosses it out. Still think this was the worst negotiated deal in the history of our city.
• Smithfield has major expansion. They claim it will make the facility less stinky. I grew up on a hog farm, and I can guarantee when you double your capacity of hogs, things don’t get less stinky.
• Legacy Developments tries to make up for all the bad press they are getting by giving DTSF a temporary dog park. How fitting.
• Patrick Lalley’s brother, Kevin, starts a new fun Tuesday night gathering at Club David called ‘Public Input’ a Bingo and Drinking party while watching the SF city council meetings.
• Full Circle Book Club opens DTSF and is jam packed with great books and fun activities. Finally Sioux Falls feels like a big city.
• The Levitt Band Shell is on schedule but won’t allow patrons to BYOB but will let you buy from a vendor of your choice. Just when you thought you were going to get something FREE in Sioux Falls . . . tricked again.
• Jeff Schmidt from the SF Planning Department suddenly disappears from public meetings after he throws a fit about joint jurisdiction with the county over a proposed wedding barn that may hamper housing development (ten years from now). I wonder if his new office still has urine stains on the walls?
• Mayor TenHaken throws 100 Day press conference to tell us he turned city government over to his COS and Bloomberg or something.
Good article. It will be interesting to see what the new year brings for the council. My question is, will the Mayor ever wear a tie to the city council meetings?
And nobody will admit that the Arc of Dreams is a tribute to Sadam Hussein that attracts lightning strikes. The best way to stop drownings at the Falls is electrocution instead.