UPDATE: We spend Millions on River Greenway but fail to clean up the ****!

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IF PARIS CAN CLEAN UP THE SEINE WE CAN CLEAN UP THE BIG POO

I found this story amazing (imagine what you can do when you spend actual money on cleaning up the problem);

But now clean up efforts, which started in 2018 as part of what is known as the “Swimming Plan,” are coming to fruition, and local authorities say residents will be able to make use of the river once again as part of the legacy of the Olympics, which is returning to the French capital after 100 years.

They cleaned up the river in 4 years!

Two disinfection units at wastewater treatment plants run by the Paris region public sanitation service will be operational from this summer, and structures that will help to improve water quality, such as a rainwater storage basin, are under construction.

The basin will hold rainwater and gradually release it into the sewage network, preventing pollution when wastewater overflows during periods of rain.

These basins would obviously have to be upstream from Sioux Falls, but we could build a filtration damn in Sioux Falls that would actually help with water flow of the Big Sioux. I heard an estimate several years ago of $75 million (probably closer to $150 million now).

I know a lot of people make fun of the French, but if it wasn’t for them we all would be drinking tea and eating Spotted Dick.

THE LEVITT CAMPGROUND HAS OFFICIALLY OPENED FOR SUMMER!

I like to go for nightly bike rides around 8-10 PM Downtown. Last night as I was riding thru Levitt and I saw two separate couples sleeping within 50 feet of each other with blankies on the Levitt Lawn. But Monday night was a real laugher as I saw two private security officers with heaters in their hands (who are supposed to be stationed at Shriver Square) yelling at the homeless who were sitting on a tree bench in front of Oshima. As they were instructing them to leave, one of the fellas says, ‘This is public property we can be here.‘ I had to laugh that a homeless inebriated person knows their civil rights better than the rent-a-cop. We are NOT going to fix the homeless problem downtown overnight, but I am not sure we are approaching this the right way.

UPDATE: Yes, that is a guy passed out on 14th street. Not sure what is going on, but it was an interesting scene.

GET YOUR MANURE FITNESS ON!

The mayor is hosting this event tomorrow, and I am wondering who the poor schmuck will be that has to power wash all the goose crap off the sidewalk and around the fitness park before the event? I love this new park, but the only time you can get a real workout is before 7 AM because after that the kids seem to think it is a playground, even though they have a wonderful play set just to the south of the fitness pad. Great edition, the only other critique I would have is that a cover, even something linen like at the DTSF dog park, be put over the pad for shade. Just make sure you show up early so you are not tripping over toddlers to get to the stair stepper.

100 DAY CHALLENGE IS COMING TO A CLOSE

I believe the final day is July 31st. I put myself to the challenge this year and I am averaging 14 miles per day with 1,331 miles as of yesterday. About 10% was stair stepper, 25% regular bike and the rest E2 on low setting with NO throttle assist (I do not count throttle miles in the challenge). Since the E2 threats from the SFPD I have NOT ridden on the trail with my E2 which has given me a great opportunity to explore residential routes. A great one is if you take 4th Avenue and 26th from Mckennan Park going South to 33rd which takes you all the way to 41st street. Even at 4:30 PM I see very few cars. I know the city is trying to setup residential routes, but I would encourage commuters to avoid all primary and secondary arterials and ride on residential. I can count the number of cars I encounter on one hand and you can cruise along at a safe 15 MPH.

RENEWABLE ENERGY IN SOUTH DAKOTA IS NOT AT 80%, ALL OF THE TIME

I had a chance encounter last week with an engineer operator from a major energy company in South Dakota, he told me he works at the plant near Sioux Falls and the generators run on Natural Gas. I asked him about the 80% claim. He said that it is NOT wrong, but out of context. He told me that when Hydro, Solar and Wind are at max capacity they supply 80% of the power, the problem is the wind isn’t always blowing, the water isn’t always flowing and well solar doesn’t work real well at night. He said that the yearly average is closer to 45%. He said the advantage of Natural Gas generation is that you can switch it on and have it operational within hours.

Posted in: Downtown Sioux Falls, Homeless, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

City of Sioux Falls River Greenway and Falls Park design competition is actually a wonderful idea

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When I first saw this on Tuesday, I thought to myself, “The city should do this more often.” For the small investment of $40K to selected competitors, we will probably get some innovative designs, save money, and encourage artistic competition.

If there is one thing I know about designers and artists, they love to compete, and they love to outdo each other. In a traditional sense of the RFP process, sometimes those bids go to the ones most connected and have insider information. What happens is we probably don’t get the best design, because we stifle creativity.

For years the city has used the same contractor over and over for these projects. I’m not saying they suck, but if you don’t know what other people have to offer, how will you ever know?

Of course, I am not naive, the selection process will probably be chocked full of backroom deals, and we will probably end up with the same contractor.

I challenge the city to post images of the submissions online and have residents vote on the final four. I think this would even the keel and be a wonderful way of having the public participate in the process. Great ideas die in the dark.

Posted in: SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Who is really ‘Benefitting’ from the River Greenway Project?

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The City of SF Audit Committee will be releasing their audit of the river greenway project, which has cost taxpayers almost $10 million so far (the project was originally going to cost around $2-4 million, if my memory serves me well). The original plan was to upgrade the bike trail and landscaping by the river, which would have been just fine. But someone got a hold of someone’s ear at the Parks department and now we have the current ‘San Antonio’ version of the greenway project. This all started with mayor Munson and has seemed to snowball since then, we have bought a bridge (maybe two), bulk heads, a spray park and the infamous (and dangerous) steps into the river. We have also torn down a parking ramp.

Document: confluence

Design of the project was almost 10% of the total cost of the entire project. In the research I have done, projects of this size and nature usually run about 6% of the total project cost. I knew this was going to be a money sucker from the beginning, we have even bonded (borrowed) almost 50% of the total cost of the project. I have often thought if taxpayers would have voted on this project, it would have been scaled back. It seems contractors, developers, engineers and architects are deciding what is good for the citizens of this town, this practice needs to end.

 

Posted in: Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Phase II of the River Greenway Project started today?

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They must have heard my Independence Day speech last night at the city council meeting and got inspired (FF: 4:20 ) BTW, it was nice meeting another foot soldier at the meeting last night 🙂

This email and these photos were sent to me today (awaiting some video);

I was downtown at around 7:30 this morning and came across something very interesting! Soukup is very busy today working on the east bank of the river (Phase II of the River Greenway Project). Also, it appears that they are dumping contaminated soil from the east bank directly into the river. Not sure if this is permissible, but I was at the Park Board meeting when Jon Jacobson of Confluence (the landscape architect on the River Greenway Project, Phases I and II) told the Board that the soils on the East Bank Phase II are even more contaminated than in Phase I. Someone needs to alert the EPA and the Dept. of Natural Resources. They are the agencies that permitted this job and it appears that there is no oversight taking place.


Posted in: Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec