UPDATE: Is the Downtown Sioux Falls Bunker Ramp Mural to get new life?

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UPDATE: I am getting word that they will be working with Walter Portz over the next year to develop a mural, or something like that. Walter just recently finished the mural at Levitt. I guess the VAC expressed they were NOT happy about the process or the secrecy, can’t wait to see how the administration will spin this. I guess they are also keeping the donor’s name a secret as of right now, though we have some pretty good guesses who it is.

I am hearing a rumor that Planning Staff decided to drop a turd on the Visual Arts Commission at their meeting this morning, I would assume it is under new business, public art update.

I was NOT in attendance but I am hearing there was a work around for the Bunker Ramp mural and they are going to announce tomorrow (10:30 AM at the city’s Wednesday presser) that they are bringing it back (different design). I guess they did the planning and selection for this behind closed doors (I know, SHOCKER!) with ZERO input from the VAC and public and using a familiar donor.

It seems someone’s ego must have gotten the best of them.

As of right now, I can’t find much about it except on the agenda which spells nothing out so I guess we will have to see the big announcement, which I am sure will be announced HERE in advance.

Any dolt with just a little bit of experience in public art could tell you this is NOT how you approve public art.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

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Startup Sioux Falls is becoming quite the place to photo bomb. The irony of spending around $200K on an uneven deck but failing to meet city code by NOT having a garbage enclosure.

I am starting to figure out what this Sioux Falls ONE is all about . . .

HALF of Sioux Falls Parking Department’s budget goes towards debt service

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While the city can argue all they want that the parking department is managing their budget well with paying off the bunker ramp you have to question having 50% of your overall yearly budget going to paying off a parking ramp that is used very little.

Some would say it is good that the revenue is supporting the bond payments, but you have to ask yourself what other improvements could be made to parking if we spent that money on ACTUAL improvements to our parking system besides brightly painted wire spool picnic tables (BTW, if the Bunker Ramp wasn’t ugly enough, your white trash, roadside park in Missouri, picnic tables are not helping).

This administration is bleeding so much money lately you would think they are being run by a web developer with no overhead to worry about . . . wait.

Are Rents in Sioux Falls Affordable?

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Recently Sioux Falls Business did this article about apartment availability.

If you go to my zip code, the average 1-bedroom apartment is $970 a month. You would have to make at least $38,000 a year or around $18 an hour to afford this (30% of income).

I heard a rumor recently that 70% of job listings in Sioux Falls pay $15 or less.

It seems in Sioux Falls we have affordability issues with all kinds of things like groceries, housing, and childcare. Maybe Sioux Falls doesn’t have an affordability issue, maybe it has a wage issue?

But don’t bother our local leadership with that issue, because they will tell us that wages should be determined by the FREE market, you know, the FREE market in South Dakota that allows business owning legislators to take government handouts, or that same FREE market that creates special tax districts so developers can buy skywalks and public art, or the millions and millions we give away for parking ramps that will be obsolete within 10-20 years.

While our local governments are quick to throw money at the top and hope it trickles down to the rest of us, they really need to put their foot where the sun doesn’t shine and get businesses to pay living wages, then things like buying a home or even a loaf of bread are a lot less challenging in our community.

The city council has the power and authority to pass policies that would help wage earners in our community, for example, an ordinance that requires all businesses advertising for employment within city limits list their starting wage, or raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour or more.

When we talk about the affordability of our city, it really comes down to what our employers are willing to pay and little else because all this talk about affordability is just a smoke screen to what our real problem is, CRAPPY WAGES!

City of Sioux Falls claims they have nothing to do with the Link

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The Darkness at City Hall was taken to a whole new level this week when the city said this about denying Forum News a copy of the contract with the Link;

The City of Sioux Falls has denied a request to make public the contract to operate The Link, the publicly funded triage center for people in crisis from addiction or mental illness.

Sioux Falls Live requested the contract from the city on July 17. The city denied that request on Monday, July 31.

The reason given for the denial is that the contract is not technically with the city, but rather with the non-profit created to run The Link, according to Paul M. Bengford, senior assistant city attorney.

“The City of Sioux Falls is not a party to the Agreement you are seeking,” Bengford wrote in a statement denying the request.

WOW!

‘Yeah, you know, that building the city owns and leases for FREE to the Link and helps subsidize with city and county taxpayer money, yeah, we really don’t know much about that.’

The Link was setup BY the city and county, it is occupied in a city owned building. If anyone would have the contract and know what is in it, it would be the city.

Oh, and to state the obvious;

“The Link is an important community resource, and there’s interest in knowing how it’s operating,” said Mary Jo Hotzler, chief content officer for Forum Communications Co., parent company to Sioux Falls Live. “Our interest is in transparency and accountability.”

Heck, I can’t even get an annual report from a non-profit that provides free concerts, what makes you think you get this contract? Maybe there is no contract;

During a city council meeting in July, which included approval of a new three-year agreement between the partners, TenHaken said the source of new funding was “TBD.”

It kind of sounds like most things the city does . . . by the seat of their pants. Recently it was said that the city is looking for a recruiting contractor to help find more mid-management, skilled positions. Maybe the city is having problems finding these people because no one wants to work for a certain somebody. I’ve seen morale take a 180 at places I have worked after certain troublesome management is let go. Maybe the city has an image problem?

I tell people it must be a great place to work, I saw a mid-manager at a meeting a couple of months ago wearing sweatpants and sliders, surprised he wasn’t curled up in the corner with a pillow and a blankey.

With all this darkness lately, it makes you wonder if this is about keeping information from the public or keeping information from a higher authority, and I ain’t talking about JC.