Entries Tagged 'Event Center' ↓

According to my sources today, Mike has been holding private meetings with councilors this week about his EC plan. He has been doing it in small groups, I am assuming to trump SD open meeting laws. There is a public meeting tonight (budget working session) and as I understand it, some councilors are going to question him about the plan, and want answers before a (expected) Friday press conference on the plan. Mainly they want to know how are we gonna pay for it.

Secrecy and government don’t work together well. Spill the beans already Mike, at least to our elected officials.

“Yeah, because, I want to take your attention away from turds in our streets and budget cuts to essential services.” – Mayor Hubris (Republican sidenote; this is meant to be satire. Mike Huether is not a staffer of a US Senator. He did not ‘really’ say this, but it would be ‘funny’ if he did).

Huether is going to present us with another (failing) Events Center plan this week. Chalk it up;

Sioux Falls city councilors will get the specifics of Mayor Mike Huether’s plan for a new events center this week, including what it will look like, where it will go, its size and how the city will pay for it.

Speaking Saturday at his weekly listening and learning session at the Whisk & Chop Cafe, Huether called his plan “a prudent proposal that will make us proud for generations to come.”

So, in other words, you found a donor and you are going to build it downtown without raising taxes? Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

Rome wasn’t built in a day

Mike has kept a lot of his campaign promises so far, so it is a good possibility he could pull this off, but I have some questions, assumptions and predictions (and I am sure Sy will chime in

“We don’t know what the plan is,” City Councilor Vernon Brown said. “We don’t know the size. We don’t know how it would be paid for.”

This is the biggest problem, how will you pay for it. If I was a guessing man, and I am, I think the city will use the Pavilion subsidy that runs out in 2014 to subsidize the place and pay down bonds;

The city issued a bond in the 1990s to help finance the conversion of the old Washington High School into the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science. That bond issue has been paid through the city’s entertainment tax. It’s scheduled to be paid off in 2014, which would free up about $3.8 million a year in additional revenue. But there might be competition for that money, since it could be used as a future revenue source for other projects.

Why do I think bonds? During Huether’s budget address he ranted and raved about how well the city has ‘managed debt’ and thanked everyone from Munson to meter maids for doing such a good job. He will just take out bonds for whatever private investors won’t pony up.

He also said there are private investors in Sioux Falls willing to help with the events center and that a key goal is to identify them to partner with such a project.

What worries me though is that he is trying to steer away from the public vote.

Though Huether declined to comment on details of the plan, he said a public vote on the project will be considered.

If he thinks he can just convince people to go along with his funding plan without a public vote, he is NUTS. Whether is it bonds, private investors or selling his bullshit platitudes, doesn’t matter, the voters better get to approve it or he will find out really quick how fast 2014 will come and go without an events center.

It seems the only economic impact an Events Center is having on our community is in a consultant’s bank account;

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether on Monday unveiled his five-year capital spending plan, which includes $1 million for planning and designing a new events center . . .

Holy Shit! Greg Jamison, the voice of reason?!

The events center expense surprised City Councilor Greg Jamison. ”I don’t know if at this moment it’s a good idea to spend a million dollars on something that we don’t have a solid plan on financing,” he said.

EXACTLY! FINALLY A CITY COUNCILOR GETS IT! Secure the funding then talk plans. How many times do we have to let this thing fail before we get it? The public will not support this until we have a solid funding source. I find it a little odd that a mayor who is concerned about cell phone usage and office printers would throw another million into the Events Center burn barrel. We have enough studies already. Put a funding source on the ballot and move forward already.

While I support a new events center and agree with Mr. Christensen that it should be downtown – I am still on the fence about how important getting the facility done immediately is. However with the new casino in Lyon county being built we better turn up the jets a little;

If we do this right, we can pay for the events center like Omaha did, with modest increases in lodging, entertainment and booze taxes. We also could use naming rights, parking fees and other user fees. Downtown also can use existing tax increment financing and possibly green tax breaks such as Cherapa Place took advantage of. This way, the people who use and benefit from a downtown events center pay the bulk of the project’s cost, which to me is the fairest way to go.

Isn’t it ironic how a sophomore in HS can sum up an Events Center proposal in one paragraph while it takes politicians and task forces months to say nothing and go nowhere.

I couldn’t resist to post this awful song;

This may be one of the main reasons the Event Center task force failed, too many chiefs not enough indians;

Looks like someone needs to be beat to death, again, and again, and again.

The Sioux Falls Events Center Task Force members just can’t stop beating the dead horse;

If an events center is built in Sioux Falls, it should be because citizens support it through a city election.

While we believe elections are the right way to decide such critical issues, elections also can bring misinformation. As leaders of the Events Center Task Force, we knew the timing of the recent city election would be challenging for our project.

So you are blaming the mayoral candidates for the misinformation?  BAHAHAHA! The two candidates who made it into the runoff opposed the plan, and rightfully so, the public understands it very clearly and that is why they are opposed to it. While neither Staggers or Huether have a clear plan of their own (even though Mike says he is gonna tell us about it any day now They were clear about one thing; the TF’s plan sucks, big time.

Wrong location. Wrong Funding. Wrong Size. Well, you get the picture.

I know they don’t want all of their work to be in vain, but really guys, it is time to swallow your pride, or at least a stiff drink and admit defeat.

Meet Don ‘Hearst‘ Jorgensen

The propaganda wing of city hall, and now apparently Mike Huether’s campaign, Stormland TV news attempts to make Kermit look like a spendaholic because he spent $2,375 a year attending conferences that the city requested him to attend because none of the other members on the council wanted to go;

Sioux Falls mayoral candidate Kermit Staggers has been accused of saying no to a lot of different things as a member of the city council, but he surely doesn’t say no to travel.

According to these public records, Staggers has spent more of your tax dollars on travel than any other city council member.

Kermit Staggers, who wants to be mayor of Sioux Falls for the next four years, has been campaigning on responsible spending. But when it comes to traveling on taxpayer dollars, Staggers admits he spends.

Yeah, Don, why don’t you just say that you are voting for Mike Huether in your opening statements? After a few calls to the station by city clerk Debra Owen and a Staggers supporter, the 10 PM news changed there tune and admitted that Kermit attended these conferences AFTER they requested him to. But there is a lot of other information missing. First off, the council is allocated $16,000 every year for these travels, it is a POOL of money, there is no limit what one councilor can spend, Kermit chose to represent the city more at these conferences, which is a good thing, because the rest of them didn’t have any interest. Secondly, I heard when ‘Jorgie’ was investigating this story (that was handed to him on a silver platter from the Huether campaign) he was told by a city representative that this is common practice and about the pool of money but he ignored those facts and ‘Jorgie’ couldn’t resist to do a hit-job on Kermit.

So who handed this info to ‘Jorgie’? No other then, sore loser, Darrin Smith. You remember Darrin Smith? Don’t you? He was the last Democrat to fail in the mayoral election (I think he got 4th place, even Sweet Vernon the Velvet Hammer beat him). He was such a sore loser, he quit the council, and we got Bob Litz appointed. I can’t believe that the Huether campaign would use someone like this, a loser AND a quitter. Double whammie. But that is normal with Dems, when the going gets tough, they bail. When the Feds deemed First Premier Bankcards fee-harvesting schemes illegal, what did Mike do? He bailed. If Mike finds the job of mayor too hard, what will he do? Bail?

Lastly, I find it ironic that ‘Jorgie’ would get such a problem with Kermit’s travel expenses when the city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consulting fees, and travel expenses for the several task forces we have adopted for a new events center who have failed to deliver us a solution.

Of, course, over here at South DaCola, we have known this for awhile;

The task force called the tax the most sensible way to pay for an events center. It’s the only funding source that could generate a large amount of money fast – $50 million a year on a project estimated to cost about $150 million.

But poll respondents opposed the sales tax 51 percent to 42 percent.

The prospect of municipal bonds, which officials have said would cost $80 million more in interest over 20 years compared to a sales tax, is even less appealing. Only 33 percent support a bond issue as a backup plan for the sales tax, with 56 percent against.

I still think Staggers’ idea of private sponsorship and stock options makes the most sense. Have the people who want the EC the most invest their own money.

I find it ironic that the question about supporting a triple B tax was not asked. Gee, I wonder why?