Entries Tagged 'Gregg Jamison' ↓

(Image; KSFY-TV screenshot)

I attended this meeting today that councilor Jamison held. It was actually quite informative.

Greg talked about the different projects going on in the SW district. He also discussed the possible indoor pool at Spellerberg Park. Greg said the city is performing a mail survey right now of the residents in that neighborhood to get a feeling of what they want. Greg also suggested that exploring an indoor pool at the Sanford Sports Complex may be a better idea. Ironically, former councilor Bob Jamison (who attended the meeting) agreed on my idea of locating a public indoor pool at either ONE or ALL of the city high schools. As Bob put it, “We should be encouraging lifetime sports activities in our schools, and swimming is one of them.”

The scary part of the meeting was the discussion of the city’s debt ceiling. Jamison said it is $160 million dollars away. Once that ceiling is gone, we will have to start borrowing money for things like road repairs and sewers. I wonder if we can use the EC as equity – more like a liability.

One other fun fact. Out of the $51 million collected on the 2nd Penny, only $36 million can be spent next year. Why? Because $15 million of that goes toward principal and interest on debt the city has already accumulated.

See what happens when you have two consecutive credit card executives as mayor . . . Remember, when Munson took office the city debt was hovering at $90 million. It is 4x that now. At that rate, our debt ceiling will disappear in about 18 months.

This is an awesome letter;

Recently, four City Council members were sworn into office for four-year terms at Carnegie Town Hall.

Three of these council members, Kermit Staggers, Kenny Anderson and Greg Jamison, have several years of experience serving the citizens in this political capacity. I personally have found all three of these men to be responsive, caring and full of integrity. This is a refreshing reassurance in a time when many politicians are motivated by big business and personal gain.

What is exciting about these men is that they have a proven track record of standing up for fiscal responsibility, and courageous decision-making. Staggers, Anderson and Jamison stood strong to defend the reputation of our city clerk, Debra Owen. Jamison and Anderson were some of the first members on the council to apologize to the public when the council was found guilty for breaking the open meetings law this spring.

I believe these men have a desire to develop public trust in government and to keep the political process open and honest. They want to do what is best for all the citizens of Sioux Falls. We are blessed to have this kind of quality on our City Council.

I invite the public to tune into channel 16 on Tuesday nights at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to view for yourselves our government in action.

As we progress onward with our newly elected officials, stay in touch and informed. This city belongs to all citizens, and we need to stay connected.

Theresa Stehly

Sioux Falls

It is no secret these two have opposed the mayor and his events center plan. But I will have to give them credit for publicly speaking out against it. I know Vernon doesn’t like the funding plan and Jamison would prefer we remodeled the Arena. Can’t wait to see their 10 points.

Their “top 10” included how the proposed plan for the $115 million facility is to borrow 100 percent of the money, how there are no signed tenants for the proposed facility and examples of city projects that could potentially be cut in order to make the annual loan payment of $9 million after the facility is built.

As I said back in December, we can remodel the Arena and make it a better useable facility without building a new events center. And it seems I am not the only one who thinks so;

As the city of Sioux Falls continues developing its plan for a new events center and a future public vote, Jamison is working on an alternate plan in case voters balk at the idea. He thinks residents might support a downtown convention center, a recreation center at the current convention center, and a remodeled Arena.

While I don’t agree entirely with Greg’s plan, I will say we agree on remodeling the Arena, and I am not the only one. Greg and I had a very lengthy phone conversation on the topic several months ago, so this isn’t something he cooked up overnight from the advice of a knee-jerking blogger. During the phone convo Greg assured me that him and I are not the only ones who think this is a good idea. While I do agree that building a new Convention Center downtown is a great idea (maybe next to Cherapa) I would ‘tweak’ his rec center idea just a bit.

But Jamison said he’s heard from residents who want an indoor pool and from private sports clubs wanting more space. He thinks there is support for his approach, which would be a private-public partnership where both the city and private sports clubs invest in the convention center to transform it into a recreation center.

I agree, there should be private partnership, BUT I think the only public involvement is gifting the Convention Center to the private groups and let them remodel it, own it, run it and subsidize it on their own. I would even go farther and let them be exempt from property taxes and allow them to use the city owned parking lot at no charge. I think it is time the city finally pulled that bandaid off and stop holding the hands of special interest club sports that want handouts from the city.

This quote from Greg also stood out in the story;

“I believe during these economic conditions, it is better to remodel the Arena than to build a brand new events center,” he said.

That was actually the focus of the convo we had. Greg actually confessed to me that it is the job of the city to take care of infrastructure and city services first in this economic downturn. He pretty much said this exact same quote to me. Some used to be hard on Staggers for saying things like this, and accused him of not being ‘visionary.’ I think anyone who uses taxpayer’s money wisely to provide better services to citizens is truly a visionary. I think when we have people suggesting we use fruitcake to fill potholes, we have to question how city funds are being used.

But these two statements in the Stormland TV News version of this story shows just how out of touch Councilor Jim Entenman and Mayor Huether are;

“I agree with Greg, we are short a lot of those facilities in our city. There’s no doubt about it. However, the previous two task forces have identified a need for an events center too,” city council member Jim Entenman said.

Notice what Jim said, “task forces identified a need.” Not the citizens. This still hasn’t been brought to a vote. And I have often asked, “What are they afraid of?” Failure? Not according to Huether;

Mayor Mike Huether says the city needs to stay focused on an events center. Huether told KELOLAND News, “Effective leadership will keep us focused on the goal at hand, and that’s building a new events center.”

Effective leadership would have been developing a funding solution for a proposed EC first, and put it to a vote. If approved, move forward with location and design. The events center planning is like a merry-go-round that won’t let the citizens on for the ride. Real leaders listen to the public. They don’t ramrod their ideas down citizen’s throats, that’s not leadership, that’s fascism.

(KELO-TV SCREENSHOT)

Not sure if that is what he meant while talking about the city budget, but I like the idea.

Jamison is asking whether that’s the case with this budget. He wants to know if the economy improves next year and sales tax revenues turn around, what the city should do with the extra money.

“Some might think do we really need to keep that money, should we give it back?” Jamison said.

Well, Greg, I think we have been overtaxed for a long time. Maybe instead of rebates, we should just cut taxes. But before we commend Huether for finding $30 million in cuts, we need to look at what he is cutting;

• Non-profits that provide vital services to the city

• Libraries

• Police

• Snow removal

And while he brags about ‘cutting’ these services, he increases general fund spending;

Huether’s proposed $117.7 million in general fund spending is a 0.7 percent increase over the $116.9 million in the 2010 budget after the spending revisions were made.

So what are these cuts you speak of? Especially when you are proposing a cool million for an Events Center plan WE DON’T need since we already have a good one with the Downtown proposal. While I agree we can provide some city services on the cheap why would we cut public safety and libraries first? I believe a 5% across the board cut makes the most sense, then go back and delve into individual cuts. The first place I would start is cutting back on all of these ‘assistant’ directors. Each major department should have ONE director, that’s it. If they can’t handle the job without an assistant, fire them.

If you want to cut essential services for the ‘good people of Sioux Falls’ – Fine, then cut our taxes or pay down our debt, or do both.

A little birdie, and a pretty reliable source told me that Jamison is 99.9% sure he is running for mayor. If this is true, at least the special interests and upper crust will be well represented in this race. It will also make great fodder for this blog. I thought maybe Gregg ‘Real People Die in Floods’ Jamison may be running out of ridiculous statements, but it sounds like we better prepare for more. I can’t wait for the first mayoral forum. Bring the popcorn.

I wants to runs for mayor, cuz I care about the childran (and people who die in floods because of a lack of a non-money leaking Event Center).

After reading this today in the paper, I didn’t know whether to jump for joy or cry. It got me more excited then when Quen Be De announced on Monday during a public meeting that she WOULD NOT run for mayor:

City Council newcomer Gregg Jamison says he seriously is considering a race for mayor. “I hope to have a decision soon. The truth is, I am so happy to be a part of Sioux Falls, help do what we are doing,” Jamison says. “We can do a lot of great things. So, yes, I am considering it.”

It will be pure entertainment watching him bumble and babble over trying to answer questions at mayoral campaign forums while his dad will be emailing him the answers from an undisclosed location to his blackberry. Maybe even more entertaining then watching neo-con Lora Hubbel and Janoct Adja battle it out for last place in the last election.