Entries Tagged 'Hockey' ↓

Once again, Sioux Falls taxpayers are paying the piper and gettin’ no credit;

A highly anticipated Sioux Falls community ice facility will be named the Scheels IcePlex, after a substantial donation from the sports store on Thursday.

Scheels donated $750,000 toward the new multi-rink ice facility set to be built at the Sanford Sports Complex.

The announcement comes on the heels of an action by the Sioux Falls City Council to give $1.5 million of their budget to the facility next year.

While I think it is fantastic that the ISA has been raising private funds, I think, since taxpayers are giving twice as much as Scheels, our name should be on the building. There are plenty of advertising opportunities inside the facility for retailers like Scheels.

Funny how when a private organization builds a facility like this it costs millions less then if the city would do it;

They’ve raised $1.5 million of the $2.5 million needed for the future three-sheet facility.

See more about the project here. (Finished project is estimated to cost $11.1 million).

I watched this video twice. And several things are very clear;

• Sanford has donated land for a new ice facility

• They formed a non-profit to collect private corporate donations

• They clearly explain why (they think) there is a need for a facility.

Where it gets a little fuzzy is at the end when they bring up ‘the city of Sioux Falls’ this could be a mirade of things. A TIF district? That’s cool. Or a substantial donation from the city plus a subsidy? I’ll say it again, if you want this facility to be successful and self-sufficient, which seems possible according to your ‘need’ argument, you need to keep the city’s money out of the deal. Taxpayers are tired of white elephants in this city.

I would love to see the ISA explain further what they mean by the ‘city of Sioux Falls’ involvement in the project.

This email was sent out to hockey parents and forwarded to me;

Fellow Hockey Parents

I’m sending this email as a hockey parent.  I know some of you do not live in Sioux Falls , however we need your support also.  I would encourage  Sioux Falls  voters to support pro hockey, figure skating, and swimming candidates.

The two candidates I know that are not very supportive of hockey and figure skating are:

Kermit Staggers. He does not support City funding for a new ice facility.  He believes the new facility should be  privately funded.  I don’t understand why he singles out an ice facility and supports outdoor fields that are owned and maintained by the City.

Theresa Stehly campaigned against the proposed rec center with an indoor pool and ice rink.  She supported the outdoor only pool at Drakes Spring.  The City spent money on facility that is only used 3 months out of the year when a rec center could have been used 12 months.

Thanks for time

Hockey Parent

First off, the Hockey Association is pursuing a private facility. They have not ruled out getting some kind of help from the city, but I think it is pretty clear they want to run the facility themselves. Stehly was only behind the Drake Springs Pool petition drive, she had NOTHING to do with the other projects. Besides, Kermit and Theresa did not get those projects nixed, the voters nixed them. Even the Snowfox swim team opposed the indoor pool in the end because it would not have competitive lanes. As for supporting parks, that is a different ball of wax, the parks can be used for FREE by anybody living in the city. And indoor pool would charge a fee to swim there, just like all the private indoor pools in town currently do.

Don’t believe the rhetoric. City Hall’s responsibility is providing customer service to their citizens. It is not the city’s job to entertain us or provide us ‘indoor ice’. Enough already.

This was in response to this DaCola post about the SF Hockey Association building there own facility;

This is stupid… all we need is a decent icerink and so far we only have 1/2 of one. The expo ice was taken down because we didn’t have enough money to fix the huge hole in the ice. And the SFIRC is only .5 of an ice rink because we only get 45 min of icetime…we have bantam boys practicing at 11 at night! It’s rediculous!! Not only do we just want to play hockey, be we also want to host tournaments. The girls team had to take their Varsity tournament to Sioux Center Iowa because we didn’t have any ice! If you guys are so narrow-minded to think that we can take what we have…then you are people who hate little kids.

First off, call a whaaabulance. Secondly, what is wrong with a private facility? I am all for a new ice rink, but why are we constantly going to taxpayers for this stuff? Seriously?! I heard Michelle Erpenbach brag about Yankton Trail Park for the Soccer Association in her AL interview. But let’s tell the truth about that park. You are only allowed to use the park for sanctioned games, you must also pay an association fee that goes to the city. The only time this ‘publicly owned’ park can be used by the ‘public’ for free is Jazzfest, a music festival. If an ice rink is privately funded, the Hockey Association can do what they want with it, without the fascist grip of the city on them.

Now I want to address the crybaby above. Growing up, I never got to go anywhere unless it was part of HS sanctioned sport and I rode on the school district’s bus. My big ‘event’ of the year was spending a week in Huron at the state fair where I participated in 4-H and Open class competitions. If you have a problem with driving your kids to Sioux Center for a tournament, maybe you should pull your kids out of hockey. I get so sick and tired of whiney ass parents that think there kids’ club sports should be subsidized by me. Here’s the deal. I don’t have children, but I have no problem with funding the school district through my property taxes, it is an investment in the future. But if your kids do not participate in public school activities, tough shit, pay for it yourself.

No city control. No taxpayer dollars?

I heard from a very reliable source last night that the SF Hockey Association is in the planning stages to build their own $12 million dollar facility. This is good news for several reasons;

• The association and parents will have control of the facility and will reap the benefits from managing it.

• If successful, it will prove once and for all that these organizations can run a facility on their own without the help of the city and maybe start a trend in Sioux Falls.

• City beauracrats have proven time and time again that they are wasteful when running these kind of facilities.

• It will cost taxpayers of Sioux Falls $0 and for once the people who will use the facility will be the ones paying for it (makes sense? Huh?)

I want to commend the SFHA ahead of time, if this is their plan. It is good to see an organization taking the bull by the horns for once. This is how these special interest projects should be done in Sioux Falls.

Of course the Gargoyle Leader can’t stop beating a dead horse, the new youth ice hockey rink proposal in Sioux Falls;

A group of local sports enthusiasts says Sioux Falls needs a new indoor ice rink, and their goal is to get the facility built – perhaps as early as fall 2012.

You and I know that the only people pushing for this ice rink are parents of kids that play hockey and the AL.

Because more than 450 youngsters are included in the hockey association, the current ice space is not enough, said Jayson Drake, president of the youth hockey group.

Voters rejected an ice rink already. And in the online poll today they are rejecting it again by over 56%. And in a recent poll asking if voters would support a retail tax increase to build a new events center, almost 60% said no. The AL and elitists in our community just don’t get it, the middle class and working poor are sick of paying for your playgrounds. If you want a hockey rink, pool your money and get investors and corporate donations and build the damn thing already.

“We are realistic,” he said. “We’ll have a fundraising challenge. Our expectations probably wouldn’t be to build a fully decked-out facility by Day 1. We need to decide how to get one rink first.”

So far, no donations have been sought or raised because the group still is working on its nonprofit status.

You have talking about this for over 5 years, look at all the money you could have raised in that time period. Taxpayers are sick of subsidizing this stuff. I fully support a new rink, but it should be built with private money and be privately managed.

UPDATED: 10:30 PM •  I see the hockey parents went online and swayed the poll so they would win, it is at 61%

I first watched this video and actually felt bad for Sarah and her poor little daughter Piper, then I find out in this MSNBC story she purposely brought Piper out there so she would not get booed. This woman really has no shame. Using her child as a shield – pretty pathetic.

“I’ve been warned that Flyers fans, they get so enthused, that they boo everybody at the drop of the puck,” she said at a Philadelphia fundraiser Saturday afternoon. “But what I thought I’d do is I’d put Piper in a Flyers jersey, bring her out with me. How dare they boo Piper!”