Entries Tagged 'Munson' ↓

Dave’s greatest tool

This ringing endorsement of King Dave’s accomplishments comes from the same people who once depicted him as a Dr. Suess character. Besides spending record sales tax revenue like a drunken sailor and racking up a record debt I still struggle with what Dave’s accomplishments really were. Because I can shoot holes in all of these, real quick;

the man who grew up in the historic North End ultimately did not accomplish some things that many of us – maybe even he – had hoped for. Time, economic conditions, his own style and an often-fragile relationship with the City Council,

Fragile relationship? You mean the fact that he could only get 6-7 councilors to rubberstamp his agenda and budgets?

Phillips to the Falls became a reality – perhaps, in public perception, his greatest accomplishment.

What? He broke city law to approve a 100% over budget expenditure on the project, and after 5 years the land still remains undeveloped and as far as I know, still owned by the city. The only thing that was accomplished at Phillips to the Falls was a plaque of Munson being erected and a massive bilking of taxpayers.

He rescued the Orpheum, stabilized funding for the Lewis & Clark pipeline, cleaned up the Loop and gave downtown a welcome face-lift.

The taxpayers of Sioux Falls rescued the Orpheum, we are getting suckered in higher water rates for a pipeline we don’t have yet and downtown has become a very boring place to hang out. When I turned 21 over 16 years ago there was more than two live music venues downtown that played Rock & Roll. There was also a dance club. As Rocco said to me the other night when he was hanging out in Sioux City on fourth street.

“People aren’t a bunch of stuck up yuppies on fourth street like in downtown Sioux Falls. Everyone is cool.”

Munson has turned downtown Sioux Falls into a Mayberry for elitists who think there brat kids who are enrolled in club sports deserve handouts from the city, and I don’t think Mayor Subprime will be much different.

There was one thing Dave was good at; using his gavel at council meetings with people he didn’t agree with. I still think he has no respect for the First Amendment and freedom of speech, and for that, all I have to say is ‘good riddance!’

At least Rosenthal still loves me!

Joel spreads his lovefest about King Dave, then he goes into a strange rant about the library;

Last Friday Mayor Munson’s record of accomplishment was highlighted by the ribbon cutting and re opening of the Main Library in Downtown Sioux Falls.

Taking MY money to build something for ME is an accomplishment?  How is spending other people’s money on things that are obviously good for EVERYONE community an accomplishment? Kinda sounds like he was ‘doing his job.’ Good for him. But I wouldn’t label it as an accomplishment.

Many deserve kudos for this spectacular addition to our City. The most important group responsible is the Sioux Falls Taxpayer, without whose money, it would not have been built. It surely could not have been built with library fines or user fees. Some quality of life facilities require community investment.

He finally thanks us towards the end, but only so he can take a jab at an imaginary politician that lives in his head.

Sidebar – Remember in the last election all the nonsense about if you don’t use it you should not have to pay for it?

Joel, which councilor voted against the library expansion? None of them. While amendments were offered to get rid of expensive roof trim and unneeded wiring in the floor (could have been done cheaper in the ceiling) not one single councilor voted against the expansion. So who are you talking about? You really need to stop listening to the voices in your head.

As expected, Munson appointed as many people as he could before leaving office to volunteer boards at his last city council meeting (Item #4). This will may or may not make Mike’s job easier. These are all good people, and I didn’t see any glaring appointments, but I wonder what Huether thinks of it? Who cares? He really can’t do much about it.

Munson takes a swipe at Mike Huether in this interview, without mentioning his name. (FF 24:00 minutes) It is interesting.

This is from a photo I saw in the Argus Leader in the Sunday edition. The original photo was taken by Elisha Page for the Argus Leader.

I will update this story later tonight, but I thought this comment by Kevin Kavanaugh was dead on, and it has verified all my suspicions I have had of Munson;

Kavanaugh said Munson’s difficulties became a hindrance. “To me, his relationship with the council was always a strained one. I attribute that to either not having the leadership skills or not wanting to deal with it. He’s a nice guy, but he never took the time or invested in making sure people were on board. When you don’t do that, you’ve got people questioning you all the time and fighting you.”

This also has chapped my hide for a long time;

In February 2006, the council chairman asked for a legal opinion on whether Munson had violated the law (Phillips to the Falls). The next day, Munson stunned the city, saying he had become a distraction and would not run again. With Munson a lame duck, councilors dropped their pursuit of a legal opinion and the field for mayor swelled to 10 candidates.

Gerald Beninga, another councilor, saw it otherwise. There was no majority for an investigation, he said last week. “I don’t know that we even considered a vote on that.”

Of course you didn’t, because you are a bunch of gutless weasels who look out for each other. Birds of a feather. Boy, if Munson would have gotten investigated, then, just maybe, the rest of us will. The rubberstamp council prevails again.

While I could go on and on about some of the things Munson did (pulled) during his administration, I will leave that for another day.

One of my biggest disappointments had nothing to do with taxation, overspending, reckless growth and development (which ironically grew our city’s boundaries, population and it’s property tax coffers but has had a stagnant effect on our working class citizens).

His lack of transparency and being able to take criticism really has troubled me the most. It seems Munson believed that after being elected that he was immune to dissent. That is silly on so many levels. That is when the REAL criticism begins, on your inauguration day. I can’t count the number of times he has gaveled me and other citizens at public meetings and threatened arrest for practicing our free speech rights. It’s sad really, that after Munson’s many accomplishments and failures I will only remember him as a politician who could not listen. He even reinforced that stance in the final words of his state of the city address in which he commented that he didn’t like ‘politics’ in city government. Like I have said a million times before, everything you do as a politician is ‘politics’ and we as a citizenry have a right to question you, every step of the way.

Good luck Dave in whatever you do. I hope it is something in the private sector.

Mayor Dave Munson will present his final State of the City address at 1:30 p.m. today at the Orpheum Theater Center.

Stormland TV News (the propaganda wing of Sioux Falls city hall) did this story about Dave filling potholes. Shouldn’t surprise anyone that Dave is pretty handy with the shovel His voicemail must be full of angry messages from citizens. There was a street downtown by Sunshine grocery store that I couldn’t even drive over 4 MPH on because it was so littered with potholes. It looked like the road to the Baghdad airport. Ironically that street has looked like that for years, but hey, blame one snowstorm and one rainstorm for the problem. Hey, we can’t fix the streets, the monkeys at the zoo need shiny new shitters.