Update: I guess there was a HS cross country event at Paisley park today, so why can’t they run on unmulched grass? The Romans used to run races barefoot. So now I guess we fund HS sports thru parks tax dollars.
FIRST, THE POSITIVE: The Sioux Falls city council and Minnehaha County Commission restored 2026 funding for the Siouxland Librairies at their joint meeting today. Guess how much the mayor was cutting? A whopping $250K!!!! Yeah, a lot of coin for us mouth breathers but NOTHING to the city when you consider they have $80 Million in reserves (they are only required by ordinance to have about $50 Million cash on hand), but Poops has been stowing away money for his wet dream convention center). I was glad to see funding restored since all Poops cut was temp help wages.
I find it ironic that the mayor insists on nickel and diming citizen services while blowing MILLIONS on projects no one asked for (Sanford Wellness purchase and Jacobsen Plaza for example).
NOW FOR THE NEGATIVE: As I was commuting to work I decided to take the bike trail today and as I was riding thru Paisley Park I noticed the lawn had been freshly mowed. There were windrows (these are the piles of un-mulched grass that accumulate in ROWS) in the lawn. It was visible but NOT thick and would easily just disintegrate into the un-mowed grass with the next rain. So what did the Parks Department decide to do about these windrows? So there is this guy who drives down the bike trail with a tractor and a small blower he tows behind and he blows debris off of the trail. It’s a nice amenity and I appreciate it, just like the plowing of the trail in the winter. So this guy wasn’t blowing off the trail he was driving back and forth, North to South in the lawn blowing the windrows towards the East fence. My guess this would have taken at least 3-4 hours. So when the mayor talks about cutting essential services, maybe we need to cut the Parks budget, because apparently they have too much money to spend if they have a parks employee blowing grass around our parks (well, at least he was actually working unlike the parks worker who waters trees while reading a novel).
Also at the joint meeting tonight if you FF to the end where there is public input, it is worth the watch. A woman came up, and very politely and professionally addressed them about property taxes, and she read them the riot act. It was amazing. She needs to come back to the city council meeting and do the same speech since the city’s TIFilicious desires are raising our taxes. She also recommended that TIFs and OPT-OUTS should only be approved by voters. DAMN TOOTIN! She was cut off by Dean Karsky (him and Beninga need to retire) because she called out Commissioner Joe Kipley personally* (you know, Mr. Conflict of Interest double dipping from taxpayers) and a comment he had made, and it was a doozy.
To be honest with you, public input really doesn’t matter anymore you might as well be talking to a floating turd in your toilet, you would get more of a response. The County, the Council and the School Board all have their votes in line and mind made up before they walk into that meeting, no amount of pleading or shaming will get them to change their votes. There have been on occasion a councilor will change on the fly, but not because of testimony. I felt sorry for the folks over the last few weeks who have shown up to speak for the first time about important issues like deportation and the homelessness only to get patronized by the mayor. Deaf ears folks.
*The council and commission have a rule(?) at their meetings that no one at the podium can call out elected officials or public employees by name or individually. Let’s just say it is a contrived rule probably in Roberts, but as far as the 1st Amendment is concerned, you can call out anyone you want to at the podium and all they can do is cry.
l3wis 