Funny, the only mayoral candidate that won’t talk to me besides law breaking Hartford resident Selberg is Smith, but I find myself commending Smith today on his campaign.
It appears he has taken NO PAC money. BRAVO! That doesn’t mean he won’t in the future, but it appears at this point he is only taking donations from individuals and he has raised A LOT!
So why is PAC money bad? First off, it was illegal until the SCOTUS decided that money was free speech (worst decision they have ever made since it has turned every election into a bidding war instead of a discussion about the issues, it is F’ing disgusting). You also don’t know who is funding the PACS. It basically is rich folks buying an election.
If I was Jamie, in the age of populism I would encourage him to put out a press release celebrating you took NO PAC money and in the same release explain to folks why PAC money is bad. Two of the other leading candidates took almost entirely PAC money, BAD look. Jamison did not file a report because he didn’t collect donations in 2025, and after his performance in Pierre today on sales taxes and data centers I am a bit nervous about his candidacy (and he should be too).
So there was a planning meeting tonight, it was a whole 7 minutes with a 3 minute pre-recorded chew out session about public input. Yup, 4 minute meeting. Why is this? To avoid conflicts of interest with board members they put everything on the consent agenda and pass it with one vote without presentations or discussion. It is the EPITOME of closed government and unethical behavior.
They started this dog and pony show a few years ago, putting most of rezones on the consent agenda so they don’t have to work, but it is totally against open government.
What is a ‘consent agenda’. It basically assumes these are ‘non-controversial’ items so there is NO hearing, presentation or individual discussions on each item just a blanket vote. Yeah, shady. It is also a violation of 1st amendment rights because they say before general public input you can’t talk about agenda items in the previous meeting. Really? Why would they when we have NO IDEA what the agenda items were.
For legal reasons they do ask anyone from the public to ‘PULL’ a consent agenda item and if someone requests it the planning department has to do a presentation of the item and have planning commission discussion, it also allows for public input, and an individual vote on the item.
Like I said, anyone in the audience at the meeting can request an item gets pulled from the consent agenda.
So a former local government official told me this, ‘Maybe get people from the public to come to the planning meeting and ask items to be pulled?’
Brilliant!
The Planning Commission meets ONCE a month on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 6 PM at Carnegie. I encourage folks from the public to start attending these meetings and request ALL consent items be pulled for discussion. And if any member recuses themselves from an item, DEMAND, DON’T ASK, they follow state and city ordinance and explain their conflict in DETAIL! It is the law and they MUST do it! If they don’t they are violating city and state statutes.
I have nicknamed the commission the ‘Conflict of Interest Commission’. Don’t take my sarcasm as fact, just watch the meetings, tons of recusals with NO explanation.
I think the next mayor needs to terminate the ENTIRE board and install new members who have NO conflicts of interest and can have 100% attendance to the meetings. Seems like an easy ask.
I encourage people often to eat at locally owned restaurants. Why? Because any money made at the restaurant in profits and employee salaries gets recirculated in our local economy. One of the main reasons I was opposed to the Denty was because ALL profits from the venue go straight out the door. Also, I have noticed, especially at immigrant owned local restaurants that the service and meal quality is usually better than a fart factory franchise.
One of the reasons we have such low unemployment in SF is because people usually have part-time jobs in hospitality on top of full-time or other part-time jobs. In fact, very few restaurants, except local, have full-time staff besides back of house and management. Which means they save $$$ on benefits and since the front of house part-time staff basically works for tips their labor costs are low.
When local restaurants close it not only hurts the employees but the local economy. I worked on and off in the hospitality industry for almost 30 years. My last waiter gig was 5 years ago and it was such an awful experience I will NEVER do it again, unless I am a dishwasher 🙂
You can make good money, but in the current economy I bet a lot of servers are not making much.
Jodi did a story this week that intrigued me about the Steel District restaurants. I asked an executive with Lloyd companies today if Lloyd has always been an owner. They said yes, but it was a partnership until recently, Lloyd basically bought out the Minneapolis ownership group and now own them entirely.
While I guess I could make fun of Lloyd for this arrangement, I feel bad that restaurants are not doing well. So I am sympathetic. There is also the question about the TIF status and if a certain amount of square footage is NOT being used in a project it could hamper their TIF requirements. I have DONE zero research on that, but it is worth questioning.
It also did not help that the most popular restaurant in that downtown area was city owned and taxpayers are subsidizing it to the tune of $300K a year! (The Lodge is ran by the Washington Bazillion)
Either way, it is going to be a rough ride in the Trump economy and we are going to see a lot of restaurant closures in Sioux Falls, especially over the next couple of months. Restaurants depend on extra revenue during the holiday season to float them thru Jan-Feb, which are usually slow months for restaurants. If the holiday season wasn’t extremely profitable they will likely throw in the towel. It is sad, because it will have a domino effect on the local economy and jobs.
So what am I asking of you? I’m not telling you to go out to eat every night to help the restaurants, but what I am asking you to do is when you purchase food at a franchise place or C-Store, instead go to a locally owned restaurant, it gets recirculated in the local economy which actually helps you!
It is that time of the year, time to check the city salaries. I will do comparisons to the year before, but before I do that, I wanted to address something Chief Thum said on Belfrage yesterday. He said the city had 308 sworn officers. If you check the salary data and you count ALL officers like sergeants I counted almost the same amount (I counted about 10 less). But what surprised me is all the security officers that work for the force, over 30, they label them as ‘protective services’.
But I wanted to compare some data with Minneapolis. They currently have about 600 sworn officers (their target is 900).
So in Sioux Falls there is ONE officer for every 730 residents in MPLS it is 715. If they were able to make their quota it would be 476 residents per officer.
Minneapolis is 59 square miles, 10 officers per square mile.
Sioux Falls is 84 square miles, 3.7 officers per square mile.
I was just surprised by how close our numbers are with the cities except for the mileage. I do hear from people in the SE part of town they don’t see many neighborhood patrols. We do have county enforcement from two counties in the city so that helps.
Zach DeBoer Announces Campaign for Sioux Falls City Council – Central District
Artist, educator, and community advocate launches campaign focused on safer streets, stronger neighborhoods, and fiscally responsible growth. Sioux Falls, SD — February 3, 2026 — Zach DeBoer, a longtime community advocate, artist, and educator, announced today that he is running for the Sioux Falls City Council representing the Central District. DeBoer is known for his hands-on work strengthening neighborhoods, improving street safety, and advancing public art across Sioux Falls. DeBoer has worked as a placemaking consultant with communities across South Dakota, partnering with residents to design safer streets, revitalize public spaces, and build local pride. He has also served on the city’s Visual Arts Commission as well as multiple neighborhood and historical boards. DeBoer is currently an elementary school art teacher and has worked in education in Sioux Falls for over a decade, teaching students from kindergarten through college. He credits the classroom with shaping his leadership style—listening carefully, meeting people where they are, solving problems creatively, and making sure no one gets left behind. “Good teaching and good leadership aren’t that different,” DeBoer said. “You show up, you listen, and you build something that works for everyone.” As an artist and educator, DeBoer has been a driving force behind citywide public art efforts, including murals, cultural initiatives, and the adoption of the Sioux Falls city flag—now a widely embraced symbol of local pride. “Central Sioux Falls is the heart of our city,” DeBoer said. “Our neighborhoods should be safe, vibrant, and welcoming, and city government should stay focused on practical solutions that improve everyday life. I’m running because our community deserves a council member who listens, who shows up, and who isn’t afraid to speak up and fight for the people they represent.” A central focus of DeBoer’s campaign is stronger neighborhoods and safer streets. He has been a leading advocate for traffic calming, safer routes around schools, and people-focused street design. His work has helped champion projects such as bike lanes, crosswalks, bump-outs, and neighborhood beautification initiatives. He has also helped schools and neighborhoods implement high-impact safety improvements through low-cost, community-led projects. DeBoer is also calling for fiscally responsible, smarter growth. Rather than chasing expensive, shiny mega-projects, he believes Sioux Falls should be focused on maintaining existing infrastructure, reinvesting in established neighborhoods, revitalizing underutilized spaces, and managing growth responsibly so taxpayers aren’t left paying the price later. “We should be careful and thoughtful with public dollars,” DeBoer said. “Fixing what we already have and investing in proven ideas is often the smartest and most responsible choice.”
DeBoer also emphasized his commitment to transparent, community-driven leadership, saying residents deserve honest communication, leaders who ask tough questions, and decision-makers who genuinely listen to public input. “I don’t have ties to PACs or special interests,” DeBoer said. “I’m not another rubber stamper. I’ll listen to residents, push back when something doesn’t add up, and fight for what’s right for our community.” If elected, DeBoer plans to focus on: • Safer streets that protect children, seniors, pedestrians, and cyclists • Neighborhood revitalization that supports small businesses and strengthens community identity • Smart, fiscally responsible growth that prioritizes reinvestment over sprawl and megaprojects • Transparent, responsive government that treats residents as true partners DeBoer previously ran for City Council in 2018, winning the initial election before narrowly losing in the runoff by less than three percent of the vote. His campaign helped inspire new civic engagement, particularly among young voters, and led to meaningful changes even without holding office – including the official adoption of the Sioux Falls city flag. DeBoer has lived in the All Saints Neighborhood for the past ten years with his wife, Molly O’Connor, and their seven-year-old daughter, Lucy. The election for the Central District seat will be held on June 2, 2026. For more information, visit ZachForCityCouncil.com
NOTE: There is also an Engineer running for SE District. Don’t know much about her, but I can’t recall us ever having a civil engineer on the City Council. I think it would be a great addition and someone who can question planning with big decisions.
l3wis 