While there are many options for the Districting Commission to review at their meeting on Wednesday, options C9 and especially C11 would be the biggest changes to the district in years. Not only would you make the Central the largest by population, you would really make it a core district again.
The discussion should be interesting.
Hopefully many candidates will be challenging Councilor Soehl for the Central District in the 2022 municipal election since he has been an utter failure delivering very little to the residents and homeowners of the district and more concerned about handing out millions in TIFs to DT parking ramps we don’t need while letting the residential streets of the core turn into the roads of Baghdad.
We found out a few years ago that the Planning Department in collusion with the Mayorâs office has a list of PRIVATE developer and corporation tax rebates. The kicker is all of the rebates are approved ONLY by the discretion of the Mayor. There is NO City Council OR public review of the rebates. The mayor simply signs off on them. While they can be seen by the public you have to know who to ask. There are NO public presentations of the recipients.
How do they work? Basically a developer or company, or investment group (LLC) makes significant upgrades to the property and a portion of the cost (usually around half) is rebated back to them from their paid property taxes. Like TIFs, it is only an option for a select few and extremely UNFAIR to the 99.99% of property taxpayers in the community.
Now, Iâm not going to cry corruption, Iâm just going to keep this simple, it is time to end this welfare handout because 1) it goes against the FREE market system but more importantly 2) The mayor should not have this kind of power and control to secretly hand out tax rebates to whomever he wants to.
I think the City Council needs to end this process ASAP.
You will see below how random and highly questionable the recipient list is which adds the element of corruption;
⢠Endeavor 212 LLC, Dr. Richard Brue, Historic DTSF Property, this one surprises me since downtown property is very valuable and certainly doesn’t need a tax break.
⢠Smithfield, this company owned by Communist Chinese investors got a massive tax break in 2019 and again in 2020.
⢠Graco Minnesota Inc, this very successful company based out of Minnesota got a tax break. Why?
⢠Schenk Properties LLC and AL Properties LLC may be intertwined with Murray properties and they have gotten massive tax breaks in Foundation Park for 3 different properties in 2019 & 2020.
⢠4 Suns-I90 LLC, I believe has developed property on North Cliff and 60th, they are based out of Fargo, ND. So I guess we don’t only give tax cuts to the Chinese but also our Northern neighbors.
Third Avenue Lofts LLC, Riverview Square LLC are Legacy Projects intertwined with Norm Drake. So I guess the mayor felt it was okay to give a tax break to a guy involved with the Copper Lounge collapse and the Bunker Ramp debacle.
KV LLC, this one is a mystery, but seem to be based out of Sioux City, SD.
Last Saturday afternoon I rode by on my bicycle and the whole area looked like a garbage truck had exploded, blankets were strewn all over the sidewalks and boulevards. When I took the picture below today, the garbage seemed to be cleaned up (probably blew away) but many of the homeless who are NOT permitted in the shelter, are sleeping on the public sidewalks in front, and it has been going on all summer.
I warned the city council when approving this location that an already strained neighborhood would get worse, and it has. Besides being baffled by why this is being allowed to exist (we supplement the House’s budget) what is the city doing about it? Absolutely nothing!
What makes it even sadder is that the city also employs the house’s director as a part-time employee for CityLink.
One of TenHaken’s campaign promises when he ran 3 years ago was that he would eliminate homelessness. It has actually gotten worse.
There are two solutions we should have done to begin with. The shelter should have been built just North of the jail and not in the middle of a neighborhood on a busy street. Also, the shelter that used to provide cots for the intoxicated should have never closed.
Between panhandling and now the Dudley Sidewalk Slumber Parties our leadership needs to be working on solutions instead of just cutting checks. Of course, this isn’t going on in their neighborhoods, so they don’t give 2 rips.
While I understand the Air Guard pilots do have to run drills and stay practiced and trained, over the past couple of months it has been EVERYDAY! Last Sunday I was doing some lawn work in the late morning and I had to listen to the jets roar. Really? I would be curious why they need to run these drills everyday and fly so low over Sioux Falls. Are we preparing for war or some other mission? Or are we just blowing taxpayer money when most of these drills could be done on simulators? I would think if you are an experienced pilot, you donât need to be running drills everyday.
During Mayor TenHakenâs re-election campaign announcement the infamous âSh!t Birdsâ that have made a manure monstrosity of our bike trails downtown started to squawk. Paul jokingly said he was going to get rid of them. I hope he keeps his promise. I have suggested for several years they can use air cannons to scare the birds and they will eventually move out of the area. But the biggest opponent of moving the fowl butt birds out of downtown has been the airport saying if the birds moved they could possibly get caught in jetâs engines. Probably just another empty promise from Stoneless.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota legislative leaders are distributing a petition to lawmakers asking them to support a special session to consider impeaching Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for a car crash last year that killed a pedestrian.
While some would argue it is honorable for Noem to ask for Jason’s resignation, it is really about putting in her own fake incumbent appointee way ahead the 2022 election. It’s no secret that Noem first off wants a puppet in the AG’s office, since she already controls the courts in South Dakota. But she also wants someone who will put up a challenge towards Marty, who I would assume isn’t her BFF.
Noem may also know a lot more about some of the rumors swirling around about Jackboots and some of the stuff he did while directing the DCI . . . GearUp . . . cough, cough . . .EB-5 . . . cough, cough. There is also strange some rumors about his divorce proceedings. In some ways Noem may be trying to protect Jackley, and more likely the state if some of these embarrassing details come out during a campaign.
All that aside, make no mistake, Noem probably dislikes Jackboots more than Rumblestrips and she will do anything to make sure NEITHER is elected.
When I have helped with city council campaigns in the past, the first thing I remind people of is to âtake care of the little thingsâ before announcing. Seems Mr. Barranco failed to tidy up a delinquent property tax bill before announcing running for city council;
Of course, this is no Federal Crime, he will likely have to pay a late payment fine and it will be all good. But I often tell people that if someone running for office canât even manage the simple things in their personal lives, how can we expect them to serve us? Like I said, I could give 2 rips if he is late on his taxes, but this personal failure on his part certainly shows how much he will pay attention on the city council when managing OUR business, like when the city council hired a city clerk to run our elections that wasn’t even registered to vote. Just another rubber stamping, cruise control, seat warmer and little else.
While Levitt was very quick to tell us attendance this past season (Thank You!) they have yet to share the financials with us.
Hereâs what I would like to know;
What was the budget for Levitt in 2021?
Salaries Promotion/marketing Artists Fees Equipment Rental Other
I would like to know where the money came from;
Individual donations Corporate sponsorships National Foundation donation City of Sioux Falls funding Rental Fees Alcohol sales (what did Levitt receive and the percentage) Special grants, etc.
There has been a lot of smoke blowing (not by the Levitt employees) by âotherâ sponsors of Levitt about how much they give to the Foundation. It would be really good to know the actual numbers. Hopefully Director Halverson will be presenting those numbers to the public soon.
While many of our news(?) outlets have reported Noemâs endless anti-choice battle and hiring kook-bag Trumper lawyer Sekulow no one has reported who is footing the bill. WE ARE!
South Dakotans have voted twice to keep abortion legal and safe in our state. A large majority of Americans support legal and safe abortions, and when there is only exceptions like rape and incest, those numbers are even higher. So I am wondering how Noem is justifying spending OUR money on this hypocritical UNCONSTITUTIONAL lawsuit and why the MSM isnât telling South Dakotans about how she is throwing our tax dollars in a burn barrel. I suggest Noem finds private donors to fight her endless battle and I encourage the media to tell her the same.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced Monday that she has instructed the Department of Education to delay the process to consider revisions to the state's social studies standards up to one year to allow for more public input.      Â
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Darren Clarke began the 18th hole knowing he was trailing both Steve Flesch and K.J. Choi. "I'm trying to do the best that I can do and I was trying to birdie the last and try to get to 12 under par. The last time I had looked they were both […]
Voters follow social distancing measures as they line up at the Halifax Convention Centre as they prepare to vote in the federal election in Halifax on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021.
Elections Canada workers place signage at the Halifax Convention Centre as they prepare for the polls to open in the federal election in Halifax on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021.
