Community Forum to Discuss Local Economy

Civic and business leaders will meet in a community forum to generate ideas on how to sustain and possibly boost the local economy.
The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2009, in the Council Chambers of the Carnegie Town Hall, 235 W. 10th St.
Working together as a community will not only enable us to maintain what is working right for Sioux Falls, but will also allow us to jumpstart our local economy, said City Council Member Greg Jamison, who organized the meeting.
“As a City Council member I wanted to make sure we’re doing everything right to maintain our great community,” he said. “Sioux Falls is better off than a lot of other places in the country.”
Mayor Dave Munson will be present along with representatives from the City Council, city administration, the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, the Homebuilders Association of the Sioux Empire, the South Dakota Banking Association, Associated General Contractors of South Dakota, Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire Inc., Downtown Sioux Falls, and others.

The public and other business groups are invited to attend and participate in the discussion.
Contact City Councilor Greg Jamison at 310-1930 for more information.

I think a Forum like this is a great idea, in concept. I don’t have a problem with the groups that were invited but am wondering why community and grassroots groups were not invited to? Like Bread for the World, for example. As usual, our opinion does not count. Maybe they don’t want us doing ‘I told you so’ dance a couple of weeks after the meeting when we are right.
The businesses listed are the same group that lobbied for a second penny tax increase, that’s why I am suspicious. Anytime groups like this get together and share ideas it seems the average taxpayer gets screwed in the end. Their solution to every economic problem is tax us more so they can get freebies and handouts from the city. Most of them are self-serving, especially the Chamber and DT SF.
We’ll see what comes of it, but I will keep my expectations low. I’m just hoping that Carnegie doesn’t get flooded with too many bad ideas on Saturday, remember, real people die in floods and hopefully the bad ideas will too.
I will not be attending, because I will be working on my own economic recovery plan, working at my part-time job.