SD Jazz Orchestra Monday Night Concerts @ Skellys

by

SDJOskelly's

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME BIG BAND!

 

In between holidays and no Monday night football?  How about the SDJO (South Dakota Jazz Orchestra) to fill the void?   Starting on tonight, the SDJO will perform every Monday evening at Skellys from 7:00 to 9:30.  Skellys will be serving food during that time and will be open to all ages.  Featuring many of the Sioux empires finest jazz musicians, the South Dakota Jazz Orchestra redefines Jazz in South Dakota and throughout the midwest — bringing to Jazz what the philharmonic gave to classical music: a modern audience, a standard of excellence and a nurturing creative community. The SDJO plays music from the masters of the art such as Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich and others as well as new compositions and arrangements.

www.sdjo.org

Platting Fee interview 6 PM today – KELO TV

by

I got interviewed this morning about my feelings on the platting fees being so low in comparison to the taxes collected for arterial roads (see graphic below). I touched on many topics, but here’s a summary

– I think it is unfair to mandate retail taxpayers to pay an extra tax when the developers are not

– I thought it was pretty obvious the night the council approved the tax increase that we were going into a recession

– I think the tax increase was just a ploy to max out our taxes to what state law allows so that it will be easier for the SF Event Center Task force to ask for another tax increase next year from the legislature.

– I think arterial streets should be built on a DEMAND basis. If developers start moving dirt, we start moving dirt.

– I pointed out that councilors Knudson, Jamison, Litz and Brown all had their campaigns funded by the very special interests that supported this tax increase.

Obviously not all of this will make it into a 3 minute news spot. KELO also interviewed Theresa Stehly and they were planning on an interview with Craig Lloyd, the main developer who was pushing this tax increase. Mark Cotter, city planner, may also be interviewed.

I guess we are only in a recession when it is hurting the developer’s pocketbooks, not the rest of ours.

City of Sioux Falls

Munson’s gift to the next mayor?

by

A lot of debt and a slowing economy;

Slower-than-normal sales tax revenue takes decisions that already are tough and makes them that much tougher.

This is unfortunate for many reasons. Okay, sure, maybe four to seven years ago no one could predict the recession coming, but it was pretty clear that Bush and the Republicans were not creating a lot of jobs, not to mention we were spending billions in Iraq which has zero payback unlike spending Federal dollars on education and infrastructure.

But on to Sioux Falls. Mayor Munson’s approach to the booming retail tax collection was to spend, spend, spend and borrow, borrow, borrow. When Dave took office the city was $90 million in debt and was keeping up with growth and infrastructure. Now at the end of what was considered for the most part a booming economy for city coffers we are close to $340 million dollars in debt and close to $100 million behind on infrastructure, and trying to play catchup in a sluggish economy.

Where did we go wrong?

When the money started flowing in seven years ago the prudent thing would have been to start prioritizing. I think this simple list would have saw Sioux Falls in a lot different spot today.

– Make a concerted effort to pay down our debt and build a strong reserve for emergencies and quality of life projects

– Catch up on infrastructure like road maintenance, sewer, water, etc.

– Put together a joint effort with developers for growth and new streets

As you can see this is a very simple list. Not only could we have all the same things we have today, we could have done it on a balanced budget. Instead, I believe Munson’s administration squandered our money on growth and quality of life projects that was not needed.

I feel very sorry for the next mayor.

SF Councilors Beninga and Knudson support censoring our history

by

938-010divorce-posters

Sioux Falls was the Divorce Capital of the Nation

Okay, it is kind of funny, but I am still baffled why they would want to cover up something that happened in Sioux Falls over a 100 years ago?

In a 6-2 vote, councilors decided that the city should place a historic marker downtown commemorating Sioux Falls as the “divorce capital of the nation” between 1877 and 1909.

 

Councilors De Knudson and Gerald Beninga cast the dissenting votes.

Believe it or not, Munson had the best thing to say about the historical marker;

“It was really historic,” Mayor Dave Munson said.

I guess Pity Pat’s letter about addiction and other BS didn’t sway the judge

by

Untitled-1

BTW, that’s a CIGAR he is smoking, not a blunt.

Not sure if you saw a post on Dakota Wuss College yesterday, but Pity Pat thought he needed to sway a judge’s decision by writing a letter to the judge that was sentencing Bob Newland (oh nevermind, he deleted the post so I couldn’t link his silliness – you are so clever PP, no wonder Munsterman hired you).

But it turns out, the judge was quite lenient on Newland;

Delaney suspended all but 45 days of the sentence however, any violation of the terms of his sentence will send Newland to jail for the full year.

I thought this quote from one of Newland’s supporter said it all;

“This just shows how silly the law is, said Newland supporter Curtis Price as he left the courtroom. Price was relieved Newland did not receive a prison sentence.

“I feel bad for law enforcement,” he added. “They have to carry out laws that are about politics and not reality.”

You ain’t kidding. Pot is harmless and has great medicinal purposes, and most intelligent people know that (of course that excludes Brookings County Republicans).