South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2009

Downtown Sioux Falls

Is the organization Downtown Sioux Falls ineffective? Seems so.

l3wis 9Comments

dtsf-logo

Over the past few years I have heard constant complaints from downtown business owners about the org DTSF. The same crap is heard frequently;

• What do they do with their membership fees?

• Why did they move all the festivals to 4th and Phillips?

• Why do they charge so much for a booths during festivals?

• What really is their purpose?

• What do they spend their money on?

A few years back some DT business owners discussed starting their own group ran only by them, the idea fizzled, well, because DT business owners work their asses off and don’t have time for it. Downtown SF will argue they are a lobbying entity that gets things for DTSF, you know, like gigantor expensive planters that actually take up too much space. Or handouts in the form of ‘grants’ to a select few DT property owners who need new windows so they can sell more tobacco and liquor. While I understand paying lobbyists, we also expect those lobbyists to do something for that money.

Let’s take this winter storm for example. It seems Public Works found all kinds of time to plow the entire f’ing city, but they could not plow DT before Saturday evening? It’s not like this was some crappy Saturday night at the end of January, it was the day after Christmas! No spaces DT were plowed but to make it worse, the city decided to plow in front of the parking ramp entrances, so you couldn’t even get into them to park. A result was most DT businesses were closed Saturday Night. I know for a fact that Minervas, Touch of Europe and Sushi Masa were all closed.

But I don’t blame the city street removal on this one, I blame DTSF for not getting on the horn. Really?! How long would it have taken to plow Phillips avenue four blocks and clean out the entrances to the parking ramps? Idiots. I kinda wonder how many thousands of dollars of revenue was lost at DT businesses because of it.

If I were the next mayor, I would disband DTSF – they suck.

Taxes

1 in 70 South Dakotans are millionaires and that number is going down. I’m crying.

l3wis 44Comments

eye crying tears person sad-thumb

I was actually surprised we had so many. I wonder what the per capita rate is for the states? I heard that SD ranks around #1. And you wonder why we continue to not have an income tax, instead we find it fitting to tax the poor on food;

In 2006, South Dakota ranked 44th in the nation with 11,769 millionaire households. While that number rose to 12,563 in 2007, the state’s rank actually dropped to 47th. The state rose to 41 with 12,151 millionaire households in 2008, but dropped to 47 this year with 10,646.

Just think if we put a 6% income tax just on those 10,646 residents (based on only making $1 million a year) the state would raise $638,760,000 million. With that kind of dough, we could eliminate video lottery, retail taxes and reduce property taxes in one clean sweep. But hey, that would make sense and be fair, how dare we!

Road Funding State Funding State Legislature

I would go a step further

l3wis 7Comments

bluesmartcarJPG

Drive me, no new tax fees

I think our legislators are on the right track when it comes to road funding, but I would do some tweaking on the proposal;

The bill would boost money for maintenance and construction projects on state and county roads throughout South Dakota. The state’s tax on gasoline would jump 5 cents a gallon by May 1 and another 5 cents in 2012. Vehicle registration fees also would rise over two years, as would the state’s excise tax on new vehicles.

I agree vehicle registration fees should go up, but I also think the whole system needs an overhaul. You should pay a higher rate based on the weight of your vehicle and it’s fuel efficency. If you drive a light vehicle that gets over 35 miles a gallon, your fees should be reduced. We should be rewarding people who choose to have less impact on our roads. I also think the excise tax on vehicles should be the same as food. I have never understood why we pay a higher rate on goods that are essential to life then we do on automobiles. The whole argument from the car dealership lobby will be that it will hurt sales. Bologna. You can finance your excise tax into your loan and spread that expense out over the life of your loan. It won’t hurt sales. While I think a gas tax is a fair way to fund roads, I would probably hold off on that for at least a year and see if the other two proposals work first. I like gas taxes because, like I mentioned with my registration fee idea, it has less impact on people who choose to drive more fuel efficient vehicles.

Redistricting Sioux Falls South Dakotans State Legislature

Representative Thompson has a great idea, but is anyone listening?

l3wis 2Comments

Thompson

I couldn’t agree more with Bill’s idea;

The plan is based on Montana’s approach, which has worked well. The majority leaders of both houses choose the first two members of the seven-member citizen commission. Then the minority leaders of both houses choose the next two members. These four commission members choose the final three, with each member coming from one of the seven designated regions of the state. The commission will create the districts, submit the plan to the Legislature for suggestions and then finalize the districts.

Oh, but Bill, that approach sound fair. How can the Republicants in our state continue their chokehold if they can’t hand pick these commission members? Than there are all the utopian results it would produce;

Now is the time for South Dakota to change its method of legislative redistricting. Redistricting plans should:

•  lessen the impact of incumbency on redistricting.

•  lessen the impact of partisanship on redistricting.

• create more districts that are competitive.

•  maximize intradistrict competitiveness to make it easier to recruit candidates willing to challenge incumbents. Competitiveness and better candidates will encourage voter participation and satisfaction. Voter satisfaction will foster better, more responsive government.

There is a reason why your bill continues to fail Bill, a SD Democrat proposed it.

religion

A majority of South Dakotans have figured it out; Religion and Faith have nothing to do with each other

l3wis 1Comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCKedZUuyk[/youtube]

Luke, let’s jump over these heathans, with our BMW

While this may surprise some people in the clergy, it does not surprise me. You don’t NEED religion to have faith in a creator. As former governor, Ventura of Minnesota, said once, “Religion is a crutch.”

An overwhelming majority of South Dakotans say they believe in God, but only about half of the state’s residents say religion is very important in their lives, and a smaller portion than that attend services each week, according to a new survey examining religion.

You will also notice from the survey that states that take religion more seriously are more likely to be involved with right wing extremism, teabaggery, and general ignorance;

Mississippi, followed by several other Southern states, was tops in religious fervor, according to the survey, which asked questions about worship attendance, frequency of prayer, belief in God and religion’s importance in one’s life.

Now get out your bible, your gun, white hood and confederate flag and go pray.

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