South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

February 2011

Event Center Sioux Falls

Jen Holsen worked in city government so long she forgot the smell of bullshit

l3wis 21Comments

While I appreciate Jen’s opinion’s on some topics, I often chuckle when she writes a post about her sudden surprise when a politician is saying one thing and doing another, especially Smiling Mike;

I joined the Build It Downtown Group because I believed in what this passionate and highly committed group of business people wanted to do – engage the Mayor in considering alternative sites for an event center. Consider, not demand. Talk, discuss and give input to the mayor and his staff as they work through the process. Work with them on this project. It is a noble cause spearheaded by noble people who have the best interests of the city at heart. These people are taxpayers, citizens of Sioux Falls and voters. This group has worked hard to gather data, meet with architects, engineers, city planners, developers and the public. They have studied this issue extensively and reviewed dozens of cities’ successes with their own events centers. They deserve to be heard, not ignored.

Why is it that this group is being ignored and even demonized?

There are a lot of groups in SF that deserve to be heard. What makes BID special? Because Hildy runs the group, or because you are a part of it? This should come as no surprise, the mayor has chosen the Arena site from the beginning and all data will point in that direction.

What I don’t get is why the Mayor and members of his staff choose to ignore the Build It Downtown group’s repeated requests to meet and discuss their ideas.

What is Not to Get? The fact that he is king and will run his court the way he chooses? Munson did it for 8 years, and you never heard a peep. I’m not defending Mike, I’m just saying, isn’t it a little late to bitch about the mayoral dictatorship we have had for years? Where was your blog and voice during the Munson years . . . oh . . . that’s right, you were collecting a paycheck from the city and worked at the pleasure of the mayor, so you bitched quietly in a corner by the water cooler.

The mayor promised to seek public input before decisions were made. He has chosen to ignore or even listen to voters who want to give input or their opinions regarding this important project. He is failing to keep his promises. He is failing the voting public.

And all of this is a shocker? I have said all along, if Dr. Staggers were mayor right now, this would be a very open process, in fact, you can probably guarantee he would not be involved at all. The EC debate belongs in the private sector, not the public sector. To quote a frequent commenter on the Argue Endorser’s forums, “If it is such a crackerjack idea, why isn’t the private sector putting their money up? (paraphrasing)”

Build it Downtown’s original FACEBOOK post on the topic:

Steven C. HildebrandFebruary 17, 2011 at 6:24pm

Subject: Seems the Mayor and his staff won’t answer any questions.

Whether the questions come from city council members, the press or from Build it Downtown, the mayor and his staff refuse to answer questions directly about possible locations for the events center and about the process to make decisions.

We’ve been trying to get a meeting with his staff to discuss possible downtown locations. They first refused to meet with us, now they just ignore our requests. We’ve asked for public record information and they’ve refused to provide it.

Seems that in the next few days the mayor will announce which downtown location will be studied. He’s making this decision without public input, without discussing this with the city council (who he will ask to refer this issue to the voters), without discussing it with stakeholders and without meeting with Build it Downtown.

Our group has worked hard to gather data, meet with architects, engineers, city planners, developers and the public. We’ve studied this issue extensively and reviewed dozens of cities’s successes with their own events centers.

Yet the mayor and his staff ignore us and want us to go away. Seems like a poor way to serve the public. Maybe he’s forgotten that we are voters and taxpayers who pay his salary. Maybe he’s forgotten about his promise to be the most transparent mayor in Sioux Falls history. Maybe he’s forgotten about his promise to seek public input before all the decisions were made.

This mayor, like any mayor should be accountable to you and me. We are here to help him build a successful events center. We have the best interests of Sioux Falls at heart.

I hope you will express your concerns with the mayor. You can email him at mhuether@siouxfalls.org. He needs to hear from us.

Thank you.

Steve Hildebrand, Co-founder, Build it Downtown

State Funding State Legislature

LMFAO quote of the day

l3wis 2Comments

I guess citizens are lining up to start a petition drive to raise taxes;

Gov. Dennis Daugaard, while he opposes new taxes to erase the state’s $127 million structural deficit, said Thursday that he’d have no problem with such an initiated measure.

“Certainly, that’s democracy in action,” he said. “If the citizens choose to raise taxes through that initiative, then it’s certainly within their power, and I support their ability to do that.”

Somehow I feel Doogard was being sarcastic. Funny how legislators are backing away from raising taxes permanently when citizens have the lawful right to get involved;

Lawmakers were talking about dedicating revenue from a new one-cent sales tax for schools, Medicaid and perhaps property tax relief, it said.

But that momentum came to a halt Thursday when Sen. Mark Johnston, R-Sioux Falls, decided against bringing an amendment to Senate Bill 126 to the Senate floor.

Johnston is part of a group of Republicans working on solutions for education and Medicaid funding. He had considered changing his bill into a permanent sales tax increase but suddenly decided to leave it alone.

Why’s that Mark? Because it is f’ing stupid? Ironic how RICH Republicans like Mark (Executive with Sanford Health and staunch opponent of our sales tax initiative petition drive, to reduce city sales taxes) are all for raising regressive taxes on working people but run like a chickenshit away from fair taxes like on income, advertising and luxury items. Cry all you want, but there are two ways to fix our budget problems; heavy cuts to a bloated state government, and other forms of creative taxation, like I mentioned. You can’t continue to bleed workers, the only thing an increase in sales taxes will do is that people will buy less (locally), which hurts local business and hurts local jobs.

Kristi Noem

Cowgirl Kristi Noem ropes in Capitol Hill: A Washington love story (H/T – Helga)

l3wis 19Comments

The Queen of saving stinky rich SD businessmen money, while little old ladies support our government by paying taxes on bread and milk;

Last Valentine’s Day, South Dakota businessman Ted Hustead fell in love, politically speaking.

His state’s legislature was considering taxing road signs. For Hustead, the owner of Wall Drug, that meant war. Wall Drug may have more road signs than any single entity on the planet. The signs stretch for hundreds of miles along Interstate I-90 and are also in Paris, Kenya, London and at the South Pole.

While testifying against the bill, Hustead began to take notice of a new face.

“All of the sudden I’m just sort of watching her on the committee and noticing her and noticing how articulate she is, and how knowledgeable she is and how she understood both sides of the issue,” said Husted. “After the committee dispersed I just sat back in my chair and watched her work the room. I was just very impressed with her.”

“She” was state Rep. Kristi Noem and Hustead, one of the most powerful political money men in the state, would be a good friend to have, helping her raise more than $2 million.

Unimpressed with two other candidates who’d announced runs, Hustead learned from a lobbyist friend that Noem would be announcing her candidacy for South Dakota’s only seat in the House of Representatives the following day.

“I said to the lobbyist, ‘Please get a hold of Kristi Noem and have her call me … I know where the money is,’” Hustead said. Noem agreed to drive across the state for dinner.

Everything was going well at dinner as the two discussed the logistics of how Hustead could help. It was getting late, though: 8:30 p.m. Hustead was feeling guilty about Noem’s long trip home — a two-hour drive with a loss of one hour from the difference in time zones.

That’s when Noem made her pitch. “The real reason I’m here is I want you to be my treasurer,” she said. Hustead was thrilled. The two kept talking into the night until finally, at 11:30 p.m. or so, she left, to arrive home after 2 a.m.

The next morning, at 7:30, Hustead found a page-and-a-half-long e-mail thanking him for dinner and outlining her plans for him as her treasurer.

As far as I am concerned, taxing advertising in SD is way past due.

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