Councilor Brown loves public input, except when he served under Munson

According to councilor Rolfing, public input should come AFTER all the decisions are made;

Sioux Falls councilors are divided about when they should engage the public on a new events center proposal.

Some say the best time to begin is after a group of consultants hired by the city finishes its work. Others say the council should begin engaging the public now, before those studies are complete.

The public should have been involved all along. If they would have, we would have voted on this already instead of continuing to grease the wheel with more task forces, committees and paid consultants.

“The system is built for public input,” Rolfing said. “The way I remember it, there is going to be plenty of time for public input when all of the information is received.”

What information? We have all kinds of information – what we don’t have is simple; a ballot date and funding source. Information manipulated by the mayor’s office and denied to the public is hardly information we can trust.

But others on the council say it’s best to get the public involved now. Councilor Greg Jamison said the process feels “out of control” because officials aren’t talking about the investment that a new events center will require.

FINALLY! A councilor is talking about the nuts and bolts. Tell us how we are going to pay for this, then we can get out the drawling paper and consultants. When you take a crap at a public restroom what is the first thing you check before sitting down? The size of the toilet? The location of the flushing handle? The floor tile design? If so, you must like to crap with the mayor. Personally I would rather crap with Jamison.

“The day that we stop listening to groups coming to us is the day when we’re going to put this city in jeopardy,” Brown said.

Really? Yet you were so quiet during the Munson years. I guess because Dave was such a good listener. Gavel! Gavel! With the Velvet Hammer.

11 Thoughts on “Public input on the Events Center? What’s that?

  1. Well, according to a county commissioner in a nearby city, the “little people” (my words here, but the intent is the commissioner’s) should not question the wisdom of anyone they elect to a position; once elected, those in power have the wisdom and know what is best for the “little people” and the “little people” should be quiet and accept it. Well, this member of the little people thinks this is BS!!!

  2. Costner on March 15, 2011 at 6:21 am said:

    “The system is built for public input,” Rolfing said. “The way I remember it, there is going to be plenty of time for public input when all of the information is received.”

    Depending upon what those consultants are looking at, Rolfing has a point. If the consultants are looking at real facts such as traffic usage, parking availability, economic impact etc then there is no need to gather a bunch of public input that is based upon opinion and that may overlook the facts. We tried that under Munson and it didn’t work.

    What we need is the updated information about economic impact etc to be complete so people can see the real numbers, and then they can offer informed opinion rather than opinions that are based upon emotion or personal preference. At this point the public seems to still be in the dark about the whole project and therefore other than saying what you have (we need a funding source) I’m not sure what value the public can really offer.

    Yes we know there are members of the public who want it downtown, we also know there are members who want it at the current Arena site, and there are members who just don’t want it at all no matter the cost… but shouldn’t we have some real facts on the table before collecting all of that data? Leave the opinion polling up to the Argus and KELO, and give peopel a chance to comment directly on the project once we have some hard figures that aren’t cherry picked by either side.

    As to Brown, his comments are empty. He only wants public input when it aligns with his viewpoint. Try to talk to him about snowgates or some issue he disagrees with and he would rather the public kept quiet.

  3. l3wis on March 15, 2011 at 6:48 am said:

    You are right about Brown. I would agree we should see the information gathered, but we both know Huether will manipulate it.

  4. Costner on March 15, 2011 at 10:29 am said:

    Has anyone ever figured out why Huether seems to push the Arena location for the EC?

    Is it really because he just wants to get it done and he feels that is the greatest chance of success during his time in office? (Because the DT location requires tracks to be moved so it is possible we may not even break ground for years – long after Mayor Mike is gone).

    Or is there some vested financial interest at work either for him, or one of his supporters? Or is he really just taking the advice from consultants? Or did he ask the Ouija board to pick the location and now he is locked in?

    Surely there has to be some valid and logical reason – and I doubt it has anything to do with being anti-downtown because other than this one issue he seems to be a supporter of downtown and wants to continue the growth in the central core.

    Or

  5. The line that he’s anti-downtown because he believes it should be somewhere else is ludicrous.

  6. l3wis on March 16, 2011 at 8:29 am said:

    I found out an interesting tidbit. Councilor Harley-Davidson still owns his property on Burnside and is on the list to receive a liquor license. He has been thinking about opening a bar/restaurant at that location. Imagine that, only a few blocks from the Arena.

  7. Entenmann was also on the first task force that was unanimous for a downtown site. Things have changed and if you want to know why = follow the money.

    The Mayor has also campaigned in downtown expressing support for a downtown facility, then came back and said those who heard him say that are confused or liars. He invited himself to a DTSF meeting and told them they weren’t doing their jobs and perhaps they should be consolidated with FSF and the Chamber. How do you on one hand say you are doing everything you can to promote downtown while at the same time insist the area isn’t suitable for a $100 million Events Center investment? The idea that the Mayor is pro-downtown is laughable.

  8. l3wis on March 17, 2011 at 7:04 pm said:

    Sy – Have you seen the anti-BID signs DT yet? I guess there is one in the window of the Book Store. It’s in the same font as BID except it has a circle around it and a cross thru it. I guess it is pretty cheeseball.

    I’m still waiting for the Pro-Arena group to come out publicly, oh, that’s right, their isn’t one.

  9. Last week KSFY had morning interviews about each location. BID’s Brendan Reilly did the downtown one and Cooper came in to do the Arena one. Cooper’s isn’t online anymore..hmmm:

    BID’s:

    http://www.ksfy.com/global/category.asp?c=185294&clipId=5646642&topVideoCatNo=189430&autoStart=true

    Cooper:

    http://www.ksfy.com/global/category.asp?c=185294&clipId=5650657&autostart=true

    He dodged the point blank question of “what do you prefer” but is laying the foundation for the “We need more flat floor space” argument. He denies that we would need to tear down houses along Western, but that was on the Mayor’s powerpoint presentation as a possibility for parking. Cooper was also on the first task force that was unanimous for downtown, but has since changed his mind to keep his job.

  10. You’d swear from all of this babbling that the current Arena site is miles and miles away from downtown. It’s not.

  11. l3wis on March 20, 2011 at 7:47 pm said:

    Funny. Which brings up a great Detroit Lewis moment.

    Last summer, I think, I attended an outdoor concert at Nutty’s North, The Rev was playing. My ride left me, because she was being her normal princess self, so I decided to walk home. It was a nice evening so me and a cohort trekked back downtown.

    Didn’t take us long. So you are right, very close.

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