South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

November 2012

Kristie Fiegen PUC Matt McGovern

Will Matt McGovern be Tuesday’s surprise?

l3wis 13Comments

Trust me, I didn’t think he had much of a chance, but polling has been showing otherwise;

The most recent survey by Nielson Brothers Polling (NBP) shows Public Utilities Commission (PUC) candidate Matt McGovern as the strongest statewide Democratic candidate. In the NBP survey of likely South Dakota voters, conducted from October 28 to October 31, McGovern leads Republican Kristie Fiegen by 6 percent (45 to 39 percent). Libertarian Russell Clarke receives 5 percent of support, with 11 percent “undecided.”

Besides Neilson’s, sometimes skeptical polling, there has been internal polling by the Dems and Repugs.

McGovern is ahead.

I have learned from following politics not to hold my breath though – but – I will wish Matt luck.

Fiegen would wreak havoc on the PUC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ToC8pQrCY[/youtube]

(Guest Poster contributed to the following)

Think about this for a moment and we see Xcel the holes to the discussion.  Why should we allow Xcel charge us for jet travel when a Cessna 182 or other prop plane will do the job with all the same arguments?  Xcel is lying and they know it.  Why should we care if they are a multi-billion dollar company so their CEO has to be paid like the others, leaving us to suffer under their excessive CEO salary structure?  It is not our fault they decided to build their debt load to get richer.  NSP used to be a well-run organization but we are now suffering under the Enron greed model.  South Dakota rate payers should only “have” to pay for required trips to South Dakota and no more.  These trips should be reimbursed at a standard PUC approved rate.  So cost effective for who and how?  The only way to question this activity is have someone on the board who has not had the pleasure of Leaving on a Jetplane.

Also noted here is Fiegen’s statement: “I live in real-ville, fighting for South Dakota families and their pocketbooks every day — not politics,” Fiegen said in an email. “And I will continue fighting for South Dakota families for the next six years.” Since when is the political Queen of South Dakota ALEC living in ‘real-ville’?

These planes are luxuries for the side benefit of the CEO and Boards only justified by occasional use by staffs.  Private industry can have them because they have to justify them in their profit and loss statements.  Regulated Public Utilities are not private corporations when it comes to the law.  We may not own them directly but the state PUC has full rights to all transactions for the setting of rates to ram own our throats.  This is an expense frill for the “managers” of the business to make themselves more ‘important’.

Costco SF City Council Sioux Falls

More on the COSTCO/Developer TIF.

l3wis 4Comments
Supporters of public education, not developer welfare
Sorry, but I am still suspect about the the necessity of the COSTCO Tif. I think my main concern comes from the fact that COSTCO is not a company that likes TIF’s. As I understand it, they really didn’t want it, this was more of a developer want then anything.
The developer claims that the site is still contaminated even though, at one time, the city got a letter from SD DENR saying otherwise. (This has been confirmed by several people – in fact, someone reminded me this morning there was plans to build a ‘Children’s safety park’ at the location after the tank farm left. Would the state sign off on the site being clean enough for a children’s park if they knew it wasn’t?)
That being said, if the TIF was really only needed to reimburse costs of environmental clean-up it has gone above and beyond that. Was the contamination claim a ploy to get the TIF? I think it is being used as a true incentive to “land” Costco which had already landed, as I said in earlier posts. COSTCO doesn’t publicly announce something unless the ‘I’s’ are dotted and the ‘T’s’ are crossed.
What’s really interesting is that at the beginning of 2011 a representative of COSTCO visited the City – one of the things they made very clear was that they weren’t interested in a TIF.  They do not like the perception it can create that they are taking taxes from the school district.  Instead they mentioned that they typically request a sales tax rebate so that any incentive they receive is soley based on how well they, as a business, perform.
It seems the issue is residing with the developer and not the retailer at this point.
Questions remain;
• Why did the City set a precedent for offering a TIF outside of the core for a retail project?
• What does this mean for Sioux Falls three years from now in terms of the number of districts we have and tax base that is not being allocated to the taxing entities?
• Why didn’t Target at Dawley Farm then receive a TIF?  They did request one.
• Why aren’t we justifying the use of the incentive anymore?
I guess the city council received a DRAFT policy that they could discuss in reference to the use of a TIF, if not for any other reason than to have them acknowledge that there should be a policy that the administration can utilize when dealing with developers so that everyone knows what the rules are and the administration can stand behind those rules moving forward and developers / property owners demand that their projects go to Council and supercede the administration.
Why hasn’t the council seemed interested in pursuing these policies in the future? Seems the rubber stamp is an easier approach.
SF City Council Sioux Falls

Mayor’s Neighborhood summit

l3wis 10Comments

This is what Detroit looks like when he has to get up a 7:30 AM on a Saturday

I attended this today. There was a Q & A Listening and Learning session at the beginning. The mayor brought up code enforcement. When I had a chance to get the microphone I reminded the citizens of their constitutional property rights and told them the city needs to adhere to them when handling cases. I also told the people in attendance that the city has lost many cases because they are not adhering to those rights. I also got in this plug,

“You should see how much the city is spending on private legal advice, I advise you to look at those expenditures in the budget. We could fund snowgates for the next 20 years on those costs alone. (paraphrasing).” (I will post the video when it becomes available)

Code Enforcement Czar for the city, Kevin Smith said that the city is using something called the International Property Maintenance codes as a model.

WOW!

Of course the mayor threw it back at the city council to reform the codes.

What I don’t understand is why are we modeling our code on the IPM code, why not write code that is in conjunction and cooperation with the community? Because maybe that would take work.

I said, “It is a property owner’s decision on how they want their property to look, not my neighbors or the citys.”

snow removal Snowgates

SNOWGATES ELECTION: The Answer is YES!

l3wis 7Comments

Does the SF City Council have the right to call a special election with the SF School district w/o the mayor’s direction or approval?

The answer is YES, they do.

I am fortunate to have many well-rounded South DaCola foot soldiers leave ‘items’ on my porch for review, buy me adult beverages, and even make a bet or two with me, but the legal beagles in my army are my favorites. One of them called me today.

According to their expertise on all things ‘city’ they said that the city council can take action on their own without the mayor’s approval on whether they want to join the SF School board election in the Spring.

This is wonderful news, but also a bit troubling.

Will certain city councilors wait for the mayor to hold their hands through this process, or will they just rip that band aid off already? Trust me, this will separate the leaders from the followers on the city council, watch closely, you never know when someone will edit the tape or censor a memo.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ESBwINbQM[/youtube]

snow removal Snowgates

SNOWGATES: Is mayor Huether Stuck up?

l3wis 18Comments

This statement by Mayor Huether during the snowgates press conference says all we need to know about his membership in the ‘Land & Aristocracy Class’ he presides over in Sioux Falls (AL recording);

“We have a responsibility to do this right,” Huether said, adding that he wants to make sure implementing snowgates is a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. “Just because somebody wants something doesn’t mean we’re just going to automatically do it without doing the proper due diligence.”

While I agree we must be prudent with tax dollars, I question his ‘prudence’ with projects like the Events Center and the River Greenway project. It seems that when his buddy Ol’ pals ask for indoor tennis and pickleball courts that is not a want, it is a ‘prudent’ need. But when we ask the city to stop blocking us into our homes after we pay them to clean our streets, that is a ‘want’.

I could say that Mike is arrogant, ignorant or even hypocritical. But that is just fleeting descriptive rants.

I would love it if the mayor would explain to us how wants like free landscaping for developers funded by taxpayers is ‘prudent’ but proper snow removal is something that needs to be ‘studied’ further.

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