Stace Nelson unveils his campaign bus (van)
l3wis 
Now remember Stace, make sure you disclose how much you paid for the window paint and who you bought it from or SOS Gantless and AG Jackboots will take you to court.
August 2013
You have to find a parking spot to find a parking spot in DTSF
So this is how it works kids. If you want to use your GPS on your phone to find a parking spot, first you have to find a parking spot to use your phone. See it is against the law (texting ban) to use your phone in that capacity while driving, so you must first park to find a parking spot, or as Q-Tip Smith has suggested, have a friend along. Hopefully your friend has parking in front of their house so you can pick them up, or they can pull a Dukes & Hazard and try to jump in the car while driving by (I think that is legal, but I am sure councilor Erpenbach is working on an ordinance to make it illegal. I think I heard her saying in a meeting one day “I’m gonna get those Duke Boys”.)
Sioux Falls has an ordinance against using hand-held devices to send text messages or emails or surf the Internet while a person is driving or in traffic. The ordinance does not prohibit the use of internal or dashboard navigation devices, but the ban would encompass using GPS on a smartphone.
Smith said he encourages drivers to have a passenger access the site or, if there is no passenger, to pull over, access the site, and then put the phone a cup holder while it gives directions out loud. Smith said it’s his practice to pull over first before using his phone.
The city is also going to train meter peeps to be nicer 🙂
Meter enforcement officers will wear bright gold shirts and undergo customer service training so they can help people downtown.
Wonder why they don’t just hire nice peeps to begin with? I am just saying. Maybe riding around on that Hoveround all day makes them angry? Maybe they should install a massager seat on them. You will also have the option to pay your parking ticket online now. Now that’s customer service! They also have a new logo. As Q-Tip Smith says, “Just look for the Gold P!” I guess versus the brown P.
FINAL Push today for SON
PETITION HAND IN FOR TODAY, OR Sign the petition,:
You may drop your petitions off at one of the following locations or sign up until 2 PM:
Minnehaha County Admin building: 8-3:30pm—a notary will be present at this site—bring your ID!
Main Library: 9-3:30pm
Callie Branch Library: 9-3:30pm
**You may also contact Erin at 366-1077 for information on how to turn in your signatures!
We will have notaries ready & willing to drive to you in order to obtain your signatures if needed!!!
The effort needs to finish strong! They have asked everyone who has a petition with even one signature on it, to turn it in. Every signature is needed.
My conclusions on the Dan Willard robocall case
While the jury is deliberating, I will give my two-cents. First off I had the opportunity to listen to a bulk of the trial.
Daniel Willard, 31, is accused of violating a law requiring political communications to disclose the person or organization paying for them. He’s also accused of violating another law requiring political communications to contain an address or website address for the person or organization paying for them.
The four charges are all Class 1 misdemeanors, punishable by a maximum of one year in jail or a $2,000 fine.
While I detest both attorneys involved, I felt Willard’s attorney, Shawn Tornow had a better showing. He based his whole defense on Willard being more part of a ‘advocacy’ group instead of a PAC, comparing it to MADD (Mothers against drunk driving). I thought Tornow’s defense was legitimate, and I feel the jury will find Willard not guilty.
I felt the prosecution (Joel Arends) was sloppy at times, and Gant’s testimony was filled full of ‘I don’t knows’ and ‘I don’t have the document in front of me.’ At times it felt like Gant was mocking Tornow and Willard from the stand and had this attitude that he was going to do anything in his power to not answer any questions, and he did a pretty good job of it, which I only think helped the defense.
I feel Willard is innocent because he is simply a private citizen voicing his opinion about certain legislators, perfectly within his free speech rights or as a head of an advocacy group. I do take offense though with the legislators who may have been involved, like Stace Nelson. He should have stayed out of it.
I guess we will see what happens when the gavel drops.
The SF Entertainment tax
“Eat up, we gotta pay for those escalators at the Pavilion somehow.”
Today I had the pleasure of being Dr. Staggers lunch guest at his Kiwanis club meeting. Today’s speaker was mayor Huether. I asked him now that the entertainment tax will be paying off all of the bonds if the money can be used for maintenance on city owned (entertainment) buildings.
He did not know the answer but told me that finance director Tracy Turbak would get back to me with an answer. Tracy called me promptly about an hour ago to say YES, the monies can be used for maintenance.
This means any further maintenance or upgrades to the buildings will come from that tax instead of the CIP. It is a good milestone for the city.
And kudos to Huether and Turbak for getting back to me so quickly.
See, I’m not always a Debbie Downer.