September 2013

Meet the new boss same as the old boss (H/T – GP)

l3wis September 22, 2013 13Comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q[/youtube]

SKrebs wouldn’t know how to be nonpartisan if it came up to her as a makeup counter attendant and applied the reality. She is an ambitious person who only wants power for herself, family and those who pay, ALEC. Her husband was a nice enough news reader for the second place Sioux Falls TV station who now uses his connections and power to return Marion M. Rounds back to a front row power seat. Shantel is just part of the PG13 program.

Shantel does not believe in the freedoms she espouses. She has proved this in everything she has done in her public and private work (former shoe salesperson). Just the way she blew off the courthouse petition gatherers and let those who witnessed, she did not believe in the petition process.

Krebs is a cog in the wheel of ALEC puppet power system. She will only do what Jason Gant could not get done for them. There must be a complete control system for all positions of responsibility in Pierre and she will make sure Gant’s ALEC plans are carried out.

Montgomery did a good job of outlining why South Dakotans should be afraid of Shantel.

The statement reportedÂ â€œshe wouldÂ â€œdo whatever it takesâ€Â to help Republicans win every single statewide office on the ballot next year, include secretary of stateâ€œÂ says it all whenÂ she is in office.

How much will her husband and his personal connections to power assist in her effort.

Opposes early-voting sites to three other reservation and probably any other place where the GOP majority could be â€œharmedâ€.

Also note, she went to the former ALEC SOS, Chris Nelson, to get his advice. Doesn’t his make you warm and cozy?

Montgomery also throws more into the pot with this postÂ Nelson hits Gant’s performance.Â Shantel is getting advice from Nelson as Nelson dumps on Gant. Just remember, Nelson was SOS with control over the Help America Vote Act $9 million fund. He did nothing to help the Native American citizens to vote. Nelson was also SOS during the Lake Andes Native American voter harassment program to scare them away from voting for Daschle.

So Krebs promises to be nonpartisan, sure she will. You betcha, Â just like Gant and Nelson…

Sioux Falls Winter

We need a public indoor pool because ‘Gosh Darn’it’ people are getting diabetes

l3wis September 22, 2013 39Comments

“Nobody cares about me anymore since they built that public indoor pool.”

I have often chuckled at our mayor when he attributes diabetes with not having a public indoor pool. Let me clue him in, people who are not active, are not active, whether that is winter or summer.

I also get a kick out of the people who claim they need indoor swimming and tennis. If you don’t like the change of seasons in SD, I suggest you move somewhere warmer so you can enjoy these activities all year long.

So I have compiled a list, which I am sure my readers could add to, that are great ways to burn calories in the winter, and some are quite fun, and believe it or not FREE!

Curling

Bicycling

Ice skating

Ice Hockey

Downhill and cross-country Skiing and Snowboarding

Sledding

Hiking

Rock Climbing

Walking

Ice Fishing

Snow shoeing

Sn0w shoveling

Build a fort, igloo, wall or snowman

Creat a snow sculpture

Bird watching,Â Tracking Â animals, nature walks

Play hide and seek or tag

Winter scavenger hunt

Sioux Falls

Perception

l3wis September 20, 2013 0Comments

Had to laugh while looking at the city’s monthly financial reports. I noticed they added ‘cents’ to the 2013 numbers, but not to the 2012 numbers.

MMM, what a salesman!

Sioux Falls

I’ve got some good news & I have some bad news

l3wis September 20, 2013 34Comments

While this is certainly a good thing;

Cities that want to support business and job growth can look to Sioux Falls as a model, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Sioux Falls is one of seven cities featured in a new report on â€œenterprising cities,â€ which shows how municipalities can provide the infrastructure and policies businesses need to grow.

This is great news if you are moving a business to Sioux Falls or if you are looking to expand business in Sioux Falls. No doubt, as a business owner you have many benefits of doing business in Sioux Falls. SBA loans have very low interest rates, there is NO corporate income tax, wages are low and productivity is high. So YES, as a business owner, this is wonderful news;

In calling attention to the report Thursday, Mayor Mike Huether reiterated his strategy to run the city like a business.

â€œThis is an environment where businesses thrive, and we’ve been going at it for years,â€ he said.

Well Yahoo! But what does this good news mean for employees and citizens? While it seems Sioux Falls ‘Get’s it’ when it comes to business and economic growth where are we lacking?

– Food. Many people in our community depend on SNAP and food banks to just feed their families and with cuts to SNAP this will only get worse. One has to question wages in Sioux Falls when a working man can’t even afford to feed his family on the wages he makes.

– Median income in SD has gone up. While this is great news, it only happened because the rest of the nation is doing so crappy and losing, not making gains on median income. This tells me that while the SF economy is strong, our median income only went up because everyone else’s went down. This shows me that Sioux Falls residents have been some of the most underpaid in the nation for a very long time.

– Living wages & underemployment. While our unemployment rate sits at 3%, it still doesn’t tell the bigger picture of underemployment and many SF residents holding several jobs to make it. If the city really wants to support business growth in Sioux Falls, they must also require these businesses to pay living wages and solid healthcare benefits. Obamacare’s biggest failure was not providing single-payer healthcare, which would have alleviated many businesses with the exploding healthcare costs. But business should provide healthcare to their employees, a healthy workforce saves businesses money and a living wage makes happy employees, which makes happy customers.

– Affordable housing. I am often amazed when I hear what some of my friends pay for renting an apartment in Sioux Falls. In some cases I could pay two mortgages on my house for what they pay in rent. The biggest problem is that apartment units are controlled by just a few companies, they have almost a monopoly on rental property. When rent is 75% of the wages you are making, how can you expect someone to live off the remaining 25%? The city needs to get more involved with getting developers to build affordable apartments, especially with all the grants and TIF’s they receive already. providing TIF’s to build luxury hotels and condos just doesn’t cut it.

– Public Transit. Let’s admit it, public transit in SF is a joke, and it is too expensive. The city really needs to take the bull by the horns on this, and a public/private partnership may be the solution.

– Record development and Annexation. It seems the city has learned nothing from the last time they were full steam ahead on development, the bottom fricking dropped out, not just here but across the country. The other problem with increased annexation is keeping up with infrastructure. Have we learned nothing from the exploding sewer mains, flooding and pot hole ridden city of just a few years ago? The more infrastructure we build new, the more we have to maintain, it comes to a point where it is unsustainable or unaffordable or both. The city needs to concentrate on developing and redeveloping within city limits. Just drive around this town sometime and look at all the empty lots and property’s for lease. Do we really need to continue to expand? Or do we need to just put a new coat of paint on Sioux Falls?

While I applaud the business sector for making themselves lots of cashola, it’s time the work force in this city shares in the glory, and it all starts at city hall.

Music Sioux Falls