In the latest episode of Greg Belfrage’s Mayoral blab fest, once again, Mike is in complete denial of the rising violent crime rate in our city and blows it off as a result of fast growth, meth and alcohol use and mental illness. Huh? We will get to that in a moment.
But before all the talk about locking up your car and crime, the mayor told Smello radio listeners that we have ALWAYS paid for infrastructure upgrades to sewer and water from the enterprise funds.
Now I think he is just lying for the fun of it.
He also thanked councilors Anderson and Karsky for getting the EC built and Snowgates tested, then mumbled something about struggling with Jamison and Staggers.
But back to crime. While it should be NO surprise the chief denier is in denial over our soaring crime rates, his comment about blaming the mentally ill for this rise in crime is neither productive OR truthful.
He gets on the other Smello media source and says;
many Sioux Falls crimes stem from drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental illness.
The city is going to combat each of these issues? I know it’s illegal to be drunk or high walking down the street, but now it’s going to attract attention from city officials if you have a mental health issue and dare to go out in public?
I guess the county jail had better stock up on cots and plan on at least two people per cell when there’s a concert at the event center, the city is going to start rounding up not only the homeless, but alcoholics, drug addicts, and people with mental health issues too.
So while the state has formed a task force to ensure people with mental illness get better treatment than they do now, and hopefully spend less time in South Dakota’s criminal justice system, once again the Sioux Falls Mayor knows better and instead has preemptively decided that people with mental health issues are criminals and a matter of public concern. Hello ACLU?
No wonder the city can’t keep a human rights coordinator.
I am very offended by this Mayors stance on mental health. From Kelo, “He says many Sioux Falls crimes stem from drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental illness. He vows that city officials will continue to combat each of these issues, but also says it’s up to everyone in the community to do their part in slowing down crime.”
Combat mental health? Combat it? How about making sure services are available for those that need it or offering services to those that do not realize they need it. That’s a start.
I can tell you from experience as a Mother of a son with mental health issues and the daughter of a parent with mental health issues, combatting it is not the answer. And quite frankly, that is offensive to me and my family.
Do I need to be worried about my son or parent each time they walk out of the house, in public, because now mental health in public is a crime?
He owes me and every resident of Sioux Falls that has a mental health issue or someone they love or know that has a mental health issue, an apology. That was beyond insensitive and scary to those suffering with mental health issues.
But considering he had the perfect opportunity to bring mental health awareness to the forefront and do something positive with his Mayoral position, he fired that former firefighter that was bi-polar. Way to go. Way to drop the ball and combat mental health. Disgraceful.
So the mentally ill are deemed criminals by the Mayor of Sioux Falls? Masturbation causes blindness, toads cause warts and you can get clap from the toilet seat.
Maybe he looked in the mirror and realized how black his kettle is.
All the mental illness people along with the dog owners who don’t pickup dog poo outside the mayors window and all the native Americans will most likely be relocated to east of the railroad tracks after a wall like trump wants to construct will sanitize the down towner loft jerks and and city hall a clowns. Doesn’t the hubris have issues with talking to himself or some one in his head. I cannot believe he and the idiot council spent us into the poor house and then expects a utopia.
The only thing the mentally ill and the disabled are to the Mayor are a photo op. Once the the camera is off, he will cut your funding forget any promises to help.
Huether’s opinion of the mentally ill is disturbingly like at least one other dictator from history.
My previous post I also should have stated that the resources are so lacking in this town like mama bear stated. We are just like all the other big cities with everyone wanting to be too busy to give a damn. Sad what this mayor and council have decided to show their true face to all of us and wonder why issues. The swimming pool at spellerberg for rich paid by the poor. If taxes go up. So does rent. Utilities go up. Less income for a better life. Our city leaders don’t care anymore. Just a name on a building . On an on and on the same dumb path
For Huether to see criminal mental health, he need only look in the mirror. He’s lame now with the new council. Tolerating him till the end of his term is hard. Try some ‘listen and laugh’.
Think of the mental health issue and the city response this way: if the assistance has to come from funds drawn against the 1st penny sales tax receipts it cannot be done. The city has an overdraft in the funds. This mayor has bankrupted the first penny paying for the operation of all his playthings. No money left to help the least among us.
With the new swimming hole coming on line this year, we will be out of wack by another $1.5 million. What is going to give? Mental health, paratransit, bus service, pothole brigade, street sweeping, outdoor pools, parks and more will be sacrificed to keep the playthings operational.
A major overlooked issue in this year’s campaign was the fact the city had to dip into the reserve accounts just to pay the basic bills. Sioux Falls has been running on growth / revenue projections of 6% to 8% for several years as if the boom times were never going to end. The boom town bill paying time is right now starting and it is turning out to be a big BOOM.
We will not see an improvement in our town’s situation for several years because we have been pushed into the excitement of uncontrolled growth at the expense of stability. The stronger and bigger the growth the harder the fall. Get ready.
Not only shame on the Mayor, but shame on the media for letting him get away with those comments.
People with mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be the victims of violent crime than the general population.
Meth
Alcohol
Mental Illness.
One obvious factor missing. Poverty. This city has 36,400 jobs that pay less than $11 an hour. Siouxfallshasjobs alright. Part time no benefits jobs that pay very little.
Alcoholism and drug abuse can be the direct results of poverty, not to mention the stress of poverty can result in mental illness like extreme depression and manic.
While I’m certainly not a fan of the mayor, I’d say some of your responses are simply knee jerk and self centered.
Can we the people of this city deny that many of the crimes are due to chemical dependancies and or mental illness?
As a resident with family and friends who work in both
police and emergency medicine careers, I know that many (NOT ALL) people who are arrested have chemical or mental health issues which contributed to their arrest. The way in which we deal with people who have these issues is outdated, underfunded and wrong headed.
If we keep crucifying everyone who speaks a truth that may not be popular with someones personal view, we simply will never fix the issues which are toughest to solve.
He didn’t say all drunks, drug addicts and mentally ill are criminals. He didn’t say all or most of crime is being committed by addicts or the mentally ill. He said many. A fact. So get over it.
I listened to the show and most of what he said about funding of infrastructure was half truths and fact manipulation. He is a person who simply cannot deal with the truth in government funding. He wants things and pays for it from the needs kitty.
He would be a damn good credit card company executive. Very shitty public official.
Warren_Phear is right. If you look at most studies and statistics, the number one indicator of crime is income level.
So once again the mayor is wrong, shooting off his mouth about things he knows nothing about. If he wants to decrease crime, increase the number of higher paying jobs.
LJL, I would agree with you, the mayor simply stated his feelings which are true. I think it was the TONE of the way he said it, like, Oh well, I don’t care, get over it. Not the response we should expect from a leader. His response could have been, “Let’s face it folks, drugs, alchohol and mental illness contribute to most crime in our community, and as your mayor it saddens me. It also makes me want to do something about it, like supporting the governor’s plan to combat mental illness in our justice system, more drug courts that have proven to turn people around from addiction, and cracking down on manufactures and a distributors of meth.” The last part is where he failed the people of Sioux Falls.
As someone who has been criminally assaulted in the City Council chamber and has a broken tooth because of the unprovoked hit, crime can happen anywhere by anyone.
“The stronger and bigger the growth the harder the fall” #9. There’s been no reporting. Finance has double the employees. How many personnel does it take to lie? According to Huether there’s a boom. Indeed, there WAS a moment. Farm, credit cards, and medical sectors are all down. An average farmers income was 160k. This year it’s 35k. Credit cards are under attack with new Ipay forms, lower interest, and rising personal bankruptcys. Medical has cash flow issues due to Obamacare. The services sector suffers because there’s no demand when other business is week.
Post Huether, the sales tax oriented city budget might barely make credit payments. The days of city country club spending are over. If there’s no money for basic services and infrastructure repair, it’s time for legal insolvency. Perhaps the best way to restore democracy is a state court supervised reorganization. We’re ready for and welcome it. However, Huether belongs in federal prison for public funds fraud.
While I’m happy that you have friends and family working in police and medical emergency, telling someone that lives with someone that is mentally ill to simply “get over it”, doesn’t work and doesn’t help bring the issue of mental health awareness to light in a positive way.
This Mayor is the face of our city and coming out and saying he’s going to combat mental illness does not sound like he is bringing awareness to mental illness, but that he’s going to war against it. So if I’m being sensitive or self centered about it, you bet I am. Again, I have a son that is mentally ill and a parent that is as well. Either one of them could go out into public and do or say something at any given time that could make them a target. Instead of feeling safe that we have mental health awareness, now they’ll be treated like a criminal per our Mayors words of combatting mental health issues.
This was a blanket statement made by the Mayor that was insensitive and generalized everyone suffering with a mental health illness that never should been made.
Mental illness is not a “choice” to make. I can assure you that my son and my parent wish they weren’t mentally ill. More awareness and treatment options would help much better than useless rhetoric in the news or on TV inflaming citizen’s fears of marginalized people who already struggle to survive in a world that does not welcome them.
LJL – You and the Mayor are wrong. You both stated opinions without bothering to look up the facts.
I’m betting you wouldn’t be able to get any of your friends or family to go on record and make that “many” crime statement about the mentally ill.
It’s not that “many” crimes are committed by people with mental illness, it’s that people with mental illness get incarcerated at a higher rate than “normal people”.
So in case you’re having trouble understanding that, the prisons/jails have as many as 45-55% of their inmates with some type of mental illness, but violent crimes committed are about 5%, total encounters by patrol officers 7% (in cities of 100,000 or more).
So if cops are only interacting with the mentally ill 7% of the time, tell me again how they are responsible for “many” crimes?
By the way, advocating for others isn’t self centered.
And debunking others BS when they’re spreading crap, not the truth isn’t crucifying them either.
Attacking an entire group of protected-class people and throwing “many” of them in with a group of criminals when you were elected to represent them is what is wrong, especially when the facts don’t support you.
I have to disagree with LJL as well.
I’ve talked to law enforcement and EMS as well and they say they have only the same few people with mental health issues that they see over and over again.
They call them ‘frequent fliers’ and this minority are the ones that account for most all of their 10-96 calls.
Takes a special brand of clueless to go to the site of a violent murder to deliver a sermon about locking our homes, closing our garage doors and securing our vehicles !
If only the victim’s neighbor would have prompted him to close his garage door. /sarc
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/mayor-huether-talks-about-violence-in-sioux-falls
I feel safer knowing the mayor is out walking that beat. And while he’s in the neighborhood, he should go ahead and shovel some asphalt into that long gash in the gutter out in front of U-Haul before folks dump their motorcycles in it.
Read your own post Cluey. So how did the prisons become 45%-55% full of mentally ill? Seems your having the bigger problem understanding.
80% of offenders abuse drugs or alcohol.
Nearly 50% of jail and prison inmates are clinically addicted.
Approximately 60% of individuals arrested for most types of crimes test positive for illegal drugs at arrest.
https://ncadd.org/about-addiction/alcohol-drugs-and-crime
You only read what you want to, don’t you LJL?
Cops only stop mentally ill 7% of the time. That’s not “many”.
Somehow they magically account for half the jail and prison population.
The state (and many other states now) have put together a board to address this problem. Problem. They recognize there is a problem in the system where people with mental illness are getting put in jail instead of getting the help they need.
Most mentally ill can’t afford legal representation and end up with public defenders. They are lower income and that is the biggest determining factor if you will end up in jail or prison.
Judging by the statistics there is a greater chance of being found guilty if you have a mental illness just like there’s a greater chance of being found guilty if your skin is a different color.
It’s called prejudice. You and the Mayor have it.
BAHAHA…what a pile of pulled from your Ass statistics. You know your debate is thin when you start calling others prejudice.
For the last time.
“Many Sioux Falls crimes stem from drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental illness” is a statistical fact.
From the beginning you ignored the drug and alcohol abuse portion of that statement and therefore you are reading what you want.
You can have your opinions but not your own facts.
Are personality disordered council member’s and Mayor’s considered mentally ill and part of the criminal problem too?
LJL – Everything you posted was an opinion. I proved everything you posted was wrong. I did that using facts.
They weren’t pulled from my ass. They are from criminology books, peer-reviewed published papers, and statistics from law enforcement agencies from cities of over 100,000 people.
Just because the mayor said it, doesn’t make it true. Learn the difference between arrest rates, conviction rates, and incarceration rates, and then maybe you’ll have a better idea why the mayor’s statement is wrong, and why you are wrong defending it.
Follow your own advice about opinions versus facts.
let’s try this at a middle school level and see if that helps:
60 white boys commit crimes and 30 are found not guilty, and 20 get probation, and 10 go to prison.
30 black boys commit crimes and 20 are found guilty and 10 get probation and 10 go to prison.
10 mentally ill people commit crimes and 10 are found guilty and all 10 go to prison.
While these are “pulled from my ass” statistics, they represent what goes on in the U.S. criminal Justice system and it’s why we now have a task force looking why there are so many mentally ill people in jails and prison.
In the scenario above, the mentally ill only committed 10% of the crimes, but the account for 33% of the prison population.
As the resident expert on statistics LJL has been telling us since the Mayor said the mentally ill commit “many” crimes, it must be true. WRONG!
The real number is around 7%-10% but the incarceration rate is as high as 55%.
So tell me again genius how does committing around 7% of the crimes justify throwing an entire ADA protected class of people under the bus who are already fighting stigma, with drug users?
Let me get this straight.
LJL’s entire argument is based on the Mayor’s comment that “Many Sioux Falls crimes stem from drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental illness†and he’s claiming that’s a statistical fact? Seriously?
Then on top of that, he’s accusing others of “pulled from your ass statistics”. SMH
Seriously is Clueless being trolled or is LJL really that dumb?