Downtown Parking Ramp hammer about to drop?

Rumor has it that Sioux Falls city council has been put on notice; contract negotiations between the city and the parking ramp developer (Legacy) is almost complete, and they are going to ask the council to approve that contract this month, but will they?

Only two councilors so far have been vocal about a NO vote, Stehly and Starr. Stehly takes issue with Legacy’s close relationship with Hultgren Construction and the lack of transparency when it comes to investors (rumor is that Legacy doesn’t have any yet) and Starr takes issue with the corporate welfare aspect, handing over $17 million to a private developer who will provide us very little in return.

Really, anyway you look at it, the deal stinks, really bad. Even on a really windy day when JM’s is in full kill, the stink isn’t as bad as this deal. So what baffles me and many others in the community, why would possibly 6 councilors be on board with this? I don’t know. As one city official said to me today, “Where is the outrage from the public?” or more importantly what do we have to do to get the outrage?

This has to be possibly the WORST deal the city has ever cut since they gave $27 million for about $2 million dollars worth of land to the Railroad, and the trains are still running through downtown. A Boondoggle that didn’t solve the original problem, train traffic downtown.

Maybe that is why this deal will probably be struck, because the citizens really don’t care. They proved this with the RR deal, the indoor pool and the administration building (at least the public took a stab at that one).

I’m hoping the other 6 councilors wake up, or at least 4 of them to make the deal veto proof. I’m not holding my breath.