Nick Weiland will be holding a press conference at the downtown library today at 2pm to make an announcement about his decision to run for At-Large against Councilor Christine Erickson.
Looked like a good turnout this year. I would guess more than last year.
Before we get in the weeds on this, for full disclosure I support ANYTHING that helps veterans.
So a veterans group has been trying to get a STATE veterans cemetery on the East side of the state for awhile. I think it is a great idea;
First, land needs to be bought or donated for the project. Council leaders said they’re confident the city of Sioux Falls will be willing to work with them.
While the Feds would possibly cover or reimburse the state up to $6 million dollars, there are a couple of sticking points. The state could possibly be on the hook to maintain the cemetery and the city could donate the land.
I’ll just say it. While I understand Federally funding war memorials and cemeteries, I have often argued for every dollar spent on war memorials we should spend the same amount on peace memorials.
I also think if we are going to spend money on veterans it should be on living ones for healthcare. Our country spends almost 3x more than our closest competitor in military spending, yet we have to have bake sales when it comes to healthcare for veterans or burial. It’s sad. I actually think veterans healthcare could be improved if we implemented a nation wide single payer system for ALL citizens, but that’s an argument for another day.
While I don’t take issue with a ‘partial’ donation of the city owned property or a reduced price, I don’t think we should give a 100% donation on such valuable property (Slip Up Creek area). I look at the Glory House land deal and how we had them pay a reduced price. While I disagreed with making them pay, since their services save taxpayers oodles of money, I also see the argument that ‘nothing is really free’.
I also see this with the city owned property. We have choices in the matter, we could certainly donate 100%, but we could also seek payment from the Feds or the State (which is really our money anyway) or we could say NO all together and sell it at a premium.
I think we should appraise the land, and sell it at a discount for the cemetery, but we shouldn’t just hand it over.
As we often like to say, ‘Freedom isn’t Free’ and neither is land.
The new position appears to be an assistant to Mr. Folkerts.
In the past the Pavilion has had either a curator or an assistant to the director.
It’s an Exhibitions and Collections Project Assistant. A new title that the Pavilion has never had, and when you read the job description, you will be scratching your head (DOC: Exhibitions & Collections Project Assistant Jan18)
‘Bachelors Degree in related field’ What does that even mean? What field?
The new position, like Mr. Folkerts, doesn’t require experience or professional museum training.
It seems the Pavilion is getting away from ANY museum/science professionals. The rumor in artists circles is the Pavilion is going to get away from having a ‘real’ arts center and ‘real’ science center, and I guess when you hire cartoonist pastors to take over these positions, what do you expect?
Each session will be conducted at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3801 E. 26th Street, from 1pm to 3pm.
The OLLI Community Lecture Series features presentations and panel discussions with leading professionals in a variety of fields. Each year, OLLI makes the series open to the public, at no cost, as a
way of thanking the community whose generous support has helped OLLI grow over the past eleven years. The goal of the series, in keeping with OLLI’s mission, is to inform participants about interesting and relevant topics.
No registration is required and there is no fee to participate. More information is available at www.olliuc.org. Questions can be directed to OLLI at 605-274-9528.
l3wis