Councilor Pat Starr on Inside Town Hall, March 2019
l3wis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfjMk9AEDJA
March 2019
Sunshine Week. It’s Your Right to Know. March 10-16, 2019.
Sunshine Week Open Government Proclamation
Section 1
WHEREAS, James Madison, the father of our federal Constitution, wrote that “consent of the governed†requires that the people be able to “arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives,†and
WHEREAS, every citizen in our participatory democracy has an inherent right to access to government meetings and public records; and
WHEREAS, an open and accessible government is vital to establishing and maintaining the people’s trust and confidence in their government and in the government’s ability to effectively serve its citizens; and
WHEREAS, the protection of every person’s right of access to public records and government meetings is a high priority of [name of governmental unit], and
WHEREAS, the [name of governmental unit] is committed to openness and transparency in all aspects of its operations and seeks to set a standard in this regard; and
NOW, THEREFORE, the [name of governmental unit] commits during this Sunshine Week, commemorating the anniversary of James Madison’s birth, and throughout the year to work diligently to enhance the public’s access to government records and information, to increase information provided electronically and online, and to ensure that all meetings of deliberative bodies under its jurisdiction, and their committees, are fully noticed and open to the public.
The City of Sioux Falls should convert to an electric fleet
Yesterday POET made a convincing argument to the city they should switch the city fleet to Flex-Fuel E-30. While I understand the reasoning, there are two opposing arguments; 1) there would be issues with warranties, 2) E-30 still contains 70% petroleum based fuels.
My thought was if we were going to go to the expense of starting to change the fleet over we should start bold.
My suggestion would to outfit all the city garages (parks, public works, administration building, etc) with solar panels and charging stations. We really should be switching our car and small SUV and truck fleet to electric. Not only is electric reliable, it would save the city millions in fuel costs. The city already gets affordable electricity from our own electric department, what electric recharging the solar panels could not provide could be subsidized by our own power grid.
On top of that, we would probably have the fastest patrol cars in the state. An electric vehicle can go 0 to 60MPH in 4 seconds. The initial investment would not be cheap, but it would pay huge dividends. Corn fuel, not so much. Don’t the Broin Brothers have enough money from government subsidies?
See how easy a compromise can be
Of course Mayor TenHaken and his staff will try to take credit for this;
The City’s proposal would convert Elmwood Avenue between 26th and 28th Streets into a northbound one-way street, add 42 diagonal public parking spots on the west side of Elmwood Avenue, add 10 parallel parking spots at the north end of east Elmwood Avenue, and a dedicated bus parking lane for students to load and unload in a safe manner.
This proposal preserves access to 26th Street and the pedestrian sidewalk, which was mentioned by neighbors who previously opposed the full vacation of Elmwood Avenue. The elimination of southbound traffic on Elmwood will help alleviate neighborhood safety concerns of congested traffic due to non-neighborhood traffic. Additionally, street parking congestion complaints should be quelled with the addition of the diagonal on-street parking.
This is the proposal that should have been suggested in the first place. It provides safe parking, safe drop-offs, and the one-way makes the now useable street safer. I hope the residents agree. While the council was not obviously involved in this compromise, the 3 that voted down the vacation need to be given the credit for forcing the city administration to create a compromise between the institution and it’s neighbors. I haven’t taken the temperature of the council yet on this new approach, but I am sure it will pass the council no problem. Better solutions come from negotiating with both parties.
Sioux Falls City Councilors only listen when you mime
Councilor Rolfing didn’t enjoy my Paganini impression.
I have probably talked numerous hours over the past 15 years in front of the city councilors. But it seems all that mouthing off never got their attention. It took my mime of playing a violin in the very back row of the council chambers last night to finally get a reaction out of them. As I was doing this during one of Kiley’s ‘Life is Beautiful’ speeches while referring to the Presentation Sisters apartment complex (that will pay NO property taxes) he yelled out something like this;
“Yeah, play your violin back there Mr. Ehrisman. Very direspectful sir, very disrespectful.”
I responded;
“Like you’ve never disrespected me?”
In which I let out a hearty laugh. Mayor TenHaken told me not to address the dais unless I was offering public input. PTH also gave a good stare at the security guard. I guess, according to state law, it’s ok to carry a concealed weapon into council chambers without a permit, but laughter will not be tolerated. Sorry, I will not be called out by an elected official sitting on the dais without reacting.
Which brings me to my point. They seem to be deaf, dumb and blind when citizens are testifying about the importance of transparency and good government but I guess the only way to get their attention is to publicly shame them. I better rosin up my bow.