July 2022

Sioux Falls City Council will finally approve FREE youth bus rides all year long

UPDATE: Public Transit advocates have told me they were aware of the changes, BUT were never given a timeline when they would go in effect so it comes as a pleasant surprise to them.

If I am reading this correctly it looks like the mayor wants to give free rides to youth on public transit all year long (item #35);

I’m glad to see they will be attempting to make this change. Rapid City has done it for several years. This will also alleviate some strain on the School District’s bussing system. While the mayor is the sponsor, I don’t think there will be any no votes on this.

It is a little disappointing that the council did not bring this forward considering they are 1) the policy body and 2) been urged by advocates for several years to make this change. Apparently the mayor got the message while the council is still hanging out in the cornfields looking for ways to getting out of forming policy on things like the bunker ramp and tornado sirens.

Former South Dakota blogger nails Sioux Falls government in one sentence

Tim has decided to leave SD;

Sadly, I have to admit I’d come to regard South Dakota with Contempt. I’ve been “Noemed” and “wing nutted” to death. It’s simply no longer the state I’ve known for more than half a century.

I would agree with Tim this is not the state I grew up in, one-party rule has destroyed any hopes of progression or freedom. It really has become an authoritarian regime from the top down. I have told many people when I retire, the only part of Scott that will be living in SD is a mail box.

…And while it may be the case in many cities, Sioux Falls kowtows to developers and the financially well-off. There’s little concern for what the citizens want and little to no transparency.

Sioux Falls government has really become a plutocracy (a country or society governed by the wealthy.) When you have a newly elected councilor (Merkouris) having to ask the city’s emergency manager who writes policy (tornado sirens) and that manager responding ‘the mayor’s office’ you really start scratching your head as to why we even have a city council when the dictator and mostly the deputy mayor is calling the shots. (FF 47:20)

Wholestone Foods cleverly finds a loophole in the slaughterhouse petition

I gotta hand it to them, it seems WF found a way around the petition;

Wholestone Farms plans to open a custom butcher shop at the location planned for its future pork processing plant — before a November election that could prohibit the company from expanding here.

Construction is starting “imminently” on the shop, which will be located on the 170-acre property in northeast Sioux Falls near Benson Road and Interstate 229, near Gage Brothers Concrete Materials.

Butchering will begin there before a November election, when a proposed ordinance expected to be placed on the ballot could lead to meat processing plants being prohibited within the city limits.

By having an operating processing plant before the election means that the petition, if passed, cannot STOP Wholestone from expanding;

As you can see from the petition language, if a processing plant is operating in Sioux Falls before the ordinance is passed, it can expand, which means nothing would be stopping WF from building the bigger facility hooked to the existing butcher shop.

In a statement, Robert Peterson, treasurer of the Smart Growth Sioux Falls campaign, said:  “This smells like a hastily concocted attempt to thwart the will of over 10,000 concerned citizens of Sioux Falls who believe the city voters should have a say on any future slaughterhouses in Sioux Falls.”

It kinda smells like you just got punked!

Large Crowd for Democratic Party Picnic tonight

Two things that will get me out of the house, free food and 5 blocks away 🙂 The pasta salad was fantastic!

I had a chance to talk to several candidates. A word of advice, the younger candidates need to loosen up a bit, they are wound tighter than a $2 watch.

One of the things I heard the most was the nastiness of the SD GOP Chair, Dan Lederman. You know that non-Christian guy who has a business in Iowa and lobbies for the Theocrat Saudis and CO2 pipelines.

His comment about the ‘clown car’ struck a nerve, and they are on fire about it. Dan would surely know what a clown is since he practices the art everyday.

It was a great event and the Dems need to duplicate events like this in every county and town in the state.