November 2023

Sioux Falls Annual ‘High Tea’ meeting happened last week

l3wis November 25, 2023 11Comments

While we like to jest here about the ‘Tale of Two Cities’ and the incredible income gap that exists in this community, there is a group of gents in this town that don’t let those things bother them. Some have referred to them as the ‘City Fathers’. I refer to them as ‘Developer Welfare Queens’.

Someone recently said to me, “You know how people say the Developers run this town? Well they do.” And while this statement is thrown around figuratively a lot, I got the feeling this person meant it literally.

You know the conspiracy; there is a secret cabal of very influential and powerful people running this community. If they are not at a secret board meeting they are attending the monthly key club gathering or receiving a relaxing ‘massage’ after a pressing game of golf.

I think my friend Jade refers to this as ‘Hookers and Cake’.

There are so many stories I am surprised no one has written a romance/mystery novel about it, and I am not talking about meeting your dreamboat at a tire change shop.

To often I hear snippets with no concrete evidence ever putting the supposed ‘fathers’ in the supposed ‘places’ at the supposed ‘times’.

I know, frustrating, and to tell you the truth, I have given up knowing I would never be invited to one of these gatherings.

In fact, I was invited to one of these gatherings a few years back, and the host who invited me got quite the ribbing about it. While no one approached me and asked how I snuck in, after the event the host had a lot of explaining to do. I played dumb when people told me about it. I just said, ‘I was there for the free apps and drinks, could care less what was discussed.’

Of course, at such public/private events the nitty gritty on how to control the minions in this town doesn’t come up in a casual conversation, those things happen in private, PRIVATE. And that is exactly what happened last week.

I guess the cabal of tired old fathers in town had their annual ‘High Tea’ this past week, or is it next week? It is hard to keep track.

The snarky title of their annual soiree doesn’t escape me;

High tea is a working-class meal eaten around five o’clock onwards, usually consisting of a hearty meal and a pot of tea. 

These group of folks wouldn’t know working class if it hit them like a $25 million dollar TIF.

So what was discussed? You know, the normal run of the day city operations like; massive tax rebates and TIFs for underserving luxury housing projects, keeping wages as low as possible, keeping affordable housing and food availability low, fill just enough pot holes to make it appear the city is doing something to fix our streets, avoid de-icing and plowing residential streets properly, make it very expensive to get a seat on the city council, de-regulate zoning laws, divvy up the dead animals from Lenin’s Tomb, monopolize garbage hauling, kill any and all moves towards sustainability, and make sure there are hundreds of plaques memorializing the incredible contributions of these robber barons.

So did any of this really happen? Who knows. I am just having a little fun speculating what it must be like to be a part of this extremely compassionate group 🙁 and if anyone asks me if I ever attended one of these meetings, my answer is always the same, “I’m just here for the free apps and drinks.” (and if you are really lucky you can catch a toke from one of the caterers back by the dumpsters).

SIOUX FALLS CITY COUNCIL TO GET AN UPDATE ON MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

So what’s next?

Briefing from the Israeli Consulate to the Midwest by Itai Biran, Consul for Political & Commercial Affairs, Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest

Maybe we should invite someone from Border Patrol to give us an update on the Southern Border crisis, or maybe we could invite the Secretary of Transportation and have a public meet and greet with him . . . wait . . .

I make my feelings known on the conflict, I support neither side, because of my strong feelings on diplomacy.

While I found the presentation odd for a local governing body, I can’t help thinking this may rub the Arab community the wrong way. Was a representative from the Palestinian government invited to also speak on the conflict?

Oh, Scott, you know the answer to that question.

I’m sure this will be our next city council presentation.

Sioux Falls opens first ‘Casino Gym’

l3wis November 23, 2023 3Comments

We knew this was going to happen eventually, a gym where you can also gamble!

We heard Sioux Falls City Councilor Neitzert exclaim recently there is a gym on every corner of this city. You know what else is on every corner (besides a cop taking a nap in their squad car)? A casino!

Lucky Steps Gym and Casino has opened in North Harrisburg (SE SF) and the place has been hoppin!

‘I toned my thighs while losing 20 bones in Joker Poker. You know what they say? No pain. No gain.’ said club member DarSea MisGivvins.

Owner Dirk Splendor said the concept works well, “I mean, people don’t feel the same guilt as they would sitting by themselves in some dark goofy casino in their Walmart hoodie. Even when they lose, they have still experienced a positive workout.”

I think one satisfied customer at Lucky Steps said it best;

“Some would say addictive personalities like to substitute one addiction for another, but what is great about this place is you can have both!”

(in an unrelated story, there is a local casino owner considering combining day care with a casino. While nothing is concrete, the name has already been selected; ‘Bet the Farm; Financial and Child Care Services’)

This post was a parody, just like all the casinos in this town.

Sioux Falls Charter Revision Commission has lost their freaking minds!

l3wis November 22, 2023 4Comments

I will say it again, “Can we have Justin Smith back?” (Justin was the former chair of the CRC)

The latest version of the CRC has been anything but cognitive. While they have incredible citizen proposals in front of them (eliminating the mayor as chair of council meetings and not allowing him to break ties-tie votes would fail, hiring a city manager, increasing the size of the council, eliminating term limits) one member of the CRC, a former private religious college administrator wants to let the council and mayor give themselves raises;

While I do agree councilors should be able to apply for benefits (Councilor Stehly asked for this and was denied) the rest of the proposal is ludicrous.

First, the obvious. The voters clearly rejected pay raises for the mayor and city council in the last city election, telling me they wanted to put the issue to bed.

But Mr. Zylstra just can’t let a sleeping giant rest.

The system works well. The mayor and city council get raises based on inflation/deflation, which;

• Eliminates any conflicts of interest

• Is in line with what the regular private citizen minion gets for raises

• Keeps the mayor and city council out of making controversial/unethical decisions

• Raises should be based on merit

It is pretty obvious to me that someone in either the administration or city council, or both, have roped Zylstra to bring this back door effort to give elected officials raises.

The council is a group of lazy asses that wouldn’t know work if it fell off of the top floor of the bunker ramp and knocked them in the noggin.

I will clarify, there are several councilors past and present who bust their asses and put in well over 40 hours a week. But they are an endangered species. I just look at councilor Selberg who has done virtually nothing but show up to meetings the past 8 years. A tree stump would have served us better (and probably would have talked more).

I am not opposed to looking at the council’s pay structure, but I think it should be based on how much work they put in.

In other words, every councilor should get a base pay, like they do now, but any hours they log going to citizen or other public meetings out of their scope of duties should be compensated for. They should also get merit pay based on how many emails and phone calls they respond to.

Just saying you ‘Work Hard’ doesn’t cut it for me.

The irony is if this does make it to the ballot, which I am sure this group of zombies will endorse, the voters will kill it. In fact, I encourage the city council to kill the proposal before it even makes the ballot.

Here’s the deal, even after councilors are elected they only have one boss, the taxpayer, and it is that very taxpayer that should decide what your pay is. They did that in the new charter and it has worked well since. I may claim to be progressive, but if something ain’t broken, don’t fix it!

Chair of Sioux Falls City Council meetings still has no clue what is on the agenda

l3wis November 21, 2023 5Comments

Well it’s week II of someone running a council meeting (Item #24) without having a clue what is on the agenda.

As you know, last week, the chair of the council meeting (Mayor TenHaken) couldn’t explain a simple agenda item that referred to a grant at the landfill.

He continued his ignorance of the agenda this week.

As you know, the chair engages in unconstitutional activity by cutting off public inputers by saying they are off topic. As I have argued in the past, there are several Supreme Court rulings that defend public inputers being able to discuss anything at the podium as long as it has to do with government, community, etc. In other words, you can discuss anything you want to at the podium as long as you are not threatening the public or the government body.

So when it came to the rental registration ordinance in the agenda tonight (which has been talked about publicly extensively) the mayor decided he would start cutting people off.

His fist attempt was with a gentleman who is a realtor. He suggested that the city council adds diversity and inclusion training for landlords (an 8 hour course on the Federal guidelines). The mayor apparently didn’t like the suggestion and told the inputer he couldn’t talk about it. The inputer, George, just kind of swatted the chair off like a fly and basically said he was addressing the landlord training in the ordinance and would like it to cover these Federal guidelines).

The next person came up to address the deplorable (her words) conditions of some rental properties in town. The mayor proceeded to try to cut her off saying ‘This only has to do with short term rentals.’ to which councilor Merkouris who is sponsoring the item says, ‘It is for short-term and long-term rentals’ to which the mayor allowed her to proceed after chewing up a minute of her time.

While I don’t expect the mayor to memorize the agenda, he should have general knowledge of each agenda item because 1) he is chairing the meeting and 2) he has to break ties.

So what if this would have come to a tie vote? The mayor would have to vote based on having zero knowledge of what the ordinance does.

Somebody told me the other day ‘The mayor has checked out.’

Yeah, he checked out 6 years ago when he was inaugurated.

I would suggest the two public inputers who were interrupted practicing their 1st Amendment rights file a formal complaint against the chair for 1st Amendment violations.

IMPLIED TRUSTS

During the city council discussion tonight on hiring outside counsel for investigating implied trusts, councilor Starr pulled it from the consent agenda;

The city attorney said they are investigating the trust in reference to the Delbridge Museum animals. What could this mean? If I had to make an educated guess the city is looking for legal loopholes so IF they dispose the animals they wouldn’t have to worry about being sued by the family (trust) but I am sure the plan is something more sinister knowing how badly the mayor wants to throw these animals in a wood chipper. If I was a part of the group trying to save the animals, I would encourage the family to also seek legal counsel before it is to late.

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Council discusses Parks Bond

l3wis November 21, 2023 1Comments

UPDATE: The city council told the administration during the presentation today that they would like to approve the park’s bonds before the new councilors get installed next Spring. As I said below, I would go a step further and put the bonds on the Spring ballot. The time couldn’t be better and it takes the responsibility off the backs of councilors who are walking out the door. I do believe they would pass with over 70% of the vote, but what makes the public vote even more enticing is it would show that the council cares about open government.

The city council is getting a presentation today on the possibility of parks department bonds for new aquatic facilities and a rec center.

I support a new public rec center, but once again, the location is questionable. I think the perfect location for the rec center is the Riverline District. It would be next to an existing outdoor pool and skate park, and centrally located, ironically the same location of the original proposal.

I also think these bonds should go to a public vote. With interest payments we are probably looking at being well over $80 million in taxpayer funds and that decision really should lie in the taxpayer’s hands.

I think the city council has the power to move the bonding decision to the voters and could put it on the Spring ballot and it would be wise of them to kick that can to the voters.

Also by state law, it would have to garner 60% of the vote to be approved. I think it would pass by at least 70% of the vote. I think most people in our community support the rec center.