January 2025

Let’s call the new bike trail expansion what it really is, a tax write-off

I get excited for new trails in Sioux Falls, as well as my bike riding crew, so we attempted to see this past weekend where the new bike trail addition goes and where it ends. It’s weird. As you can see the trail abruptly ends at a rural bridge on Bahnson only a block from Rice Avenue (FULL DOC);

It really is in the middle of nowhere. But, there seems to be a plan to extend it to Veteran’s Parkway, which is great, but with another 4 miles to go, it could take years and millions of dollars. Many folks have asked me how one mile of bike trail can cost almost $5 million. Look at the design. A bunch of private land needs to be purchased and apparently an elevated trail is needed (it is not). Oh, and a rich donor needed a tax write-off, so this was our best plan for the money? My suggestion to make this trail worthwhile and accessible quicker would be upgrading the bike lane/trail along Rice Avenue to Great Bear and extending to Veterans. This would require a small investment since a half ass bike lane already exists and just needs repaving and marking which should include a medium between Rice and the path;

I would also make this NEW extension pea rock and on natural footings which would save us millions. When the bike trail extended from Russell Avenue, around the airport to Falls Park it was pea rock for years, and was just fine. I was actually disappointed that they paved it. This is what happens when we let rich donors have a ‘VISION’. Their only ‘VISION’ is a tax write-off, and to Hell with what peeps really want, need, or even envision. I hate to say it, but the wealthy in our community and country really control what we get. And wants.

I have been thinking about throwing parties at the end of this trail under the bridge. Themes?

Mayor TenHaken to hold presser on rental code enforcement

This should be entertaining. Apparently Pastor Poops is feeling the pressure. I’m sure he will do what he always does, blame the tenants and tell them not to call him. I hope our diminishing press corps at this event will ask tough questions and hold his feet to the fire. As the chief administrator of our city he should be concerned for all renters (I believe 80% of our population in Sioux Falls rents, I saw this stat recently, but can’t find the reference, so just ‘Trump’ trust me on this one 🙂 Recently the council approved a 170 unit workforce housing complex that was in a perfect location and guess who was basically the only detractor? Another slumlord in town. I told a couple of councilors, ‘He is opposed because it will steal low income renters from him. I used to rent from this family, SLUMLORDS thru and thru.’ It’s time this city cracks down on these folks. I suggest the council put together a set of ordinances that would basically force slumlords out of operation, we will see if they have the courage.

Councilor Barranco suggests a ‘Renters Ombudsman’ in the city attorney’s office

This wasn’t the first councilor to make this suggestion. Councilor Janet Brekke, also an attorney and the first full-time city attorney, said they need a citizen’s ombudsman in the office to answer basic questions about property rights, etc. Personally, I think it is a great idea. The city attorney’s office works for us, we pay their wages and benefits and if we have a basic question about our legal rights as a citizen of this city, we should be able to get an answer. This in no way is expecting the city to represent a citizen in court, this is basically a Q & A service to citizens. I wouldn’t even be opposed to this person sitting on the staff of the HelpLine center with a dedicated line and funding from the city. This is important. There are so many slumlords in town and most people don’t know where to turn.

Barranco wants to add funding for this to this year’s budget and as he said in the budget hearing, he knows he has some work to do to win over his fellow councilors,

Also during this period in the meeting Chair Soehl ‘allowed’ other councilors to bring up their priorities with the budget, and that is what Barranco addressed. Lucy was rambling about something with the parks(?). Sorry, every time she talks I just tune out. Merkouris was talking about crime prevention funding, which I totally support, but then quickly went into the ‘kids’ which he brings up a lot. Hey, I’m with you man, but sometimes your priorities are whacked. Go serve on the school board already! This is all the things they address! The city’s responsibilities are simple; infrastructure, crime, fire. That’s it! If you want to help raise the kids of this community, sit on the respective board. It’s not the city council Rich. Curt’s priority was making sure we had ambulance funding in place in 2026 when the contract runs out. I would encourage the council to go a step further and put a plan together for a municipal ambulance service and compare that with a private service. Right now, we are getting screwed as taxpayers and patients! Basically the SFFD provides FREE EMT service and the private ambulance shows up as a taxi to the hospital and the city gets NO reimbursement for that service while the taxi service collects all the fees. With a muni service we hire a third party bill collector and we receive a commission on those rides, and if someone is unable to pay, it is a simple write-off by the city. This isn’t rocket science Curtis the Blurtist!

Sioux Falls Homeless Forum

I was surprised this was filmed, but after watching I realized that it was a live streaming event on SDPTV, so why didn’t the city livestream on FB and in YT? It often baffles me that the city will hold these live forums or debates and instead of livestreaming in YouTube they record and post later? WHY?! And why did we only get a day notice of the event? It was said during the event that this was in planning for weeks. Also, the moderator, Lori Walsh from SDPTV was only asking the questions sent to her from the audience on TV and in the crowd. Pastor Poops and her clashed when she asked why we can’t go to other communities for solutions, and it was his theme of the evening, blame others, point fingers at others, too big of a problem for him to solve then lastly ignore it because it is NOT my job. He went on to complain that many of these service providers are not sharing data with the SFPD. Why would they? There are Federal laws about peeps personal data and if you are seeking to acquire information about a certain individual you need to go to a judge and get a warrant. Does this guy even understand personal privacy? Just because you are living on the streets or a shelter doesn’t mean the same Federal laws don’t apply to you. It amazed me that most of the panel knew what they were talking about, even the DSS Secretary, Altoff, who tried to cover up sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese years ago, knew what he was talking about. Karksy and Poops, not so much. Paul has this attitude that if it is a problem to big for him to solve, he walks away. Pretty sad for a person who is supposed to be running our city. Still find it ironic when he was running for his first term he told the crowd at Democratic Forum he was going to close the Dudley house because he would solve homelessness in Sioux Falls. As I looked around the crowd, I wasn’t the only one laughing. While I agree with his stance now that this is NOT a problem you solve but manage, you have to at least be doing one of those things, and he is doing neither.