UPDATE: While discussing this with folks we realized there is also a huge conflict of interest with the city giving this money for fence construction. The director of the shelter, Madeline Shields, is a contract employee(?) with the city doing ‘Inside Townhall’ as their moderator. I tried to get her removed because of this conflict several years ago (a raccoon could host the show) but no dice. So now we are giving money to city employees’ pet projects? WOW! I would also be curious what she get’s paid to do a 20 minute show once a month? Any guesses? Apparently $70K. I also had a conversation with a city councilor about this saying I approved of fencing for the employees but that should be the expense of the BDH. Obviously it would have to be withdrawn or amended at Tuesday’s meeting, not holding my breath.
Hey, just make sure you don’t put the fence posts in 5 gallon pails, that’s a NO NO. Item #20, read the explanation HERE!
Essentially we will lease the parking lot for $1 a year and pay for the fence and maintenance. A better approach would be tearing out the parking lot and put in a pollinator garden. This will just make the place look like a prison, and the folks that are now using it for shelter will just move into other parts of the neighborhood and downtown. When you tell a homeless person that can’t sleep on a certain sidewalk, they will just find another sidewalk. You are solving nothing and you may exacerbate the problem. Right now most of them are full view at that location, kick them out and they will disperse all over causing an even bigger problem. Be curious who the brain child that cooked this up? But I do agree employees of the BDH need a fenced in parking lot, but they can pay for it themselves. We keep throwing money at this issue for all the wrong reasons.
CITY OF SIOUX FALLS ALREADY APPROVING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND IT IS ONLY FEBRUARY!
Item #22, well this isn’t good. A little early to start digging into savings. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of this this year. (Note, the $2.5 Million is a donation to us from a private party).
Perhaps, Trump plans to place illegals within that fencing. Or, what prevents people from just camping on the sidewalk or the other side? At least they won’t have to worry about someone dying in the freezing cold in their newly fenced parking lot. Instead, they’ll probably just die on the outside while they struggle to find the gate opening, huh?
Is there such a thing as sidewalk loitering? #KeepMovingKeepMoving #ThisPlaceAintFunNoMore
If they can’t hang out on private property, that doesn’t complain about trespassing. Then, they are forced onto City sidewalks where the City can dictate and possibly ticket and/or apprehend, right? #ThatsTheTicket 🙂
“Yah, but if a painted lady can stand out on a street corner on the sidewalk, then why can’t a…… “
The Diocese can fence their own property.
If they only need 20% of that parking lot for employee parking, why not explore alternative applications … perhaps expand their ministry (expand the BDHH facility in order that it can accomodate more guests)?
“Be curious who the brain child that cooked this up?” JEckhoff and the Mayor?
More concerning than the lease and the expenditure for the fence is the option that gives the city the “first opportunity to purchase the parking lot and existing building should the BDHH decide to leave their current location.”
Furthermore this – “It was the thought of the Diocese that should they move from this location, the city would be the best steward of the site to help direct future development.”
B.S., JEckhoff, Purchasing and holding land for development purposes is not a proper role for municipal government. The Doicese, with their “thoughts”, doesn’t get to define an expanded role for municipal government.
musk needs to shut down citylink.
Citylink, Spacelink, what’s the difference? They are both pie-in-the-sky ideas. Personally, I prefer ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, or is that just LSD?…. Which, by the way, does not stand for Liberal South Dakota… 😉 AND, when I Google Musk, I get sites for a cologne, which explains why I smell something fishy around here. Oh, and Cologne is also the name of a German city which was once controlled by the Nazis, which doesn’t surprise me at all, either…. Cuz now, are you beginning to see the “link”? 😉 ……. Right? …… City and Space, indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7x-0c9jl4Y