October 2025

1st Amendment Alex Jensen Count-cilor Alex Jensen Dr. Sarah Cole Elections Janet Brekke Jeff Barth Patrick Starr Rex Rolfing SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Who could serve as Sioux Falls City Councilor Cole’s fill in?

l3wis October 24, 2025 2Comments

Here is the short list;

Jeff Barth

Pat Starr

Janet Brekke

Greg Neitzert

Theresa Stehly

Alex Jensen

Rex Rolfing

I know, those last two made me hurl a bit in my mouth. I do know that Jeff, Pat and Greg are interested and if I had to be a dictator I would pick Barth. Hopefully the appointment process is open and we see every one interested testify at a public meeting. If that is the case, I will also apply and I encourage as many as possible community activists do so also. Even if they don’t pick you, it is a learning experience in municipal civic engagement and it may convince you to run for office someday.

1st Amendment Reagan Taxes Trump

Reagan was Right

l3wis October 24, 2025 2Comments

For at least 5 minutes in April of 1987 he was right;

So this video posted 6 months ago. Recently the Canadians used some lines from it in a TV ad over the trade war. The Supreme Court will decide soon whether Trump’s tariffs were legal without congressional approval. I’m with Reagan on what he is talking about (watch the entire video) he basically doesn’t like them and thinks they contributed to the Great Depression. Reagan was an economics major in college. Reagan supported targeted tariffs, as do I, to get American consumers to buy American products, so you would target that specific product with a tariff instead of a blanket one with every product from a specific country like Trump is doing. Reagan was referencing this in the video with semi-conductors. He wanted American manufacturing to buy American conductors instead of cheaper Japanese ones.

As for the Reagan foundation saying they didn’t get permission to use the clip, that point is moot, it is a public document, anybody can use it, even a foreign government. Also, there was NO creative editing in the AD, they just simply played a few lines from the address about the pertinent dangers of tariffs, like isolationism, inflation and high unemployment (it’s coming folks!)

EAST WING WENT BYE BYE

I love how Trump’s Press Secretary is tasked each day with revisionist history. They are claiming Truman’s remodel of the White House was no different then this. Hogwash. Truman was going to take a leak in the middle of the night and he heard a crack under the floorboards in his bedroom. They discovered that after adding the 3rd floor without reinforcing floors 1 & 2 caused the floor beams to start cracking and breaking. Truman had no choice but to remodel or the place was going to fall into itself. There was the controversy of adding the balcony, but it wasn’t a gold plated ballroom double the size of the current white house. I have said that the next president needs to undo all of this in the last year of their first term. I would auction off the ballroom in pieces, make the buyers responsible for removal and take the money raised to rebuild the East Wing to original standards but modernized. I would also restore the rose garden. Trump has done enough damage to this country and it’s reputation we don’t need any reminders of him after he has left the Whitehouse.

I think in Germany after WWII they have some law where you can’t talk about Hitler or Nazis or something. . . just an idea.

1st Amendment SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: CITY BALL FIELD TO BE NAMED AFTER FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITH NO DOLLAR VALUE OF SPONSORSHIP

l3wis October 22, 2025 1Comments

UPDATE: So that only took 3 months but we finally know what the sponsorship was on this project;

They started with a goal of $150,000, and they ended up raising $175,000, according to neighbor Emily Fink, including a five-figure donation from Sammons Financial and grassroots efforts to knock on doors in the neighborhood and solicit donations from local businesses.

Well maybe we don’t know. So did they give $10,000 or $99,999? Apparently in SF you can sponsor a park with whatever figure you want. At least we know what the sponsorship goal was. Why did this take 3 months? Oh that’s right, this administration wouldn’t know transparency if it dropped on them like manure from a fighter jet.

_______________________________

Aug 5, 2025

(Item #44) In one of the strangest park sponsorships I have ever seen, they are granting a 30 year naming sponsorship to a financial institution for a new ball field with NO DOLLAR AMOUNT mentioned in the sponsorship. I have never seen this before. They only reference what they will be paying for;

WHEREAS, HBA and the City agree that one of the conditions of such gift is to name the ballfield
“Sammons Field at Prairie Meadows Park” for the life of the Improvements and may be referred to as
the “Sammons Field” on any signage; and

While it is great they will be paying for the improvements (and why would we accept this field from Harrisburg?) there should be a yearly spending cap, so what is it? Transparency is just a turd to flush to this current administration. Don’t be fooled, the taxpayers of SF will be paying for most of the improvements, while we slap a financial institution’s name on it because they bought a couple of park benches. Even the rich and powerful now control our parks, while we have to pay to maintain them.

1st Amendment Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Planning Commission religion Sioux Falls

The ‘Mysterious’ Tre Ministries Project

l3wis October 21, 2025 4Comments

Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

I guess this is what JC said about transparency, and it’s good. JC really was the Dale Carnegie of 2,000 years ago!

This brings us to the former historic gas station and pot shop corporate headquarters on 18th and Minnesota, you know, the location of really expensive groceries and a employee discriminatory sandwich shop and who can forget the vape shop turned Noem campaign headquarters or the low class windshield shop where workers yell at me like cavemen when I ride my bike thru the parking lot.

Tre has changed plans many times with historic designations, running out of investors and now with a street closure and redevelopment plan that includes an office building on a residential street. Huh?

Originally we were told the city was giving them an interest free deferred loan (doesn’t have to be paid back), which would be awful. I believe the Planning Commission did approve it but I get lost with the council, which I think approved it also. But then it was revealed that Tre paid for it themselves (FF: 1:41:00). So was the council aware of this? If so, when were they going to tell the public? How does an approval process happen then behind the scenes another arrangement is made? If a demo contract needs to be canceled, the council MUST approve that cancellation in a public meeting. There are many shady levels to this project including a city councilor intimately involved with the project (maybe financially) not recusing themself from the discussion, which is an ethics violation even if HE is NOT involved in the final vote.

This administration is playing fast and loose with the law, but hey, look at the leader of the party, 50 shades of orange.

1st Amendment Public Utilities Public Works SF City Council Sioux Falls

Country Club needs public street for more parking

l3wis October 21, 2025 2Comments

First, let’s start with transparency. During Item #26’s public hearing in which a private applicant was asking to change parking to diagonal on a public street no where in the meeting did they say who it was and it was presented by the Public Works department. One would assume it is for ONE of the country clubs but all that was said at the meeting was it was ‘for the country club’. Well guess what, both clubs are on that street, so which one? Also, while I don’t oppose the parking change since it is a weird street that only those d-bags use, I found the excuse from the mysterious applicant that they didn’t have ‘land available’ for more parking. Ridiculous! All the country clubs have is LAND! And acres and acres of it! Also, if you don’t have the ‘land’ for additional parking, why not just buy the street/land from the city and make it your own private parking lot? Just another bailout to the rich who don’t need it. I would have said, “You want the land for parking? Then buy it and pay property taxes on it, otherwise, talk to yah later.” and this is what it is about, they want property tax free parking and the council rolled over like old ewes to give it to them, BAAAAAAAA!

Only Curtist the Blurtist voted against it, and my assumption was because he didn’t want taxpayers footing the bill for country club parking. Duh.

I have been enjoying Curt’s rebellion, but don’t fool yourself, this is about supporting a mayoral campaign. Heels thinks he supports her, but me thinks he is Huether’s lap dog*. But Mike may be running for Congress as an Indy. Extra weird. But when you have a corrupt AG vs. a Cajun chef he may have a chance.

*In order for Huether to successfully take the mayorship he must show that the past 8 years of Poops have been worse (I am not going there!) And all Curtist is doing is propping up Mike by dissenting the current administration. I told someone if Curt was so concerned about these things, why didn’t he bring them up 7 years ago? Hey Curt, you are NOT fooling anyone!

Who could serve as Sioux Falls City Councilor Cole’s fill in?

Reagan was Right

UPDATE: CITY BALL FIELD TO BE NAMED AFTER FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITH NO DOLLAR VALUE OF SPONSORSHIP

The ‘Mysterious’ Tre Ministries Project

Ephesians 4:25

Country Club needs public street for more parking

You Missed

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Councilor could be facing ethics violations after tonight’s vote on Tre Ministries project

UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

Seems we are a we bit behind on snow plowing

Libertyland TIF should go to a vote of the entire state!