South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

l3wis

Downtown Sioux Falls Riverline District Sioux Falls

Riverline Committee finally has public meeting today

l3wis 0Comments

Not sure what happened, because it wasn’t recorded, but here was the agenda;

• Purchase agreement, timeline to public vote, and consulting timeline.

I encourage peeps in the real estate industry to read the purchase AGREEMENT and see if something sticks out. They also have a PREVIEW of the document with questions.

I have heard plenty of rumors that there is a gigantic conflict of interest with who is brokering this deal and a city official, so keep your eyes peeled. My assumption all along is that they had the first two meetings as executive sessions because they were trying to find a way to hide names of people who will be benefitting financially from this deal in the form of commissions. They are also trying to concoct this ILLEGAL advisory vote which has about as much weight as legal advice from your barber.

Like I said, I did not attend the meeting today at the admin building in the middle of the afternoon, but I am guessing they are still sticking with the advisory vote which is ILLEGAL and I have been connecting with folks behind the scenes to find a way to stop this ILLEGAL election. More on that soon.

A foot soldier came to me lately with an interesting theory on the Riverline (from this article);

“The actual project currently is scheduled in two phases, beginning with 10th Street in 2032 and followed by 11th Street in 2036.”

Just a hunch – the City will buy Lloyd’s property currently leased by the State of South Dakota as office space (as well as other parcels in the neighborhood); hold it 7-10 years, through the greater portion of the viaduct construction projects.  

The City will build a Convention Center on a portion and as the viaduct construction projects are able to forecast a discrete completion date, the City will sell a portion back to Lloyd (and similar to the land deal involved in Phillips to the Falls, the price will be very favorable to Lloyd [original cost?]).

I have felt this was part of the plan for a long time. As you can see from the maps, a two-way traffic viaduct makes more sense, but it also frees up a ton of real estate.

While I support having only ONE viaduct (or better yet kick the f’ing trains out of town then we don’t have to fart around with this) it isn’t about making the lives of the residents better, it’s always about lining someone’s pockets.

If this goes to an advisory vote and the citizens pass this it will be one of the largest tax increases on citizens in the history of our city, it will also pay NO DIVIDENDS! In other words this tax increase will not make your life more fiscally secure and virtually have NO EFFECT on your life. The Convention Center business should be private, in fact it is, hundreds of for profit businesses throughout Sioux Falls do this, we don’t need another giant building that sits empty 90% of the year. Want to spend $400 million in Sioux Falls and make a REAL economic impact? Clean up the core neighborhoods with grants and community development loans. Trim all the city owned trees! Fix all the city owned sidewalks! I can tell you spending money on these things will go a lot farther in making this community a better place then some profit making scheme by bankers, developers, contractors and all the other ilk that comes to the feeding trough.

I can’t wait to see the committee’s recommendations. This is going to be very funny.

Democratic Forum Democrats Drinking Liberally Sioux Falls

Drinking Liberally (12/6/2024)

l3wis 1Comments

In Politics: Nationally: We are all preparing for the most corrupt Presidential Administration ever,so corrupt in fact that, much like President-elect Trump himself, we will have difficulty differentiating the Trump Administration from Putin’s Russia.

To counter Trump’s Government of Billionaires and massive conflicts of interest, the Democratic Party will meet in February to select a new Chair. Among others, Ken Martin, the longtime Chair  of the Minnesota Democratic Party has announced his candidacy for the post. In support of his candidacy, Martin sent out a ten point plan for the Democratic Party going forward. 10 Points…!!! Ok… As a wit and friend of mine said, “I’m holding out for eleven points. I need eleven points before a plan gets my attention.” 

In Politics: South Dakota: For those who haven’t been watching closely, the South Dakota Democratic Party (SDDP) has been in serious decline for the last year and a half, if not longer, going from a total of 208,000 registered voters in 2008 to a new low of 146,000 this year, all while Republicans gained 80,000 new registrants. The SDDP got more bad news a day ago when, after being reduced to 9 legislative seats in South Dakota’s 105 seat legislature in November, two Native American legislators from west river abandoned the Democratic Legislative Caucus which now numbers seven, five of whom are from Sioux Falls. 

It is hard to believe, but the SDDP continues to deteriorate despite its already, mostly irrelevant status.

The good news is that the Minnehaha Democratic Party announced at its meeting this week that it would soon produce a strategic plan for its membership to review. I can hardly wait to see how it differs from the strategic plan the SDDP produced in 2019.

While I wait, I think I will have a drink, maybe two. 

Crime Crooks Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Riverline District Sioux Falls

Mayor of Sioux Falls Paul TenHaken blows off a one year 700% increase in murders

l3wis 17Comments

This is pretty typical of Poops, and the social challenges he ignores; climate change, covid, the homeless, panhandlers, dead monkeys, and many, many, many more. This is a guy who recently said, “I’m over it.” He just doesn’t f’ing get it? Does he? At a presser today he said this about our 700% increase in murders;

“Last year, we had a near-record low number of homicides. We had two. So, crime ebbs and flows,” said TenHaken.

Typical of a challenge with Poops. If it is too difficult to solve; ignore, deny, coverup and kick that can down the road.

The first thing I would do boy genius is have chief Thum research how each crime occurred and break it down into categories. Some may be preventable, some may not. This is Criminal Sociology 101. Why do I feel like this town is being ran by a class of 5th graders?! Ironically, they would probably make better choices. Stop worrying if you are going to get your big fat commission on the new convention center and start acting like the chief administrator of our city, of course after your jumping jacks with the kiddos. weird

Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Phillips to the Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: Falls Park or The Falls? What’s the difference?

l3wis 4Comments

UPDATE: Still gathering the tea leaves on this one but what I have heard so far is that the design was done internally (even though the city usually hires that sorta thing out to you know, Poops’ former ad agency). I’m still trying to figure out which one of Poops’ marketing goons in city hall proposed this. I still think they should have named it ‘STAY OUT OF THE FOAM PARK’.

So a few weeks ago I was riding thru Falls Park (I usually do a couple rides a day thru DTSF just to see what projects are going) and I noticed the new sign at Falls Park; this ugly navy blue and orange sign that said ‘The Falls’. Didn’t think much of it because it looked like a temp sign for the Winter Wonderland. I thought one of the local liquor distributors printed it, LOL.

First off, it is called Falls Park, because the Falls are there and it is a park. This is ‘naming’ 101. So I am confused why we wanted to shorten the name, not by much, and create some kind of branding for the park.

I have worked in printing and marketing since 1993 and the best rule of thumb if something isn’t broken don’t fix it. Not sure why we need to rebrand Falls Park? It has been there thousands of years and it’s natural beauty is what makes it.

Now there are upgrades on the horizon, but instead of RE-BRANDING maybe we just need to promote the PARK!

It often cracks me up with Mayor Poops renaming things, but NOT explaining why, because he knows it is just a whim.

I have some feelers out there and hope to have the REAL reason this park was renamed.

As a former city official said to me today; ‘Where were the public meetings to let the public in on renaming the park?’ And this person makes a great point. Let the public in on changing the identity of the park, you might just find some great results. But Authoritarians know everything, just ask them.

When you run a MILITANT ANTI-OPEN GOVERNMENT REGIME, opinions are like diapers.

If I was in charge of re-branding Falls Park I would rip every single piece of concrete out of the park, I would tear down the gift shop and observatory tower and would transform the park into a naturalist site with native flowers, grasses, etc. It would truly be beautiful, and ironically if you used native flowers and grasses, the maintenance would be minimal.

Poops vision is turning the place into Disneyland. How I hate Disneyland.

Curt Soehl Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls Uncategorized

Did Sioux Falls City Councilor Curt Soehl forget what he used to do?

l3wis 1Comments

Curtist the Blurtist was blurting and curting last night at the city council meeting about the proposed GIGANTIC TRUCK ordinance. Kermit Soehl was the only councilor to vote against it, mainly because Curt owns one of these aircraft carriers on wheels. The big argument of the night was public safety and it is pretty straight forward, but Curt wasn’t having it saying that it would cause an economic downturn in DTSF, as if only big truck drivers are the only ones who spend money downtown. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard a councilor say, oh wait, forgot about Countcilor Jensen. But the shocking part about Curt’s vote is he was a former firefighter and president of the firefighters union. I would think he understands ‘Public Safety’ but I guess once you become a insurance peddler those things don’t matter anymore. I hope Curt runs for mayor, he will end up DEAD LAST!

INFORMATIONAL MEETING

At the informational several folks with Sioux Falls Sustainability(?) made comments about the building codes and how they need to focus on energy efficiency. I have heard several stories about newer apartment buildings in town with little to no insulation. One friend told me his mom was paying $150 a month in heat in a 800 square foot apartment. If that apartment was properly insulated and in the center of the building there should be little heating costs.

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You Missed

Downtown Sioux Falls Riverline District Sioux Falls

Riverline Committee finally has public meeting today

Democratic Forum Democrats Drinking Liberally Sioux Falls

Drinking Liberally (12/6/2024)

Crime Crooks Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Riverline District Sioux Falls

Mayor of Sioux Falls Paul TenHaken blows off a one year 700% increase in murders

Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Phillips to the Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: Falls Park or The Falls? What’s the difference?