Author Archives: L3wis

Watch the video above (FF: 16:15) Two parents spoke to the school board tonight about the recent Title IX ruling.

They are accusing the SFSD of fudging the male sport participation numbers (making them appear lower) so they can get out of supporting gymnastics.

Basically the parents said the district is encouraging male athletes to NOT participate or to drop out of sports so their participation gets low enough to justify NOT having female gymnastics (According to Title IX):

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

They are basically accusing the district of fudging the numbers so they can circumvent the judge’s ruling.

If this is true, it is about the dirtiest pool I have ever seen a local governing body pull, and if I was this group of parents I would sue the district again for trying to circumvent a judge’s ruling, and I am sure if the judge hears about this in the news, he won’t be too happy.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

This authoritarian approach by the district shouldn’t surprise us after they pulled this crap today;

Some Sioux Falls students may have to go without breakfast or lunch if their parents don’t fill out paperwork for free and reduced-cost meals… but it won’t happen for at least a few weeks. Thanks to donations, the district’s school meal debt will be paid off on Friday. But if the district doesn’t do something, administrators fear the debt will build again.

So after they get a large donation to pay off the debt, they decided they are going to stick it to the poor kids. Here’s the deal, it is NOT these kid’s fault they are born poor, you are NOT going to bleed water out of rock. I think every kid deserves a free breakfast and lunch if they can’t afford it with no shame.

I have often agreed with this cliche, “Showing up is half the battle.” and if these kids are at least showing up to school, this is an opportunity for the district to make sure they have full tummies also so they can learn.

While the district spends millions each year on athletics, they can’t seem to figure out that kids need brain fuel to excel in their academics.

LINCOLN PARK TIMELINE

Also during public input tonight several lawmakers spoke on the creation of Lincoln Park. One of the commenters was SF City Councilor Greg Neitzert (FF: 22:30). He gave a great timeline of correspondence between him and the district and the mayor’s office. He basically said everything went dead silent in February.

Let’s just say there is mountains of evidence that the SFSD was playing Joker Poker with the mayor’s office in trying to put in an affordable housing project in that space, and once they were caught they clammed up.

So I guess the District’s new motto is;

Screw Lunch.

The Heck with Gymnastics.

What Parks?

Seems like a very scholary thing to say.

Some are forgetting that the SF School Board will share an election with the city council in 2024. There are two seats up (Kate Serenbetz and Marc Murren). Marc was just elected a few years ago and if he chose to run for re-election it would be his first attempt as an incumbent. As for Kate (used to be named Parker) has been on the school board since 2009. Not sure if she will run for re-election, but I think it is time for her to go. While I have mixed feelings about term limits I think 8 (continuous) years is long enough for local governing boards. Not to mention, after 15 years I can’t point to one major thing Kate pushed for that made the district better.

I also heard there are about 3 other people thinking about running. Of course there will be some clown from the militant right winger group, there will be some business dude and I also heard a rumor about a well known business/chamber connected female running (and if it is who I think it is, run far, far, far away from her . . . we will have more on her if she announces. BAD! BAD! BAD!)

I figure it will likely be a 6-8 person race, and the great part is the school board has a plurality election so the top two vote getters win seats, no run-offs. I would encourage anybody wanting to cut their teeth in running for a local governing board to jump at this opportunity!

As for the city council, no new news. I don’t expect any more announcements until after January 1st and I think they will come rolling in;

NW District (Neitzert’s term is ending) No candidates have announced but I have heard about 3 potential.

SW District (Selberg’s term is ending) One candidate has announced and I have heard about 2 other potentials. I’m also hearing ‘funny’ rumors about the candidate that has announced. Hopefully he will get a challenger so the media can explore some of these rumors.

NE District (Starr’s term is ending) Two candidates have announced and a third one is rumored to announce soon. The 3rd potential candidate has been posting crazy amounts on FB about their community advocacy lately, so I am guessing they will be announcing soon, and if so they will be the STAR of this city council election. The irony is ALL three candidates are fantastic in their own way, and it’s too bad they are all running against each other.

AT-Large (Jensen chose not to run for a 2nd term) They could replace him with a dead person and it would be better . . . funny, I heard that saying somewhere. Two candidates have announced and if it remains just the two of them, it will be a blowout, I don’t think I have to tell you who would win. I’m guessing the winner in this race will spend about $120K.

Throw me a line if you know of any other potential candidates or if you would like to make the announcement on DaCola!

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.

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.

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!