Big Announcement
l3wis Greg will be announcing his candidacy for Mayor on Wednesday Evening
l3wis
So that took awhile
I let the cat out of the bag in December that Gage had sold, but I knew about the sale months in advance and was waiting to see if the local media would report on it. SF Bizzo was the first to report on the sale (which I am assuming she was PAID to print the article). My suspicions were correct;
The acquisition of Gage’s assets came amid significant financial challenges for the company. Gage became employee-owned when its ESOP was formed in 2007, and the value of that ESOP had dropped to 1.5 cents per share, which went to zero after necessary administrative and professional expenses were paid, according to a letter sent to shareholders.
It communicated that Gage “has navigated significant financial challenges” over the past several years, including “persistent cash-flow constraints, the general slowdown across the construction industry and the company’s broader financial trajectory,” which ultimately required pursuing an investor “to ensure the long-term stability of the business and protect the interests of its shareholders.”
The letter continued: “We know this is not the outcome anyone hoped for and sincerely regret the impact this has on you.”
The Gage real estate in northeast Sioux Falls was owned separately. Part of it was purchased in November for $14.4 million, according to Minnehaha County records, though it’s not clear what that includes. The property includes a highly automated 200,000-square-foot production facility that opened in 2019 at an estimated cost of $40 million and a two-story office building.
So why hasn’t the media touched this? Well, there is the obvious screw job to employees there is also the involvement of cemetery fraud). I found it funny that the company that BOUGHT* them was the one to pay a news service to break the story, this tells me the heat in the kitchen hasn’t been good.
*Talk about a misleading headline;
Gage Brothers becomes part of Minnesota-based concrete company
If I sell my house to another family, I don’t get to move back into the house I just sold them and become a PART of their family. The business SOLD to a competitor because they were facing bankruptcy, this isn’t a partnership.
UPDATE: Stormland is also reporting on it, after what appears to be a press release sent to the media. The the new owners are giving former Gage employees who stayed on with Molin a ESOP option with their company, but I am assuming those investments will start from scratch because if you were to bring in hundreds of employees in it would reduce the value of the ESOP stock for current Molin employees.
One Great City!
I LOVE this song;
I just replace ‘Winnipeg’ with ‘Sioux Falls’ and it makes soooo much sense. The last line in the song nails it;
And up above us all, leaning into sky
A golden business boy will watch the North End die
And sing I love this town
Then let his arcing wrecking ball proclaimI hate Winnipeg (Sioux Falls)
So a foot soldier who actually reads regional news sent me this article about TIFs. Talking points are always the same and I encourage you to read the entire piece;
Politically, TIF is seductive. It allows elected officials to claim they are “doing something” about development without raising taxes today. The costs are deferred, opaque and spread across future taxpayers. But the long-term consequences are real: higher property taxes, underfunded schools, distorted development patterns and growing dependence on subsidies for projects that should stand on their own.
Pretty common sense stuff. Right? And the folks who wrote this article are not a couple of jokesters;
Julie Risser is an Edina City Council member. She previously served on Edina’s Planning Commission and Energy and Environment Commission. David Schultz is Hamline University Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Previously he served as a city director of planning, zoning and code enforcement and also as a housing and economic planner.
I have read hundreds of articles over the past decade about the destructive nature of TIF’s and have never understood why local governments get sucked in, besides the fact they are getting their personal palms greased, but I have never heard the word ‘SEDUCTIVE’ used. It makes SOOO much sense now. Not only are our national politics ruled by money and power (The taxpayers of this country just paid for a military operation to take the oil resources of an independent nation, wrap your F’ing head around that!!!) but now our local politics are now too. I think the upcoming city election is an opportunity for citizens to stand up this money machine and elect folks who won’t tolerate it any more. Don’t be ‘seduced’ by snake oil salespeople.
MY HOPES FOR THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION (Mayoral)
Somebody asked me last night what would be my ideal outcome of the next city election, and I gave a longer answer then I expected;
Greg Jamison as mayor, Christine Erickson as Public Information Officer, Joe Batcheller as his Planning Director and Jamie Smith as his Housing and Community Development director AND I would hire a trained monkey to be the city attorney. Notice I said ‘trained’.
What did I tell you about the ‘Rich Party’? (H/T-MZ)
So check this out;
Isn’t it interesting the city is cutting funding to several struggling NGO’s in Sioux Falls but not the Development Foundation, even after receiving $15 million from the state just 2 years ago they magically still got around $500K from the taxpayers of Sioux Falls this year. Disgusting. Oh and the over $100 million in TIFs and other tax rebates.
I can guarantee you the reason funding was cut from the MCC was because DHS and the Feds threatened ALL Federal Funding to the city if they didn’t cut immigration services funding to orgs like LSS. This has nothing to do with making ‘tough choices’ this is just blatant racism from Sally and his cohorts and the city could have lost millions in Federal grants for infrastructure projects. Will the city ever tell us this? Highly unlikely.
I’m telling you, the RICH PARTY in Sioux Falls stays on TOP because they control the money and they take the money.
Flashback
I had a flashback this morning after reading this;
Sparklers on champagne bottles likely cause of deadly Swiss bar fire. A fire at a bar in a Swiss ski resort appears to have been caused by sparklers placed on bottles of champagne that came “too close to the ceiling”, authorities said.
In 2003 I was in a club fire in Minneapolis started by pyrotechnics;
In February 2003, the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis experienced a pyrotechnic-caused fire, similar to the deadly Station nightclub fire, but with drastically different outcomes: all 120 patrons escaped safely due to an automatic sprinkler system and trained staff, highlighting effective fire safety measures versus the tragedy in Rhode Island where 100 died due to flammable foam and lack of sprinklers. The Minneapolis incident serves as a key comparison, showing how proper fire suppression and procedures prevent disaster, even when a fire starts from the same cause.
The fire occurred ONE week before this infamous club fire;
On the evening of February 20, 2003, a fire occurred at The Station, a nightclub and music venue in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, killing 100 people and injuring 230. During a concert by the rock band Jack Russell’s Great White, an offshoot of the original Great White band, a pyrotechnic display ignited flammable acoustic foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage. Within six minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames. The fire remains the deadliest firework accident in U.S. history and the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. It was also the second-deadliest nightclub fire in New England, behind the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire.
First off, I am still bitter about the idiot that set off the pyro at the Minneapolis show. It was the final night of my Rock & Roll weekend. I saw the Pretenders on Friday Night at the State, the Donnas at the Quest on Saturday and was looking forward to seeing Link Wray Sunday night at the Fine Line, but he never went on 🙁 I never did get to see him before he passed just 2 years later. Still a little pissed about not seeing the man who invented electric guitar distortion.
Fortunately in my case, the sprinkler system did kick in, but NOT until everyone was out of the building because when I was running across the dance floor I looked up and the entire ceiling was on fire (just like the Swiss fire, the insulation caught on fire.) Ever since then when I go to a club I am unfamiliar with, I find ALL exits and always note the closest one to the stage. Believe it or not, it can get you out of other scary situations like slam dancing gone awry (that’s only happened to me once 🙂 I spent the rest of the show in the back alley.
I often tell folks when going to a sold-out club show, find all exits first, because I never want to leave a club show again with the ceiling on fire. I still remember the bartender yelling as we are running towards the door ‘RUNNNNNNNNNNN!’ I’m thinking, ‘No Sh!t Sherlock.’
My prayers go out to these folks, but please, learn from a tragedy.