South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

1st Amendment

1st Amendment Property Taxes Sioux Falls South Dakotans State Funding State Legislature TIFs

Finally, someone in the local media is digging around on TIFs

l3wis 4Comments

It took the property tax discussion to get this out in the open, TIFS ARE NOT GOOD, ESPECIALLY IF USED ONLY FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT;

“That told me they were not providing the oversight on these TIFs, that they were just rubber stamping them,” Sibson said.

Well, Sibby, that is what communities across the state do. They are sold a shiny ball and they approve it.

“If they’re not done correctly, they end up being simply subsidies for certain private entities. That’s my overall concern,” Sibson said.

And that is ALL they are these days. Developer Welfare. Parking ramps and condos? How does this benefit the general public? I think if reverted back to Industrial and Affordable Housing which combined only make up 8% of TIFs across the country, you would see more value in them. I think that is what the State Legislature plans to do, or at least make an attempt at changing the law. Good Luck! Sioux Falls and Rapid City and all other larger communities in SD will fight you tooth and nail on this one.

1st Amendment Mitchell Sioux Falls Taxes

Is Mitchell trying to steal sales tax revenue from Sioux Falls?

l3wis 2Comments

I found this story intriguing, and I didn’t even know you could hire a consultant to do this kind of work;

Alabama-based Retail Strategies community partnerships associate Banks Perry will present to the council on a data-driven approach to attract retailers and developers to Mitchell. 

According to Hanson, the Retail Strategies process involves tracking when people from Mitchell and the surrounding areas go and buy something in Sioux Falls at a certain store, and based on that, Retail Strategies calls that store to recruit that store or a competitor store to come to Mitchell.

Good for Mitchell! Not so good for Sux 🙁 Maybe we should hire a consultant to find out what kind of retailers we want to steal from Mitchell – LMFAO!

Can we attract an all nude strip club? How about a gymnasium covered in corn? And who doesn’t miss Happy Chef?

I kind of feel bad for the Mayor of Mitchell on this one, it is actually a GREAT idea, and pretty cheap for consultant fees, so I don’t understand why he is getting so much grief.

1st Amendment Planning Commission Sioux Falls

Planning Commission out to lunch even when they show up

l3wis 3Comments

Attendance got a little better last night with 6 voting members in attendance, but the level of ignorance hit a new high.

Item #5A was an obvious ‘work around’ the law. While legal, completely shady.

The applicant bought a liquor license for a different location, realizing they couldn’t use it at that location they had to move it. While this happens a lot in Sioux Falls, this one takes on a new twist. Not only do they want to move their liquor license they only want to move it temporarily (where they can’t use it because that location is currently under construction) then once the intended location is finished they will once again move the license. In other words they are essentially putting a liquor license in ‘storage’ which I would think would not be legal. So after all the applicant’s testimony and the Planning Commission staffers basically lying about how the situation needed to be handled you would think the PC members would be weary about supporting this dubious plan using legal loopholes. Nope, all 6 voting members supported it. The worst part was before they approved it, they asked tons of ignorant questions about liquor licenses. How can you approve this when you don’t even know how the system works? The next mayor needs to remove every single member of that board and replace with new folks that actually want to serve the public and at least have an inkling of how things work in Planning.

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken SFFD SFPD Sioux Falls

Mayor TenHaken is poor at Public Safety

l3wis 4Comments

This was what was on a bumper sticker on someone’s car. Not sure what the exact wording was because it was someone telling me they saw this on a car on their way to work.

They asked me, ‘What is that about?’

I was just as baffled as them and said that there have been some people who have mysteriously died in custody and those families are NOT happy with the mayor, but if it is some other beef, I wouldn’t know what it was.

I will give Poops credit on public safety. We have one of the best fire departments in the country and our SFPD keeps crime low. While this has more to do with their direct supervision then the mayor, I don’t think he has done anything to hamper them, and I would give him 4 out of 5 stars on public safety (he may lose this status depending on how he handles the ICE arrests and HiPo saturation patrols.)

The only improvements that I can see would be allowing paid fitness time for the PO’s and doing a better job of investigating petty crimes and burglaries.

While I like to pick on the rolly pollies you can’t deny we are pretty safe in Sioux Falls, and that is directly reflective of our police force.

I think this would be a more appropriate bumper sticker;

‘MAYOR TENHAKEN IS POOR AT LEADERSHIP’

That would cover most bases, and it’s factual and provable.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls Vernon Brown

Sioux Falls City Council violated so many rules tonight it was ALMOST comical, but I am NOT laughing

1st Amendment abortion Larry Rhoden Marty Jackley South Dakotans

Rhoden and Jackley apparently don’t know what the 1st Amendment is

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Homeless SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Citizen Survey results down in almost every category since 2021

1st Amendment Donita Trump Noem Humor Kristi Noem Political Satire Satire Trump

Trump to Ban Androgynous names