Development

Building Permits good in Sioux Falls, due to taxpayers and patients

The top 4 projects were either paid for by taxpayers or patients, and none of these projects will produce property tax revenue. I have often said the building permits need to be split-up between commercial, housing, institutional non-profit and government and show us what the private sector is really doing. It still puzzles me that you can boast about spending our tax and healthcare dollars and spin it into some big statement on growth. When non-profits and government are spending more on development then the private sector, you got problems. Then there is all the grift in the form of tax rebates and TIF’s for the private developers. All $1 Billion in building permits means to me is my taxes and healthcare costs are going up.

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UPDATE: Why is the City of Sioux Falls offering 0% interest loans for Historic Homes?

UPDATE: A city official told me this proposal was purely administrative and the council had little to do with this idea. How can the mayor authorize funds that are Federal housing grants at 0% interest? Good question. The council controls the purse and they need to put their foot down on this one and base the interest rate on income.

So the city has decided to create a whole new set of grifters, historic home owners;

The City’s Historic Preservation Loan Program offers a zero-interest loan to homeowners who live in residential historic districts or have an individually listed property on the National Register of Historic Places. The goal of the loan program is to help homeowners restore historic properties.

Don’t get me wrong, as you know I am a gigantic proponent of Community Development loans as I was once a recipient, and I have suggested to city council over the past decade to ramp up the program and have city employees engage homeowners in lower income neighborhoods. Former councilor Janet Brekke actually tried to get some legislation passed that would offer a pilot program doing just this and she was told to pound sand by not only City Hall but her fellow councilors.

Just drive around Whittier and Pettigrew and you will find that a large percentage of these properties need repair and this is where our community development could step in AND SHOULD.

I have a feeling a certain grifter who has received thousands of dollars from city coffers for his ‘historic projects’ pushed for this. One grift just isn’t enough for this guy.

I don’t have a problem with giving these people actual loans, I believe historic homes need to be preserved, but a 0% interest rate? Really? While most people who own these homes are wealthy and own multiple properties we literally have homes falling apart in these other neighborhoods, why not a 0% interest rate for these folks? Why does the mayor dislike poor people so much?

Welcome to ‘Grift Falls’ where the wealthy get to play with our money and pay no returns. I encourage the council to get involved and change the interest rate based on income, like MOST community development loans work (I think I paid a 2% rate, but could have avoided paying any of it back until the home sells). In other words, many of these folks won’t even make one payment back to the coffers and wait until they croak or sell before we get our money back.

UPDATE: Why is the city lending a religious organization $500K?

UPDATE: I guess the original developer has already sold the development to tRE ministries so they are no longer involved. But if you connect the dots you will see that one of the leaders in the institution is married to a certain person connected to a very large company in town. So instead of this being funded by Big MJ, VL and Liquor it’s being funded by ‘Big Corn’ (Which these days seems more scandalous with all their money scam pipelines they want to build.)

This money will come out of the Community Development funds. (Item #6, Sub-Item 28):

Agreement for a redevelopment project located within the All Saints Neighborhood and the Sherman Historical District, tRE ministries, $500K (interest free loan).

I received a Community Development loan about 20 years ago for needed upgrades to my house, my loan was about $4,500 with a 2% interest rate. I guess I am wondering why we would take this much for ONE project when we could rehabilitate 40-50 houses with this money instead? And I mean ‘Rehab’ not demolition, which is what this money will be spent on. There is also the questionable relationship with the developer who is worth millions from video lottery, liquor and Med MJ (unless he has already handed over ownership). Why isn’t he just loaning them the money? I also don’t think tax dollars should go to non-profits (religious organizations) since they pay very little taxes and the fact they have a Daddy Warbucks taking care of them (who ironically makes money from sin taxation). I actually support this project to clean up that part of town but like any development with private parties, they need to pony up the money, but NOT in Sioux Falls, GRIFT, GRIFT, GRIFT. I thought at least ONE councilor would vote against this, but who am I kidding. The mayor wants to turn the entire town into a mega-church. Ick.

MAYOR FIRST AMENDMENT DENIER, INTERRUPTS A CITIZEN, AGAIN

Poops was at it again tonight, ignoring his Constitutional duties and denying a commenter his input. (FF: 1:44:00) Jordan Deffenbaugh came up tonight to talk about how housing would be affected by the Riverline District and the mayor cut him off saying this was already discussed. Oh, Paul, we have been over this, you can’t control the narrative at the podium that is a violation of their 1st Amendment rights but you seem to be above that. I wonder what it is like to take an oath on the Bible, surrounded by friends, family and colleagues and once installed ignore all those constitutional ‘thingies’. Paul, it may not be me, but the city and specifically you as the chair will be sued and it isn’t going to be pretty. Maybe they will let you on one of those East Coast TV morning shows where you can talk about your lack of knowledge when it comes to the Constitution and the lawsuit should be dismissed because of your stupidity. Stranger things have happened.

UPDATE: Who is paying for this?

UPDATE: Since I posted this story either the developer of city has been sweeping this street everyday. It is appreciated.

This street in front of the apartments wasn’t in stellar shape before construction started and now it is completely destroyed. I wonder who will be paying to resurface and fix this street once construction is done? I would guess just to resurface this street would come to about the same amount the developer paid the city for the lot.

Now there may be something in the contract that requires the developer to reimburse the city for the costs associated with street repair but we know who the developer is . . .

I have also heard tons of comments about the structure from downtowners, none of them positive. Most just don’t understand how such an ugly concrete box got permitted there.

Is Sioux Falls’ Boomtown Mentality creating our housing crisis?

This interview about how Austin, TX’s massive growth caused a housing affordability crisis is an interesting comparison to what is happening in Sioux Falls right now;

People flock to booming cities for good reasons: jobs, educational opportunities, cultural and recreational activities. But traffic can be a nightmare and housing costs are off the charts.

“Very few, if any, growing cities have given real thought to what they want to be when they grow up,” said Mallach. “They’ve been conditioned to think that growth is good, not growing is bad, so what passes for planning is usually about how to accommodate growth.”

The population of Austin, Texas, has grown more than 33 percent since 2010. The median cost of a house in Austin jumped from less than $200,000 in 2010 to more than $500,000 in 2022.