Downtown Sioux Falls

Downtown Sioux Falls needs these

During my last trip up to Minneapolis I noticed these around downtown. I think Downtown Sioux Falls needs a couple of these. When I was doing pedicab this summer I was amazed at how lost visitors were, I gave more directions then rides. DTSF could also use the kiosk to generate ad revenue for the organization. In other words if you were looking for a Mexican restaurant downtown it would pop up ads for the restaurant with directions on the kiosk. I wouldn’t doubt that DTSF could get a grant to have them installed with no cost to taxpayers. I think we have a great growing downtown, but if you visit, good luck finding your way around.

Minneapolis has had these for a few years, which surprises me that DTSF hasn’t done something like this. I was at the Chicken (Book) Coop one night and met a couple from California. I asked them how they found the Coop and they told me they googled ‘interesting and unique’ establishments in DTSF and Book Coop came up. Now if we just had several of these kiosks DTSF, I think it would increase tourism revenue. Sculpture Walk could also take advantage of the kiosks by creating walking maps for people.

The opportunities are endless. Prices vary, but most units are NOT over $20k with non computerized ones costing about $1,500. They would pay for themselves in one season.

Is it time to cut the Pavilion subsidy?

I think it is. When you have over $10 million in reserves it is time to pull the plug. As I have mentioned recently the Pavilion not only gets a subsidy for operating from the city, we also pay for ALL the repairs to the building. The Pavilion has no public benefit because they provide NO FREE public programming. Heck, even the part-time employees have to pay for parking. NO LIE. They used to do a FREE First Friday, but not sure if they even do that any more. They also charge to visit the visual arts museum, and their new outdoor music festival, funded by the Pavilion and taxpayers of Sioux Falls wasn’t FREE like JazzFest or even cheap tickets. The Pavilion has simply been taking money from us for years and providing nothing back unless you can afford a ticket to a show. I would not only cut the subsidy, any repairs to the building that involve upgrading performance equipment need to be paid for by the Pavilion. They should also cover all utilities (they may do that now) and they should pay an annual lease to the city. Next, I would eliminate the Zoo subsidy. It amazes me how the city will nickel dime the pools and libraries but throw millions at organizations that have millions in the bank, it’s stupid. If you want to make cuts, use your brain.

UPDATE: Does the City Council see a raise in their future?

UPDATE: I just recommend you view the meeting. It got really complicated really fast. Basically the CRC approved a ballot measure that, if passed by the voters, it would give ‘permission’ to the Council to create a committee and wage study for mayor and councilors. Hey, CRC, you know, the council can pass a resolution ANY Tuesday to approve this study, and they should, so we can put this stupid raise BS to bed. Councilor Merkouris testified that he was against this, I can’t remember all he said, but he did recognize that the perception and trust right now between the council and the public is pretty low and that the council needed to work on that before asking for a raise. Yah Think?!

I also found it ironic, once again, that the only items approved for the ballot were presented by city staff and CRC members. Why are CRC members presenting anything? That is NOT your job. These folks are obviously tone deaf, but I’m starting to think more and more they are also brain dead. You should listen to their CEO corporate argument BS, classic Rush 1997.

I hope when the video is posted the ending isn’t edited. So at the end they adjourned, and someone in the crowd wanted to say something further, and the chair told them it was already adjourned. Which, was the correct answer. But this person kept bugging folks that he wanted to speak, so the clerk, I think Denise, whispers to the chair, ‘Quick, do a voice vote, do a voice vote.’ and then the video cuts. It was funny because watching how these meetings have been run lately is like watching amateur hour.

MAYOR TENFOLD HAS AN EXIT STRATEGY

It’s just to bad it doesn’t include him moving out of the state. Probably does.

It’s a fascinating article (not really).

Poops is going to be a C-Suite CEO Leadership Mentor, says we can solve homelessness by having churches adopt transients and his greatest achievement as mayor was the leadership team he compiled. Yeah, that one made me keel over in laughter. Is this the same leadership team you pretty much fired? Or at least half of them? Do I need to provide the list? It is FREAKY long . . . he even once went to the public works garage and fired a pothole crew worker. He did something naughty, but NOT fire worthy. It really was a misunderstanding and I think an apology would have sufficed to the VIP who complained to Poops. Did you know Paul got booted out of a major fitness center before he was mayor. I asked this person why and he said Paul was doing ‘proselytizing’ workouts and taking over rooms and the establishment said, good bye.

It all makes sense NOW! This is why he likes to do jumping jacks with kids at the private Christian schools, he can only get a good workout if the good lord is watching over it. The other day I cramped up after a long bike ride, and I did quite a bit of ‘proselytizing’ 🙂

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We saw the tone deafness of the city council on full display Tuesday night, but proposing a ballot question that gives themselves raises in this economy and their piss poor performance is the epitome of TONE DEAF. Hey, it may not pass the muster of the Charter Revision Commission. They have two proposals on the table;

A one time bump or course correction and changing the percentage of mayoral pay that is afforded to the city council. Currently the council gets 15% of mayor’s salary, they want to bump it to 25%. I actually think it should be 10% and we should have at least 4-5 more councilors instead of paying more for less representation, it’s idiotic. But they are so tone deaf the CRC will pass this, the Council will review the ballot question and approve it for the June election. This will fail soooooo hard it is not even funny. They already tried this 2 years ago and we voted it down. They don’t get it. Seriously!!!

Pitiful Pavers and absent minded Engineers

The city is set to start the next phase of the Minnesota Avenue rebuild between 2nd Street and 7th Street this Spring. The project will be $15 Million+. In the process they wanted to put pavers along Minnesota like in front of the City Center, and they want the stone reset in front of the City Center. So an independent contractor suggested to the city that when they put the pavers down Minnesota and reset the ones at the City Center they should pour a concrete pad underneath so they can’t sink and weeds don’t grow in them. I think they even suggested the faux poured pavers that are on Phillips Avenue. Nope, I guess they are going to go old school and just put it on sand so it will have to be redone in 10 years.

While I was talking to this gentleman he went on another rant about the engineering department at the city. He said they come and go as they please and he said, ‘Good luck getting anyone on the phone down there or responding to voicemails.’ He said a lot of other unflattering things also. I joked with him, ‘I have been saying for years they should fire all the city engineers and just hire a purchasing agent to replace them.’ Right now all city engineers do is read and approve engineering reports from independent contractors. They also write the RFPs.

I asked him what he thought of my theory that the Feds threatened the city over funding if they didn’t approve the data center. He said that it was a possibility since every department in the city gets money from the Feds. He agreed with my theory, ‘What if the city does everything the Feds want them to do and they still cut our funding? Then what?’ The city should just prepare for the budget shortfall until 2028 and lay off any city employees who receives department funding thru the Feds. Also, it is Congress that controls the purse strings and last I checked we have 3 Republicans representing us in DC, are they going to allow this kind of bullying? Trump just stopped a water project in Colorado for 50K residents because he is mad about that stupid bitch who broke so many state election laws that she got 9 years in state prison and Trump has threatened to bust her out using the Military. Something about a tank ramming the jail. Crazy crap. So his threats of budget cuts? Who cares and let’s just hope he gets a new pharmacist soon.

As for the Data Center I have two friends that work in the industry in Sioux Falls, and they have been sending me different information on how they work etc. They said that most of the Data Centers in Sioux Falls are no more then 30 MW (that is the largest) this proposed Data Center is 500 MW. Look at the power generation capacity we have;

So where will this power come from? Good question.

Most Data Centers have Server Racks in them and even some of the bigger ones in Sioux Falls only have a handful of employees with half of them handling security and janitorial. This is a power cord for just ONE rack of servers. It is about 4x the diameter of of a 210 power cord.

I’m hoping the petition drive is successful in stopping this, but I still think it could be stopped with a court order.

Code Enforcement ALERT!

Just another city weasel breaking the law.

I encourage ANYONE who has had to deal with the crooks in code enforcement with the city to go to this page and submit your story. I think they are planning a class action, but don’t quote me on that. Read the story, it is astonishing what these city weasels do, and the sad part, I have heard this story multiple times in every kind of income level neighborhoods. They break the law by trespassing on your property and taking photos, etc. If there is a complaint, they have to go to a judge and get a warrant to go on your property and inspect, or better yet, they need to knock on your door and ask, and you can refuse them.

It’s so hypocritical of a city employee to break laws so they can cite you. UFCKBEL . . . .

I have been talking to friends of ALL political stripes about the shooting in the cities and what is law enforcement’s roll in it. I have been saying it for years, because it is true, cops are trained to LIE. They lie on reports, they lie in the witness box and they lie to your face. All cops are, are professional liars and little else.

I also find it ironic that it took me 20 years to get the city to tear down MX, and they only did half of it and told me the rest was in compliance. BULLSH!T! There needs to be a thorough housecleaning in that department come June. Some councilors believe they just need to change some ordinances and it will all work itself out. Are you F’ing kidding me? You gotta cut out the rot.