Downtown Sioux Falls

Bob is right, a lot of work needs to be done over Smithfields

l3wis February 21, 2026 0Comments

Bob Trzynka said it best in his latest press release;

“Monday’s announcement leaves a lot of questions to be answered by the City’s future leadership. There are issues of oversight, zoning, building permits, and taxes, along with how do we remediate and redevelop the land where the old Smithfield plant stands today. Sioux Falls needs thoughtful and considered governance to make sure that we take maximum advantage of this amazing opportunity.”

I told a reporter this last week that it was ‘wonderful’ that this is moving forward, but all the secrecy up until this point doesn’t help the process. While I am hopeful the next council and mayor will make this process as open as possible I am NOT going to hold my breath. There is a reason this was negotiated under the dark of the night, there was a lot of taxpayer capital promised . . . to a bunch of communists!

I still think there needs to be a petition drive on the TIF. This is a company that makes BILLIONS and are owned by Chinese Communists, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason they need a tax break, especially since they pay slave wages and send ALL profits to a Communist Country!

I have said ‘would it be so bad if they left completely?’ Nope. I guarantee if we cancel the TIF and they leave (I don’t think they will) that another industry would come in, like another packing plant or something else that could hire these folks.

Our leadership in SD is so short sighted and idiotic. Instead of giving away the farm to a bunch of communists, maybe find a way to survive without them and say, ‘See yah later.’

I have told folks Smithfield has to build in Sioux Falls, they don’t have a choice because of the commodity supply in the region, but they would never tell city councilors that when they are bilking ‘DEMOCRATIC’ taxpayers. I find it funny that the same people that support mass deportation have no problem giving communists our tax dollars so they can hire immigrants to work at their plants. Does anyone see the irony and hypocrisy in all of this?

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls The Link

Mr. Mayor, we need to have a discussion about addiction and bigotry

l3wis February 20, 2026 1Comments

I avoided posting about this for a few days because I have been having conversations with different foot soldiers about this press conference;

Years ago Paul told this story how he helped a homeless person and he got burned, and he has been bitter ever since;

Then Paul said this;

“We are losing the war on addiction with our Native American Community.”

Sure. But let’s put things in perspective.

70% of admissions to the Link are homeless individuals. Most homeless individuals (not staying at a shelter) are living on the street and suffer from some kind of addiction.

There were 17,000 admissions to the link with ONLY 4,700 individual visits.

It costs us $2.5 Million a year to run the ‘turn and burn’ facility. (they basically detox you and throw you back to the wolves).

It costs us millions in public safety and judicial costs to arrest these folks, over and over again, some individuals have been arrested 75 TIMES!!!!!

So why not spend the money on a municipal shelter that takes in addicts and doesn’t shove a bible up their asses when they walk thru the door?

While I agree with Paul that a majority of these individuals are Native, that is NOT the issue, it is living on the streets! If we combat homelessness on a larger scale (like getting them housing) most of these problems would go away. Saying addiction in this community is a problem of the tribes and natives is ridiculous, HOMELESSNESS is the problem, and if you get them off the streets you can get them help. They are also residents of this community even if they are living under a bridge, and it is OUR responsibility to take care of them. It would be like a couple moving here from California and their house burns down in the first week they live here and the SFFD refuses to put out the fire because they are from ‘California’.

The argument is that ridiculous.

Also Natives suffer from addiction at higher rates due to poverty and other societal factors.

Also Paul asserted that addiction can be cured.

There is NO cure for addiction, and most addicts wish there was. The only cure is management. You will ALWAYS be an addict. I have two close relatives who have been sober for 30 years and 20 years. It is constant struggle for both of them, they have to fight it every day. I compare addiction to Type One Diabetes; While there is NO cure, it can be treated and you can live a healthy life, but you have to be vigilant.

To blame our addiction and homeless problems on Native Americans based solely on the numbers is bigoted and misinformed.

With any problem you go to the root. Homelessness and addiction go hand in hand. Solve one of the problems and you treat the other.

Duh.

So what the F’ck have you done Paul besides bitch about a minority group and pretend a cure exists? Not only are you tone deaf and ignorant, you are a bigot and you OWE the Native Americans in this community an apology for your moronic statements.

“From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever,” -Chief Joseph

On a personal note, I had an artist mentor, he was Native American, an ex-con and a sober addict. This sh!t gets personal with me because I love my native brothers and sisters and my aunt belongs to several tribes so it is family to. Paul has always been insensitive to minority groups, but this was a new LOW and disgusting and very hurtful to me personally to say these things about my close friends and relatives.

The Lakota have a name for you, wasi’chu.

1st Amendment Bike Trail Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Peeps still complaining about E-Bikes

l3wis February 20, 2026 1Comments

First off, get the F’ck over it already!

At the January Active Transportation Board meeting, this request was made;

Board Member Pickard asked if micromobility devices such as e-bikes and e-scooters can be added to the agenda for next month.

I was unable to attend the February meeting this week, I was going to go but knew that if I had to listen to this ignorant discussion another time I would probably say things at the meeting that I would regret, but according to the minutes this was the discussion;

Sydney DePrenger introduced the first item. She informed the board members that City staff from various divisions will be present at the next meeting to provide more insight into how e-scooters and bikes are regulated by the ordinances currently in place. The board discussed actionable items such as considerations of ordinance adjustments that would allow the city to regulate both future and existing bike share business models to help them blend more seamlessly into the community and help resolve existing concerns.

I find the discussion troubling for a couple of reasons.

There is an easy fix to the Jaunt rentals and the city council hasn’t reviewed the E-Bike ordinance change in almost 2 years!

On June 1, 2024 the new Class II ordinance went into effect, and I told the council when they passed this they needed to do a full review of the change in ONE year! That was almost 2 years ago! They have done nothing, and I haven’t seen a bike cop on the trail since! I told them that after passage they should look at stats and see how the ordinance is working. Are there more accidents? Can we allow other micro mobility devices like foot scooters, skate boards and one wheels? They passed the ordinance and looked the other way. I am assuming that is why the ATB is discussing this because NO studies have been done to determine if this is working or not and if we can expand the trail usage.

The ATB can not make ordinance change recommendations to the city council without a study and full review of how it has been working. That needs to be done by the SFPD and Parks Department and the study needs to be delivered to the city council BEFORE the ATB. The city council is the policy and legislative body, though over the past two years they are just a rubber stamp committee for the mayor’s moronic policies so NIMBY clowns on these boards have no authority and no data to back up their concerns.

As for the Jaunt E-Bike rentals I noticed that they were out most of the winter until a month ago they disappeared. I think it is because businesses complained (since most of them were laying on their sides in the winter wind, it is also hard on batteries to be out in extended cold and damages them). They are still in business and it seems they are trying to find a solution to the random nature of the bike’s placement, including in front of bike racks that are intended for OTHER bike riders who are not using Jaunt. The irony is these things DON’T need a bike rack, they run on GPS tracking and can be parked anywhere! My suggestion when the business started was to put up their own personalized racks, put a map on the app where ALL the racks are (so peeps can return them to them) and get a permit for the racks on public property with permission from the adjoining business. It would be similar to the permit bars and restaurants downtown use for patios at a minimal cost. (I think a sidewalk permit is around $35 a year). This could be accomplished with a simple ordinance change instead of a bunch of stupid discussions and whiny businesses (I wonder if they realize it helps their business to have these rentals in front of them?)

And where is DTSF on this discussion? Oh that’s right, the organization now if ran by a puppet.

I have also said that there needs to be E-bike safety courses. These courses should be put on for FREE in a park by the SFPD and the Parks Department with assistance from local bike clubs (city needs to pay them to put on the courses). I saw a lady riding a step thru Gramaton (That’s what I call Aventons because the only people who ride them are Grandmas) and it was fairly new and she was struggling. If she took a short course on how to ride these bikes she wouldn’t be struggling. My guess is after her initial ride the bike is probably sitting in the garage collecting dust. While the city spends millions on an ice rink NO ONE asked for they can’t fix equipment in existing parks (equipment in fitness park has been broken for 2 YEARS! The park is only 4 years old.) and doesn’t put safety courses on. So who does the Parks Department serve? Good question.

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Public Utilities Public Works SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

l3wis February 10, 2026 6Comments

During the city council meeting tonight there was a debate about how much money will be spent on the new Frank Olson Industrial Complex. The bond approved was for $47 million, but some kind folks wanted to give $1 million for the place, which was accepted. It is also a one time gift. The Parks department employees really want to spend the money on ‘extras’ because every time they walk to the podium they are salivating over all the extra crap they get to buy. Where the Kirby’s messed up was giving the entire amount all at once, this of course was a tax write-off and the reason the Kirby’s created the PRIVATE parks foundation was to funnel tax write-offs into our parks system. Not a bad idea, the problem is the money needs to be more focused and beneficial to the citizens. This EXTRA money is unusual because usually a major sponsorship like this would be over a decade and the money dispersed evenly over the 10 years and used mostly for operating. The sponsors should have handed the money to the Development Foundation and let them disperse the money over a decade to the city for operating expenses and signage (which should not cost more then $30K). I don’t have a problem with the gift, but it seems like the city is just going to piss it down their legs, BUT as long as the IRS is happy, who cares?!

THE ROAD(s) TO NOWHERE

The council also debated the new Minnesota Avenue expansion between 2nd and 7th for $12 Million, $7 million below expected bid. The design alone cost us $1 Million. I guess our city engineers do NO engineering, I heard they mostly run errands during the work day.

Curtist the Blurtist bitched about the medians and wondered about changing design, Cotter said, ‘too late’ design is all done and you would have to go out for new bids with changes. I don’t think this city council has a clue what our city departments are up to, and that is on purpose. They love to plead ignorance and they did it a lot tonight. So get ready for Minnesota Avenue to look like a scene from the Brutalist as Vernon Brown referenced tonight.

HEY TRE! DO YOU STILL EXIST?

Or did you take my advice and change the name to Lyre Ministries? Also, what is Ryan Spellerberg’s association with the org? He didn’t LEGALLY provide his conflict to the citizens during the meeting while participating in ALL of the other meetings leading up to the 2nd reading including voting. Dude really doesn’t understand muni government, which is astonishing being in the real estate business, or maybe not 🙂

Either way, a friend who lives in the neighborhood called me bitching,

“What the F— are they doing with this property? F’ing street been closed for months and no work. What the F—?!”

I of course laughed and said that the place will probably never get built and sold to some developer who wants to build a big apartment building or an oil change place casino, I also told him that the city closes streets all the time and nothing happens. There is a closed street on my block and they use it as storage. I have lived in my home for 24 years and the same two semi-trailers have sat on the land the entire time. No plates, no registration, no nothing. I have reported it to the county for licensing and they told me to go to Hell and said it was a city issue. The city did nothing when I told them, except that it was ‘private property’. NO IT IS NOT! IT IS AN EASEMENT!

My point? Don’t close streets in residential neighborhoods, it just attracts cockroaches and grifters.

If I was a betting man, my guess is there will NEVER be an indentured X-tian servant apartment complex built there. But, man, can’t we dream of a world where the White Christian Nationalist Housing and Coffee House becomes reality?

God, please save us from these folks. Please. As Jimmy Stewart would say, “God… I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way”. Or better yet, show the council. They sure could use a Clarence or a Kermit these days 🙂

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Homeless SFPD Sioux Falls

What was the count?

l3wis February 10, 2026 5Comments

So they do a long story about the homeless count and provide some stats, but NOT the actual count. If I had to guess it is around 650 a number the mayor threw out there recently. So was the number provided to the media and they decided to not include it? Or did the city not give the number? You can probably get it from the Feds so I am guessing the news org decided to self-censor that number, but why?

I think telling folks what the actual number is helps with awareness. If the public doesn’t know how many, are they aware we have a problem? Not sure, because the media has decided to sugar coat the problem. I live DTSF and ride my bike all over downtown, the entire DTSF area has become a gigantic campground, and it is dangerous because when you tell them ‘NO’ they come after you.

There has been a rumor floating around that the SFPD has said fixing the transient problem is NOT their job. Not sure if this is true, but your literal job description is ‘Public Safety’. That means making sure the transients have a safe place to stay, but it also means protecting the public from those who threaten our safety which I see DAILY!!!! The SFPD have one job, keeping it’s housed and UN housed residents safe. Not sure they get it, the local media certainly does not.

Bob is right, a lot of work needs to be done over Smithfields

Mr. Mayor, we need to have a discussion about addiction and bigotry

Peeps still complaining about E-Bikes

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

What was the count?

You Missed

Bob is right, a lot of work needs to be done over Smithfields

Mr. Mayor, we need to have a discussion about addiction and bigotry

Peeps still complaining about E-Bikes

Where we stand on the city election