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Downtown Sioux Falls

Bunker Ramp Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls

Update: Did the Sioux Falls City Council approve Saturday metering in DTSF? Nope.

l3wis 6Comments

Update: I talked to some attorneys about this and they all disagreed with me on the tax issue. One attorney said it was a ‘government services fee’ basically you are leasing the space from the city so it is a fee. But they all agreed with me that the council really should have approved it in a 1st and 2nd reading so there would have been a public hearing before its implementation.

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When I saw the story yesterday that they were going to start metering on Saturdays I wondered when the city council approved this. Well, they didn’t because they did not have to. According to charter, ordinances 77.080-77.082 gives the parking director and strangely the city engineer the authority to determine when they can charge these fees. A few months ago when they banned monster trucks in DTSF the council did discuss Saturday metering but never gave a timeline or even voted on it, so I was expecting a vote this Spring. But I would argue that it DOES NOT give the director the authority to make this move;

The director of public parking facilities shall establish the hours during the day and night when parking meters or gates must be used and when the time limitations shall be effective, 

Notice it says the director can determine the TIMES during a specific day, but it DOES NOT give him the authority to pick the days of collection, which he did here, SATURDAY.

I would encourage an attorney with some free time to go DTSF and park at a meter on a Saturday, receive a ticket then challenge that ticket in court by saying the director didn’t have the authority to pick a NEW day to start metering.

There is also the labor involved. Obviously they had to hire some new people to watch the meters. Was this in the budget? Did the councilors approve that? I doubt it.

This is a MAGA move by our Mayor. You don’t have the authority to start TAXING constituents on a new day without the approval of the policy body which makes taxation decisions, because as Staggers once said, you can call it a ‘parking fee’ but let’s call it what it really is; a ‘tax’.

The parking division also has a revenue issue putting most of their yearly earnings into bond payments for that color fart bunker ramp. The parking division needs more money, and they are coming for yah. I have contended that the city make ALL parking DTSF FREE, 24/7 except meters on Phillips, I would have them running non-stop, 7 days a week, and I would charge $5.00 an hour. If you want people coming DTSF to shop, may I suggest more FREE parking in ramps.

1st Amendment Curt Soehl Downtown Sioux Falls Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Chair doesn’t like being yelled at

l3wis 4Comments

Curtist the Blurtist had a plan last night. He pulled an item from the consent agenda. The city was allocating $150K for two new ambassadors for DTSF. While I think it is awesome DTSF is creating jobs, I doubt the employees are making $75K each for the summer, but as DTSF says they need money for ‘training’. LOL. Why did Curt pull the item? Because he thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about the great thing these ambassadors are doing. Well, he was wrong. While our country is going into a tailspin because of a very stupid person, constituents are NOT happy, and they certainly won’t be happy about the city spending more money on the transient issue by spending more money NOT ON THEM!

So some constituents weighed in, and it wasn’t pretty. While they were certainly not friendly in their testimonies, they weren’t wrong. After the trip to the woodshed, Curt was unhappy so he said something like, “I didn’t know we were going to get yelled at . . .” First off, Curt, that is really your main job, listening to constituent complaints, and secondly if you want to POP off at constituents during a meeting you are VIOLATING a rule MMM put in place, NO CONSTITUENT INTERACTION WHILE THEY ARE AT THE PODIUM. So Curt, if you want to change the rules, which I am ALL for, to allow councilors to interact with constituents during public input, DO IT! But until that rule change is made I suggest you such your pie hole and take it like a big kid, or better yet RESIGN. Your disdain for public engagement is getting old, like you (as you pointed out in the meeting.)

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Trump

Over 1,000 show up for Anti-Trump Rally DTSF

l3wis 3Comments

Some are saying towards the end it was closer to 2,000 and they plan to do this almost every Saturday until Sally Tomato leaves office. I will try to find a video a friend shot while riding on the back of my Pedicab down Phillips. People lined the street on both sides from Keloland to Minerva’s. It was crazy! but when you have crazy in charge, this is what happens. Where were these people before the election? I think I am more bitter towards non-voters then I am with Trump voters, you weren’t going to change those morons minds anyway, but people who sat it out because they didn’t like either candidate. Call a whaabulance, I have never liked anyone who has ran for office, I just pick the one that will do the least damage, that would have been Harris, this wasn’t rocket science. This won’t end well for us or anybody else involved.

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Traffic Control

Solutions for a dangerous 14th Street?

l3wis 8Comments

I would agree this street between Minnesota Ave and Cliff is dangerous. I cross it several times a day and have learned that it can be a drag strip and has been this way for decades. I like this solution;

Several neighbors, including Zach DeBoer and Joe Batcheller, shared support for the idea of implementing a “road diet” to bring 14th Street from a four-lane road to a two-lane road with a turn lane in the middle (similar to 26th Street between Cliff and Minnesota Avenues.)

I would go a step further and put protected* bike lanes on either side of the street. I would also put more decorative mediums in the center lane (flower beds, etc.). If we are going to do it, do it right. The city is ‘considering’ a test of the lanes, but I think the council should just make the change in ordinance and require the city to re-stripe it within 6 months then work on the other upgrades the next year. I would also explore building a decorative pedestrian bridge over 14th at Phillips Avenue. Think functional but like the Arc of Dreams, you could do an RFP for a functional sculpture and get local sponsorships to help pay for it.

*protected bike lanes have an elevated medium between the bike lane and vehicle lane for extra protection.

Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Jim Entenman Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

So Erica Beck wants to run for mayor? LOL.

l3wis 4Comments

Not sure what is going on, but several months ago I was told she was running and had the endorsement of Poops. Then this Micah guy showed up and I thot the Beckster was done. Now she is resigning in June and said, “I want to hang with the grandkids.” Oldest excuse in the book. We know you are running. You have been running the city since you have been COS as one of the first thing’s Jumping Jack Flash did was give her the authority to sign mayoral documents when he is ‘absent’ and she has been running the city ever since.

What I find completely arrogant is as her tenure as our shadow mayor nothing has gotten accomplished except shipping dusty monkeys to the East Coast. So many failures under her leadership it is hard to keep track.

But this is what happens when you pull authoritarian leadership and the people (the council) tunes you out.

I have written in the past the former folks who worked with Beck at Lloyd Companies have told me the same thing, SHE IS NOT A CONSENSUS BUILDER. I have also heard from multiple current and past councilors that she is a brow beater when it comes to the mayor’s agenda proposals, and they ain’t happy about it.

The irony of all this is Erica reached out to me after she quit the city and we had coffee and a long chat (mostly her talking). She was a different person. She told me she quit the planning department after MMM forced her to write the Sanford TIF in which she said to me, “This TIF was precedent because this has never been done before for a recreational event center.” Oh, and she was completely opposed to it. She also tried to bring a casino to Sioux Falls (Flandreau Tribe) to use their revenues to pay for the event center in which they pledged $10 million a year towards the bond payments but Mike refused to meet with them because he didn’t want a ‘casino’ in town. LOL. The town is nothing but casinos, but I digress.

She had a good head on her shoulders, but after tasting the power of working for Lloyd she seems to think she has the Chutzpah to do the job. Not even F’ing close!

Besides the horrible management of the city, Beck embraces non-transparent government, which costs taxpayers $$$$. She can’t even say why she is quitting. So I guess your mayoral campaign strategy is to keep this secret as long as you can then surprise people? Weird. If you are running, you tell everyone and your sister, and you continue to let that steam out. Huether won because he was relentless and not mysterious (what a weird dude, and this is coming from a weird dude). The one thing I learned about running successful city campaigns is you come out early and you pound constituents with information about your candidacy. I guess Beck’s strategy is to keep it a secret until election day and hopefully peeps will be confused and vote for her. I can’t believe we are letting this putz run our city (into the ground).

My hope is that she will run for mayor, spend $500K and come in dead last. The chamber folks might think you are the best thing since sliced bread, but their 100 votes won’t get you past the finish line. Can’t wait for you to announce. Jim Entenman part II.

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