It has been 9 years since I did this last, so it should be interesting. I am going to do Improv and ask audience members what they want from Santa for Christmas. What they really want 🙂 if you know what I mean.
Icon • 9 PM • Saturday, Dec 20th
(I will go on at intermission around 10 PM)
With no ribbon cuttings or fan fare the city of Sioux Falls finally fixed and turned the stoplights back on at 17th and Cliff. When they were taken out by a car in 2021 I really didn’t care and figured it would just get fixed in a few months. After a couple of years, the owner of Mr. Goodcents showed up to a council meeting and asked them to turn the lights back on. This was about 2 years ago. Notice this story from almost 2 years ago;
Strictly speaking, the intersection doesn’t meet the standards, but a traffic signal at the intersection of Cliff Avenue and 17th Street will return, said Heath Hoftiezer, an engineer with the city of Sioux Falls.
This just shows me how incompetent city government is. It takes 4 years to replace a stoplight! FOUR YEARS! And we wonder why the online meeting service has been broken for 20 years!?
I would be inclined to call the people involved with this replacement (traffic, planning, city council, SFPD, SFFD, Mayor) losers. But that would be too nice.
I don’t know.
I am just seriously asking. I have never looked on the city website because I would assume if the plan exists it would be available. I was thinking about this over the summer. I started a new thing this year where I would ride the entire bike trail, 30 miles every Saturday and Sunday morning. I liked to start 30 minutes before sunup. What amazed me was not only the different kinds of wildlife I saw but the sheer volume of some of some of the species. I have seen coyotes, foxes, black squirrels, wild turkey flocks and deer herds, bald eagles and hawks, possums, beavers, coons . . . you get the picture.
I know they use air cannons at the airport and in the past the SFPD gets a permit I think from the state to shoot deer in certain areas in town. But what about other wildlife? I saw a flock of geese last weekend behind Smithfields that when they took flight from the banks of the river the sky turned black, no lie. I guess my concern is when does this wildlife become a nuisance? I am all for wildlife in town and it is what makes our city parks attractive (now if we can add a fruit tree park!) But I think it is time the city brings in the game fish and parks and does a headcount of the wildlife in Sioux Falls and recommend mitigation. Of course, this is a post for the next mayor and council because the current administration acts like Trump at a cabinet meeting. ZZZZZZZZZZZ!
And some of it isn’t good, some categories dropping almost 10+ points in 2 years. They will do a presentation today at 4 PM, and here is a link to the document.
UPDATE: Here is the entire survey. You will see that they did not include any citizen comments on the survey, they have in the past. This tells me, there probably wasn’t too many positive comments. They also went the BIGOTRY route by filtering out Hispanics on the race question. Not sure why they did that because we have several immigrant communities in Sioux Falls. Weird.
I will do a deeper dive tonight after the presentation but there were a few stats I wanted to point out.
It seems the council is hestitant to fund childcare services or transient management but the citizens seem to be ok with it;
• 80% support funding for transient issues and housing
• 70% support funding for childcare
• 70% support funding for airport
Where the survey takes a bad turn is government services and transparency, many failing grades, but this one surprised me;
I’m sure there will be more details at the meeting today, but it will be interesting to see how the council addresses the transparency issues. I was surprised by these stats because I have been telling folks for 20 years the lack of transparency in city government and how bad it has gotten over the past 12 years but just figured no one notices because when you don’t inform people they tend to not be involved or care. If only 50% trust the government in Sioux Falls, yah got problems.
UPDATE: Yup, looks just like Brown;
Nomination for At-Large “A” City Council Member
Vernon Brown
2019 S Pendar Lane
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
Nomination by Council Member Miranda Basye
Nomination seconded by Council Member Ryan Spellerberg
It was no secret that the council was likely going to appoint a former city councilor this next Tuesday night to take over Dr. Cole’s seat after she HAD to leave Sioux Falls for her profession.
The question was who? My short list was;
Rolfing
Starr
Kiley
Neitzert
Jensen
Stehly
Brekke
I could also see Jeff Barth or John Paulson.
Another name brought up to me last week was Erpenbach. And I thot this may be the wisest choice since she just disbanded Thrive maybe she could take the next 6 months on the council to to reorganize the homeless task force. So while I am NOT a Michelle fan, it was much better then others on that list. It’s not Michelle but it’s close, it is likely someone who works for Michelle’s husband Steve.
I figured over the weekend the true candidate would emerge, and they may have. The rumor is that Vernon Brown will be nominated on Tuesday night and there will be no other nominations. I guess things could be worse, we could nominate Matt Paulson to the city council, of course they would have to change house rules so Matt could bring his emotional support dog* to the meetings with him.
They may mix it up and nominate Michelle, Vernon and Rick just to make it look like they are doing their due diligence, but I hear they didn’t have to many takers (or at least takers that are willing to wear knee pads around 9th and Dakota).
*That was satire. I know ‘who’ his emotional support dog is, and they don’t eat Alpo.
l3wis