I’m sure when Zak sees my post, it will NOT be a surprise. When I met with Zak a while back, I warned him of the influence of Paulson, but encouraged him to take his check to the bank if he offered, but I told him to NOT ask for it, because Paulson expects something in return for that donation. Zak was actually encouraged to run by Poops, but we all know Poops and Matty, the censorship queens, work hand in hand, and if you appease one of them, you will ultimately have to appease the other. But I don’t need to go on an on about the behaviors of a wannabe kingmaker, we just need to look at what his money and influence in local politics has given us;
• A censored mural that the Smithsonian accepted later (That’s the big Fed museum in DC, not the craft barn in Harrisburg).
• A mayor that has been ineffective in finishing anything he started (I still don’t think he knows how to wear a Covid mask)
• A councilor who not only didn’t finish their term, they left the state! (as I predicted!)
• A councilor who isn’t running for a 2nd term because he has statewide aspirations (and can’t get anything done on the council)
• Whoever that guy who beat Jordan is
There are many more to list, but it would seem Paulson should have a little buyer’s remorse considering all the candidates he has supported who won so far have been leadership failures. But he doesn’t want a leader, he wants a rubber stamper. If Paulson wants to support you as a candidate, give him a PO box to send the check to, and the phone number to the Holiday Inn Express and hope he leaves you alone 🙂 and if he persists ask him his feelings on censorship 🙂
I have been watching the planning department over the past couple of years and all of their missteps. Besides being sued, which seems like a lot lately, they are doing secretive deals and no-bid contracts. I think it is sooo bad at the department, I am not sure just changing the director would fix the rot. Obviously the planning director takes orders from the mayor then directs his staff to move forward. But there seems to be a disconnect between the mayor and the director and the rest of the management staff. I guess it seems they acted alone,
If I were the next mayor, I would not only replace the director I would likely replace every manager and engineer right below him. Just putting a new director in place won’t solve the problem, there needs to be a whole reorganization of the department and there goals. I don’t like seeing professionals with the city losing their jobs, but I also look at city employees as an investment and if that investment is costing us instead of providing essential services, it’s time to show them the door. It’s also damaging to the reputation of that department.
I am NOT naive, I know this has been going on for a long time, but with all the lawsuits lately the problem has seemed to rear it’s head.
Depending on who the next mayor will be, it will be interesting to watch how they handle the situation.
This is the first time a TIF has been put up to a vote EVER in the state. I think any TIF over $10 Million should get voter approval, it should also get county approval. I find the coalition of right/left leaning folks who gathered the 5K sigs in 20 days remarkable. If they can get that many sigs in RC in 20 days, that tells me the voters will kill this by a large margin. The astonishing thing is EVEN if the $125 million dollar TIF is eliminated by the voters, this f’ing amusement park will still receive over $60 million in other tax incentives, yet the state couldn’t figure out SNAP or TANF. TIFs have gotten ridiculous, but they have always been. Where were these lawmakers 10 or 20 years ago? The research was out there that they don’t work, yet you let taxpayers get rolled for decades while bailing out developer welfare queens. I guess I am happy there is FINALLY opposition to TIFs statewide, but what took yah so damn long!!!!!!?????
UPDATE II: So I was pondering this today; does the city council even have to replace Cole for a six month period? Not at all. Yeah, the charter says blah, blah, blah, but since the council still has forum without Cole they don’t need to replace her for a short period of time. Charter does require the council to appoint someone to fill the role within a month or there will be a special election. I think the council would be wise to change it in the charter that they do NOT need to replace a councilor if there is only 6 months left on a term as long as council has quorum. Quorum is the legal precedent of attendance of voting members at a public meeting. Quorum for the council is 5 members. In other words, 5 members only can show up to a meeting and make decisions for the entire body without the absent members being present. In other words, the council could have 3 members absent for the next 6 months and still legally conduct bizzo. So why throw $10K+ at someone to be a rubber stamper? I hope the nomination is to nominate no one and conduct business as usual. But that would make sense and be less controversial. Oops.
UPDATE: So while the council had an opportunity at the informational and regular city council meeting yesterday to inform the public on how to apply, they decided to wait almost a full day and have a presser. It wasn’t much more helpful. Basically, Council Chair Merkouris said you have to basically kiss the asses of two city councilors to get nominated. Nothing about submitting an application, nothing about that application getting reviewed by council. I never again want to hear ONE single councilor BITCH about constituent participation in government when you play the Chamber Brown Nose Truffle game with this appointment. Do these folks ever look in the mirror?
I know I bring it up a lot, but the city council is very predictable. Watching the meeting tonight was like watching a community theatre play. I have been very speculative of the appointment process for replacing Cole because there has been no public announcement that people can apply to be nominated and appointed. I texted city councilor Barranco a few weeks back about how the appointment process would be handled and he told me that councilor Sigette was handling it, which I find ironic since she also was NOT elected. David also gave me no information on how to apply. I am assuming you would send your nominating petition to Jim David, Council Operations Manager; 605-367-8080. But whenMr. David talked about the item (#21) tonight he never gave an email address or a process of how to submit your nomination and none of the councilors brought it up either. I even texted councilor Barranco after the resolution vote and urged him to inform the public how to apply at the end of the meeting. Crickets. I think it is ironic that a council and mayor that whines about voter participation in elections and running for office gives the public ZERO information on how to be nominated and applying for this position. You can’t complain on one hand that no one participates in local government then turnaround and give the public ZERO information on how to get involved. Are you really that stupid and arrogant? Or more importantly, do you think the public is that stupid? I sometimes wonder what planet these folks are from . . . oh, that’s right, Planet Chamber of Commerce, where the favorite app at the mixer is brown nose truffles.
I encourage EVERYONE even if you are not interested, to apply for this nomination and appointment. Please, flood Mr. David’s voicemail box, because the council will have to answer to that the night of the appointment.
I do make a lot of predictions on this site, you know, my record is so-so, but I have to admit I was astonished that I predicted Cole’s council path almost to the tee. Magic 8-Ball, don’t fail me now!!!!!
I think they will pick Rex Rolfing or Rick Kiley, even though I think Neitzert could also be picked because he would be safe and non-controversial. I actually would look forward to Greg removing his hand from Cole’s back and just taking her seat himself. He was supposed to do a presentation at the informational today about public transit but had to cancel. That tells me he is the favorite to take the spot because he is actively getting involved. This may be a 3 man race, so to speak.
GUNS A BLAZING!
I think my favorite part of the council meeting tonight was public input. At first I was sympathetic to a gentleman that was detained by police for having a LEGAL firearm on him and explaining his situation, but then when he blamed liberals for police training, I just shook my head. I have a feeling the cops ran his plates and found some kind of violation in his past record so they decided to question him. Maybe that is NOT the case, but when you automatically blame liberals for something they have nothing to do with, you already lost you argument. He talked about some lawsuit, so we will see where this Yosemite Sam ordeal goes.
Gun people = Weird
You know, there is a lot of liberal Indy’s like myself who support 2nd Amendment rights, with some regulation, but when you have crazy talk at a public meeting, it just makes me NOT want to support you. I have crazy liberal friends that hunt like mad and have over 20 firearms, but support gun control. Build bridges not shooting ranges.
That kind of leadership requires listening, relationship-building, and the willingness to work together. It means re-establishing trust among institutions that have drifted apart and reminding everyone that Sioux Falls’ success has always come from collaboration, not isolation.
Many of these leadership issues can be solved with one word; TRANSPARENCY. When you have a government that is open to the public’s ideas by bringing them along with the process you get more involvement and when the public is more involved you have a better planned community. The problem with local government on all levels isn’t a lack of leadership or even laziness it’s a lack of openness and accountability. You could have 9 monkeys sitting on the dais and the city would still run incredibly well because of transparency. I am of the position that it doesn’t matter who is on that dais, as another realtor announces a run for council today, if we have folks that are willing to open the books and bring the public along that is ALL the leadership you need. Because real leaders are honest, open and accountable.
THE SOLUTION TO THE TRANSIENT PROBLEM IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES
After reading this article last night about transients at the downtown library I sent this email to Jodi;
I am putting an invitation to you and a companion to ride on the back of my pedi-cab on a weeknight DTSF after dark, I will take you to all the places transients congregate and you can see just how serious it is.
But what I found fascinating about the article is Police Chief Thum offering a solution to the problem without realizing it;
My point is not to lack compassion for those who probably could benefit from a quiet, safe place to spend their day. Ideally, we’d find something more productive for people to do in such a place — maybe we offer classes or even the chance to create art — but if safe shelter with a way to charge a phone is really all people are looking for, maybe we need to create that somewhere other than the library.
We need the library to function as it was intended to promote literacy and access to information and related resources, not as a social services agency.
At the top of the post I talked about common sense in government. Are you listening to what you are saying? Maybe we need a temporary shelter? It is pretty obvious to me that we need a temporary shelter this winter for these folks where they can stay 24/7 if they wish. Will it cost money? Sure, but the alternative is paying for ER visits when we are scraping them from the cold concrete in a parking ramp which costs way more then just funding a facility for the winter months. I would also hand every single one of them a bus ticket when they arrive at the shelter if they desire to go home.
This is what I mean when it comes to leadership. You obviously see the issue, you also obviously see the solution, so why not fix it?
l3wis 
