South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Event Center

1st Amendment Denny Sanford Premier Center Employee Free Choice Act Employment Event Center Sioux Falls Uncategorized Unemployment

A ‘Dumpling’ of a Deal

l3wis 2Comments

So this bank president wrote an editorial, that I won’t even link, because it read like an internal memo to the Chamber of Commerce, but he had to tell us how great it is for the state to be dumpling millions in taxdollars and rebates to the new dumpling factory being built in Sioux Falls. He also downplayed the conflicts of interest and scandals around the place because we are going to get 650 JOBS!

And that is the real reason we got this dumpling of a deal. Low wages, no corporate income taxes, TIFs, tax rebates, state backed low interest loans, direct handouts. Things couldn’t look better for the Koreans that will be making BANK from our cheap labor. There is even rumors they are going to build apartment complexes around the facility so the workers won’t have transportation costs. Kinda tells you what kind of labor demographic they are looking at (I bet they will build them a big community garden right next to the Data Center);

Ironically, looks like a line worker makes more then a teller at the bank the writer of the editorial runs;

I love it when these corporate rats climb out of their luxury suites at the Denty and decide to address the minions to tell us how good we have it.

Recently they have said that if the Federal Minimum Wage kept up with inflation, it would be at about $23 per hour in 2026. It is Not, it is about a third that.

I still think a living wage in Sioux Falls is $20 an hour if it comes with benefits and investment opportunities.

I guess low wage companies are going to come to our state whether we like it or not, but please, stop using my tax dollars to incentivize foreign investors. You clearly did NO research on Korean work ethic, but I have a feeling they will try to instill it here. Can’t wait to read those horror stories.

When fat ass bank presidents try to tell me about all the golden opportunities for the community because he gave away MY tax dollars to his rich buddies, it reminds of this story about a guy who wants an island, and he wants me to pay for it. I know. CRAZY! Besides, there is only one dumpling in this world worthy, the softball sized flour dumplings at Bohemian Cafe in Omaha (RIP). You put in a factory like that, and I will open a Kolache and Kuchen bakery next door.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center

Congressional hearing proves our Premier Center is a money vacuum

l3wis 3Comments

If you watch the hearing below you will see just how much of your ticket purchase goes to the big guys and how very little goes towards the artist. What is left out of the discussion is just how much money stays in our community. Very little. I have argued that when you spend money locally on entertainment that money gets re-circulated in the community when you spend it at the Denty most of it goes straight out of town. And SALES don’t reflect profit which doesn’t even cover 10% of our mortgage payment;

It was the Premier Center’s most profitable year yet, coming in at $2.1 million compared to the previous record of $1.5 million set in 2019.

And just how much of that ‘profit’ goes back to city coffers?

Denny Sanford Premier Center Downtown Sioux Falls Event Center Sioux Falls

Has the Denny Sanford Premier Center lost its luster?

l3wis 10Comments

Well, I could have seen this coming a mile away. As Scott Hudson and I discussed on our podcast before the Denty was built, the industry wasn’t really moving in a direction of big sold out concerts. The Premier Center was a splash in the pan, but unfortunately, we have to pay the mortgage and maintenance on the facility for its life.

Part of the issue was the way the bonds were passed to build the facility. It was many first time voters that didn’t know that it was an advisory vote (a real bond election would have required a 60% passage). If it would have been a REAL bond election, the EC would have failed.

I still think remodeling the Arena, turning the current convention center into a recreational facility and moving the Convention Center downtown would have been a better choice.

I had a person ask me the other day what I thought were Sioux Falls’ best years since I have lived here. (He moved here with his wife in 2010 and runs a successful small business). I told him that golden years were between 1997-2007. Downtown Sioux Falls was full of great live music and live music venues and was really a great place to be. I think we could have continued that trend if it were not for the 2008 recession. I don’t think the Sioux Falls middle class really bounced back from that recession. Wages were frozen throughout the city for several years and the only ones moving forward were the welfare queen developers who were cashing in on all the tax incentives. I think that ruined Sioux Falls, growth for growth sakes.

If the 2008 recession could have been avoided, and we throttled back on the growth in 2007 we would be a much better community for it. But hey! At least we have a dented up empty can to be proud of.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

Another Event Center Campus Committee, another study on the dusty shelf

l3wis 7Comments

I’m trying to figure out why we didn’t do something about the last study?

“We were getting ready to launch a market study to look at what’s the right sizing and scaling,” said Shawn Pritchett, director of finance for the city of Sioux Falls.

“Unfortunately with COVID, the market disappeared entirely, and there was nothing left to study.”

True. But why not just pick up where the committee left off? Why, once again, reinvent the wheel?

“You have to have the right type of expertise and professional experience to give truly meaningful outside perspective,” he said.

So are you saying the 1st committee didn’t have that? Not sure how a bunch of bankers and doctors are going to be much different?

When you look back on the first term of the administration, it’s hard to figure out what was accomplished accept a bunch of studies thrown in the garbage and a revolving door of directors at city hall. How do these people get elected and re-elected. Baffling.

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