Event Center

The Gargoyle Leader’s Ed Board finally realizes something we have all known for a very long time

l3wis November 15, 2009 0Comments

If you have been attending the Events Center Task Force meetings over the past couple of months, something was pretty obvious, Howard Wood wasn’t going anywhere. Why?

• There is no secured funding to build a new relocated Howard Wood (let alone a new EC)

• Significant parking can be built by the new EC location without tearing down HW and by doing that alone, you would save demolition costs which is estimated to be anywhere between $5-$15 million.

• The SF School District has enough money in the bank to upgrade the current HW.

But let’s hear why the AL ED Board thinks we should ditch the idea;

But much work remains, and it’s Munson’s and the council’s job to keep this project moving forward. They must not let this project become shelved indefinitely because of political expedience.

City leaders will need to demonstrate that Sioux Falls wants and needs this building in order to get legislative approval for a tax increase to finance it.

That’s part of the problem, #1, it is not the City Council’s job to make a decision on HW, it is the School Board’s job, who seemingly have skirted that responsibility thus far. and #2, it is also not the job of this council to find ways to tax us more, they are supposed to be protecting taxpayers from frivolous tax increases. Now that it seems the Howard Wood relocation plan has been ditched, hopefully the Task Force will come around before the legislative session starts and advise a BB & B Tax instead to fund the building. Time will tell I guess.

Tomorrow, the EC Task Force will present their findings to the city council at the informational meeting, 4 PM, Carnegie Hall (you can also watch it on cable channel 16) I guarantee there will be a slew of questions, especially from Councilor Staggers about the flawed funding source.

On a side note, I found this comment by Mike Sullivan in this article to be extremely odd, for several reasons;

“It doesn’t make much sense to say, ‘Well, we’re only going to pay $3 million for Howard Wood but we’re going to go spend $15 million to go park across the street,’ ” Sullivan said.

Not sure where Mike’s head was when the TF discussed this at a previous meeting, but I recall the TF coming to the determination that they would save millions by not tearing down HW and building flat surface parking around the current location. Mike was sitting a couple of tables away from me when that was extensively discussed, so I’m not sure whose butt he is pulling those numbers from? But even if you use his numbers, when you substract $15 million from $33 million you come up with $18 million in savings.

This project is really starting to become a Clusterf’ck. I can’t believe after talking about this for 16 months, a day before the presentation is made, they decide to ditch an important factor of the proposal. I have a feeling the TF just wants to drop the proposal in the laps of the City Council, who BTW, are not real good at making fiscally sound decisions either. Gawd help us.

Howard Wood ain’t going anywhere

l3wis November 9, 2009 6Comments

Like I said a few weeks back, once the Task Force realized they will save millions by building parking around the new Events Center instead of tearing down HW, they would change their song and dance;

A couple options come from road construction planned for 2011 and 2013, as outlined Wednesday by Mike Cooper, the city’s planning and zoning director.

Work on West Avenue and Russell Street, and buying commercial buildings on the north side of Russell, would give the city enough space for arena parking, he said. Longer-term possibilities include a redesign of Western Avenue, buyouts of area homes and other buildings west of the arena, and relocating the McCart softball fields.

Kinda sounds like their plan is changing everyday. While you are at it, why don’t you build the EC downtown and fund it with a BB & B Tax.

Final Event Center Task Force Meeting happened today

l3wis November 4, 2009 16Comments

I attended the final meeting, and it was a doozy as usual. But before the meeting Mayor Munson was Greg Belfrage’s show talking about the EC, so I called in and told the mayor that 1) A food tax rebate program is a farce (he blamed the state for that) and that a retail tax increase will go ‘Down in Flames’ to which he replied, “it is the only option to get this thing built.” Well, then I guessed we are screwed. I also think he was pulling stuff out of the air, he claimed that a BB & B tax would only raise $5 million a year. Where did that number come from? It depends on how much you want to charge for a room or cocktail tax. I also suggested an advertising or corporate entertainment tax. He did not respond to the entertainment tax but did say, “I don’t understand how an advertising tax would work.” You served in the legislature and as our mayor for seven years and you don’t understand a simple concept like that? Give me a break.

As for the meeting, it had a surprise beginning, Jim Woster got together with Mike Cooper of the Planning Department and Jodi Schwan, of, I don’t know what department she works for anymore, and they devised a city rebate program that could be given to a certain income bracket, but when asked how much money it would take out of the 3rd penny tax collection or how many people would use it, they did not have a clue. Finally, Dana Dykhouse (who decided to show up to the last meeting) said, (paraphrasing) “It is irrelevant what the food tax debate will have on this project, it is our recommendation to fund it with a 3rd penny and we can let the city government and legislators figure that out later.” And he added, “We don’t set tax policy, we are just making a recommendation.” Well, Dana, you are recommending we raise taxes to pay for this joint, so yes, you are setting tax policy.

Charlene (TF Member) also chimed in again on this subject and said they explored all other funding options, and that she was upset that the public suggested otherwise. Bologna. Cheryl Rath has attended every single TF meeting and has taken detailed notes, she told me they spent “Very little time exploring other options.” Here is a short list of funding options I came up with sitting in McDonald’s drive-thru for 5 minutes;

• BB & B Tax

• Advertising Tax

• Corporate Entertainment Tax

• Usuary Fees (parking, tickets, rentals)

• Economic Impact Tax

• Luxury tax (EX: Recreational vehicles, luxury autos, jewelry, etc.)

How many of these came up in discussion Charlene? ZERO!

And now for the ridiculous cost estimates. If you think they lowballed the Pavilion, wait until you hear these costs;

• The cost for the entire complex not including a new Howard Wood would be between $135-165 million.

When they started to discuss the breakdown, that’s when those numbers started to rise.

• Darin Daby from the School Board felt that demolishing HW would cost more then the $15 million projection (more like $25 million)

• The CC expansion was estimated at $21 million (that was also considered a lowball)

• The Arena remodel was at $8 million (that too was considered a lowball)

• And the actual EC without parking or landscaping costs was estimated to cost about $115 million, which I think is extremely low.

I’ll be interested to see where these numbers are at on November 16 when they present the recommendation to the City Council. My assumption is they want to lowball this, and they did a heckuva job of it.