Gregg Jamison

Seems someone in local government has been listening to Detroit Lewis

l3wis January 6, 2011 13Comments

As I said back in December, we can remodel the Arena and make it a better useable facility without building a new events center. And it seems I am not the only one who thinks so;

As the city of Sioux Falls continues developing its plan for a new events center and a future public vote, Jamison is working on an alternate plan in case voters balk at the idea. He thinks residents might support a downtown convention center, a recreation center at the current convention center, and a remodeled Arena.

While I don’t agree entirely with Greg’s plan, I will say we agree on remodeling the Arena, and I am not the only one. Greg and I had a very lengthy phone conversation on the topic several months ago, so this isn’t something he cooked up overnight from the advice of a knee-jerking blogger. During the phone convo Greg assured me that him and I are not the only ones who think this is a good idea. While I do agree that building a new Convention Center downtown is a great idea (maybe next to Cherapa) I would ‘tweak’ his rec center idea just a bit.

But Jamison said he’s heard from residents who want an indoor pool and from private sports clubs wanting more space. He thinks there is support for his approach, which would be a private-public partnership where both the city and private sports clubs invest in the convention center to transform it into a recreation center.

I agree, there should be private partnership, BUT I think the only public involvement is gifting the Convention Center to the private groups and let them remodel it, own it, run it and subsidize it on their own. I would even go farther and let them be exempt from property taxes and allow them to use the city owned parking lot at no charge. I think it is time the city finally pulled that bandaid off and stop holding the hands of special interest club sports that want handouts from the city.

This quote from Greg also stood out in the story;

“I believe during these economic conditions, it is better to remodel the Arena than to build a brand new events center,” he said.

That was actually the focus of the convo we had. Greg actually confessed to me that it is the job of the city to take care of infrastructure and city services first in this economic downturn. He pretty much said this exact same quote to me. Some used to be hard on Staggers for saying things like this, and accused him of not being ‘visionary.’ I think anyone who uses taxpayer’s money wisely to provide better services to citizens is truly a visionary. I think when we have people suggesting we use fruitcake to fill potholes, we have to question how city funds are being used.

But these two statements in the Stormland TV News version of this story shows just how out of touch Councilor Jim Entenman and Mayor Huether are;

“I agree with Greg, we are short a lot of those facilities in our city. There’s no doubt about it. However, the previous two task forces have identified a need for an events center too,” city council member Jim Entenman said.

Notice what Jim said, “task forces identified a need.” Not the citizens. This still hasn’t been brought to a vote. And I have often asked, “What are they afraid of?” Failure? Not according to Huether;

Mayor Mike Huether says the city needs to stay focused on an events center. Huether told KELOLAND News, “Effective leadership will keep us focused on the goal at hand, and that’s building a new events center.”

Effective leadership would have been developing a funding solution for a proposed EC first, and put it to a vote. If approved, move forward with location and design. The events center planning is like a merry-go-round that won’t let the citizens on for the ride. Real leaders listen to the public. They don’t ramrod their ideas down citizen’s throats, that’s not leadership, that’s fascism.