I took this pic about 11 AM this morning between Cherry Rock park and Rotary park. Someone peeked their head out as I was riding away.
I just shook my head a few weeks ago when some talking heads with the city said that the transient/nuance problem downtown is getting better. Really? Maybe during the day, but when I ride at night, I have never seen that many different groups. I did a headcount last week and it averages about 15 individuals I see camped out after dark each night in about 6 different areas downtown. Not all are sleeping but most have their camp setup and ready for the night. I have also seen many camps along the bike trail underneath picnic shelters. I’m not sure who is providing the messaging folks data or what they are being communicated, but the problem has gotten progressively worse since June. Not sure what the solution is, but lying to the public about it and ignoring the problem isn’t a solution either.
So I was thinking, maybe the solution to our goose problem is shipping them off to Springfield, Ohio? Just keep the residents away from our dog parks. Those folks would have a feeding frenzy. Oh, Donny, the stories you weave.
AND IT CONTINUES TO PILE ON
While a certain dynamic duo in town seems to have the governor on the run with her credit card statements I got a chuckle out of what this news organization(?) had to say about why they are doing it;
COMBATTING SECRECY AND IGNORANCE
That’s rich considering these two hid investor information from the public when applying to be the legal newspaper of Sioux Falls, oh, and got the unethical council and SOS’s office in on your scam. Government SECRECY!? You make me laugh. Also, how do you combat ignorance? Ignorance is the lack of knowledge on any particular topic. So is this paper going to make the public more aware of the corruption in Pierre with their 4,000 subscriptions? I’m dying! Hopefully you will figure out what hair and nail salons Noem has been visiting these days. The public is DYING to know, just don’t give them the info in a gravel pit.
SPECIAL CONTRACTS FOR SPECIAL PEEPS
Well it was like Christmas for certain ad agencies in town last Tuesday at the City Council meeting;
Councilor Ryan Spellerberg brought two separate amendments Tuesday night – both of which passed unanimously and with minimal council discussion. One allocated $150,000 for a marketing campaign to encourage the public to donate to charities rather than to panhandlers.
Yes Kids, instead of actually taking REAL capital and spending it on bus tickets to help get these folks home or a street outreach program that picks these folks up at night we are giving the money to well connected ad agencies to tell us to NOT give to these folks. Talk about government ignorance!
With the recent closure of the Sioux City warming shelter we are in deep doo doo this winter. Instead of finding ways to ignore these folks, maybe come up with a plan for this winter, like NOW! I hate to say it, but I have a feeling we are going to be reading about a lot of homeless tragedies this winter.
I heard next week the council is going to fund a marketing campaign called, “Nothing to see here, move along.” it will be for discouraging folks to come to public input and public meetings.
SPEAKING OF DEAD GEESE
Not sure this ties in, but I don’t care. The city wants to see the entire Delbridge Collection sold as a group. Like I said, could care less about a bunch of dusty monkeys in Lenin’s Tomb, but there is some historic and scientific value to the collection and we should save it. I think we are missing a massive opportunity here to build a very unique exhibit, but instead we have to make sure the Mayor and his friends make money building a convention center we don’t need. SHINY BALL, MUST TOUCH!
I was having a random convo today with someone who works closely with our homeless brothers and sisters and I asked him about the ‘busload of transients’. He did confirm to me that a bus did show up, from Minnesota with South Dakota tribal members who were homeless in the cities, at least that is what he gathered from talking with some of them.
Then he randomly says after he told me there was a big meetin’ with the mayor and the other non-profits who work with transients that Paul plans to make homelessness illegal. I asked, ‘How do they intend to make homelessness illegal?’ He replied that they are going to put signs* in public spaces, parks, etc. that says there is NO sleeping in the parks and they will be served with a trespassing violation. In other words the TAXPAYERS and the counties will be on the hook for the fines, etc.
There is a better solution, have the non-profits set up night teams that go out with a van and pick these people up from the parks. I also think the city, state and county need to fund an emergency shelter where people can check in, pass out and have no questions asked. Not everyone needs to be saved by Jesus, I’m just sayin’.
*I find it funny they plan to have these signs installed by October 1st. Good luck with that, they still haven’t figured out how to put up proper speed signage in the parks so I’m guessing when the dude said October, he meant 2025.
UPDATE: Spoke to the GM of Sunshine this morning and he told me they haven’t sold to transients in months ever since they have an ID scanner protocol. I noticed that also, so I am curious why the mayor had to single them out? Will Pomegranate Market be able to sell alcohol?
I don’t need to link the video, but if you are on Turdbook or SF Reddit you can find the video. Basically a person working in the bank building kitty korner from Fawick Park shot video of two folks screwing in front of the Bunker Ramp mural and unless you are a total prude it is pretty obvious the ‘bouncing’ wasn’t the latest moves in transient yoga.
A few days after this video surfaced the mayor had his heated presser about panhandling. C’mon Paul! Was this about panhandling or the hundreds of friends and colleagues that texted you the link to this video? I told someone if I were mayor and this was going on I would be infuriated. But when you do NOTHING for 6 years, literally NOTHING accept sign a check to the Dudley House and Banquet this is what happens.
I also take issue with his elitist views on alcohol. Every bar in this town, whether it is on expensive row on Phillips Avenue or a dive on East 10th street carries and uses well vodka. And guess what, whether that is on the bottom row at Slumshine or the bottom shelf at your favorite snooty bar it is all the same. It don’t get any better with what establishment you are at, just more expensive 🙂
Stores downtown, including Slumshine, are SERVING THEIR CLIENTELE. Hardworking middle class folks don’t drink top shelf. A case of Old Mil and a bottle of Old Crow will do just fine. So you are telling the stores they can’t sell their ‘gut rot’ because of a few bad actors? Why should the rest of their customers be inconvenienced because of these folks? A store, ANY STORE, in the free market system has the right to refuse service to ANYONE. And if an OBVIOUS panhandler is trying to buy ‘gut rot’ maybe we should just tell them to keep walking? Problem solved and it didn’t even take a Nine Iron. Whatever that meant 🙁
IF WE ARE SO COMPASSIONATE, WHY NOT SHUT OFF THAT FAUCET?
I told someone recently maybe the solution is shutting off the tap for a few weeks while the weather is nice. I am not talking about a total abolition of services but a readjustment. If I were the mayor and police chief I would have an immediate emergency meeting with non-profits like the Dudley House, the UGM and the Banquet and ask them to coordinate a pause in services for two weeks. I think it would still be fine for the Banquet to hand out to go meals for families and temporary housing for these families but everyone else would have to fend for themselves. I would also use this as an opportunity for these non-profits to hit the streets and meet these people where they are at, and maybe we can manage it better when we actually engage these folks on their turf. I know it sounds radical, but what we have been doing so far ain’t working.
I was tuning into the Planning Commission meeting from last week for a little public input entertainment. Mostly older folks bitching about traffic in front of a proposed apartment building. Weird how when you build a road cars magically show up.
Besides the fact that one of the Commission members didn’t know what Shape Places is there was an inputer who was a little late speaking on an item that was already passed on the agenda. When that was explained to him he wasn’t having it saying he missed his opportunity to speak because he is hard of hearing from working at John Morrells his whole life. Yes, he said that. Then as they were trying to get him to sit down (he either couldn’t hear them or didn’t care) he catches a commissioner laughing at him. I will let you watch what happens next (FF: 39:30).
We could argue about that until we are blue in the face, but when you have administration that is very bad with money it usually means some kind of corruption is going on, and his circus monkeys called the city council (no matter who they are) go along with it.
In just a few short years they have managed to bilk the taxpayers out of millions to help and benefit friends and family, here is a short trip down the memory lane of corruption (the list originally was only 6 items, but once I started discussing with others the list has grown, and I can’t even discuss stuff behind the scenes);
• Creation of the PRIVATE Parks Association (This group was started so VIPs in Sioux Falls can use their donations as a tax write-off. Don’t care about that, rich people are constantly finding ways to not pay their fair share, oh well. But what is frustrating is not the donations but controlling the narrative and forcing the public to take on their pet projects and help fund them. Parks amenities should be a directive of the public NOT rich donors. We will take your money and inform the IRS, but we should really let the public decide.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Buying the Sanford Wellness Center (So we bought a failing facility from Sanford so we can subsidize it?)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Jacobsen Plaza (Originally a $4 million dollar project, turns into a $16 million dollar project for a facility NO ONE in the community was asking for. I literally haven’t heard one single person tell me they want this, most just say, “Another Parks White Elephant like Great Bear.”)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Great Bear (We’ve thrown millions at this facility over the past few years, and for what? To be open a couple of weeks in January? It’s time to make this a FREE natural winter park and let people use it when they want to and sell off all the lifts and snowmaking equipment).
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Golf Course Clubhouse (Originally just a simple expansion of the current Elmwood clubhouse and a cart shed replacement has turned into a country club clubhouse project. This is a modest muni course, a pole barn would do with some nice landscaping. But the council approved it anyway.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Massive subsidies for indoor recreation (The MIDCO is subsidized $1.2 million a year, the wellness center will probably be double that, and the sad part is you can’t walk into these facilities for free. I said we need to start focusing on FREE recreation.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Delbridge Museum coverup (Initially lying to the public then trying to cover it up about the conditions of the animals. I have said we are missing a massive opportunity here, we could build all new dioramas that surround the aquarium and we would have one of the most unique exhibits in the world! But that takes vision.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Sixth Street Bridge ($10 million cost overrun to bailout a whiny developer.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Bunker Ramp (This is a gigantic mess and I just found out more about this debacle recently – more to come on this!)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• TIFs (handing them out like Booty Prizes, and now to developers out of state.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Censoring the Bunker Ramp mural (They said the mural was racist and then the Smithsonian picked the piece. I have said that the mayor and his prosperity gospel folks he runs with are culturally retarded).
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Riverline District (Besides the fact there are massive conflicts of interest with the brokering with this deal and other developments the public should NOT be paying for this, and they especially shouldn’t be buying property with Entertainment Tax money.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Lying about income tax and IM 28 (This will never happen, if this passes the legislature will just increase sales taxes on everything else. An income tax? Yeah, and monkeys will be flying out of my butt.)
• Dakota Scout and Legal Notices (So the full council new the investors and voted for this anyway hiding the information from the public. This isn’t about the money it’s about Paulson controlling the narrative).
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Eliminating the Internal Audit (This is actually all on former councilor Jensen and screwing up managing council employees and allowing the mayor to hire the Audit Manager after she was LIKELY on probation with the council. Not sure if that is the case, but it is pretty easy to put 2 & 2 together.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Ignoring the LGTB community (I could use a lot of colorful language, no pun intended, but I will just say, the queer community ain’t real impressed with Poops. It also has an economic impact. Many queers in this community own businesses and contribute to our bottom line. Acting like they don’t exist isn’t helping that relationship.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Sustainability Report (After a group of volunteers spends months on this project the mayor’s policy advisor, the pumpkin recycler, shreds the document). There is also the economic impact of sustainability.
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Homelessness (The mayor had a press conference today that didn’t solve a damn thing, I know, shocker. The Q & A I heard was quite spicy. A KELOLAND employee busted the mayor in a stat he pulled from his ass. The city needs to figure out how to manage the issue, NOT eliminate it. You will never end homelessness BUT with several measures, policies and ordinances and actual action you can manage the problem. This is what other cities have done, don’t look at it as a problem to SOLVE but something you can MANAGE. The mayor has also ignored the issue thinking it will just go away, that is NEVER a solution. There is also a fiscal impact, and where the city is dropping the ball. The downtown business district brings in a lot of revenue for the city, and with the struggling economy, inflation and now increased homeless traffic they are hurting, which hurts all of us including the homeless.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Childcare (Not getting the business community to step up. Poops needs to use the bully pulpit to put his boot up the ass of large companies in this town and have them start subsidizing childcare. I don’t think tax dollars should be used on this, but you have to admit there is a massive labor market fiscal impact if we don’t solve this problem.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
• Backdoor real estate deals (Not only did the mayor laugh all the way to the bank, it helped the buyer increase the value of properties around the one they purchased.)
FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT!
As you can see, not the best track record, and if we had media in this town with some historical knowledge they would be all over this. Some do, but most don’t.
Speaking of historical knowledge, I have also heard a rumor that city employee morale is way down, not just because of poor leadership by Poops, but because Millennial management has been quietly pushing out Boomers. Besides the fact that employment rules, regs and laws may be broken here due to age discrimination it is even more troubling that the city is ridding itself of city employees with historical knowledge. I often tell people when you eat out, ask to eat in the section of the oldest server they have. Pick a winner every time!
I think it is time to start discussing recall efforts, not only of the Mayor but of the entire Council. This crap is getting old.I encourage anyone who would like to join the effort to email me.
l3wis 