After the Bonus Round bar closed by my house a new owner took over the Cliff avenue establishment. They went through the normal process of applying for a license. They were going to be a casino with off-sale beer. The next thing I know the place closes after just a few weeks and re-opens with no video lottery and only a walk up counter to buy small plastic package liquor and beer (they also sell vape products).
A city councilor told me that since they already approved the alcohol use the business owner can change that use however they want to.
While you would think I would welcome a liquor store in my backyard it’s a little more complicated then that.
The Get N’ Go at 14th and Cliff suddenly closed on May 1st. They sold the single malt beverage cans. Essentially the closure is pushing the alcohol sales to this liquor store.
I think in the future if an alcohol establishment presents a business plan to the council when applying for a license they should have to stick to that business model for at least 12 months or self-termination of the license.
Isn’t it ironic all the tears shed over MJ yet getting alcohol in this city is a walk in the park.
Of course they are. They don’t understand it (we will get to that in a moment) and they don’t want to ruffle feathers. It reminds of what Greg Belfrage said this morning on his show, about talking about politics at family events, he says he doesn’t. I believe him, because he doesn’t know a damn thing about politics and he is probably afraid he would embarrass himself, and he couldn’t hide from his liberal uncle by hanging up the phone on him while passing the gravy.
Many in the media have chosen to not talk about the open meetings violation because they have told the complainant that it is ‘too complicated’. A city official said that it is NOT a big deal and just an ‘ordinance violation’.
First it is NOT complicated and secondly, an open meetings violation is a big deal.
The city is required to have public input on items that are pulled from the consent agenda. Now mind you, if it is about spending $33 on a squirrel feeder at a park, probably NOT pressing, but still required, but this was about a liquor license for a bar with several questionable police calls and underage violations (the real story here), and the fact that the complainant had told many city officials she was going to speak about the item when pulled days in advance. I think the Chair of the meeting, Mayor Paul TenHaken did not call public input on purpose, because he didn’t want to hear what she had to say.
This is why this is IMPORTANT and should be shared in the media. You may not always agree with freedom of speech, but it is equal for all of us whether you want to talk about a gun stuck up your butt all day, a fertilized egg that has a heartbeat, that AR-15s are standard for EMTs, defunding the police or bars that are allowing teenagers to get pistol whipped when they illegally came into the adult establishment.
The simple, real story here is that the Mayor, Paul ‘Poops’ TenHaken violated the law by not allowing public input and a bar skirted any public rebuke because of a lazy, cowardly city staff and council and an oblivious media that doesn’t want to work to hard, if at all.
Is the infrastructure bill and January 6th investigations complicated? YES. And we have thousands of reports about them we can read every day. Is censoring public input complicated? F’CK NO! And we should have at least 2-3 local media reports about it. But we don’t.
CONFIDENTIAL REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION 21-1 RECEIVED 10-14-2021 (EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL MATTERS PURSUANT TO SDCL 1-25-2(1) AND CONSULTING WITH LEGAL COUNSEL PURSUANT TO SDCL 1-25-2(3))
This could be anyone with the city, employee or elected official. Since it is confidential we will never know. I think even if these meetings are in private, they should at least release the question and the decision without exposing who is asking. How do we know if the Ethics Commission made the right decision if we cannot watch the proceedings?
Will the Washington Pavilion be hired to run the Ice Ribbon?
With the new ice ribbon set to be built soon down by Falls Park, some are wondering if the Parks Department has what it takes to run the paid admission facility. Since they will have to have a ticketing booth and some kind of staff to assist people, they will likely have to hire a contractor to do it. While I am sure the Pavilion could handle it, what I don’t understand is why can’t the Parks Department? Oh that’s right, besides the department being ran by a two-faced liar, they can’t even hire part-time lifeguards, now try to find part-time ice guards. Maybe we should just let the Pavilion run our entire parks department, they are already draining our entertainment tax fund every year, might as well put them to work.
Available Liquor Licenses in Sioux Falls
After the 2020 Census, Sioux Falls has become eligible for more ON and OFF-SALE liquor licenses, I am awaiting the official numbers from the city but what I have heard unofficially is there is 27 additional Package (off-sale) licenses and 19 Retail (on-sale) licenses available. Not sure how many are already spoken for. Once I get more information I will let you know.
The Curbside Garbage ordinance is already on next week’s docket
The Sioux Falls City Council will likely consider an amendment to the city’s garbage ordinances that could allow garbage haulers to require curbside placement of garbage cans for pickup or charge extra to continue valet service.
It should be up to the consumer if they want to do it and there should be NO extra charge for the service. But it sounds like the hauler wants the city to force the consumer to do it, and if they don’t want to, they will be charged extra.
Whether the city council will support the move is another issue. In his Facebook post, Neitzert said he was “torn on this issue,” and asked for feedback from residents, and Councilor Rick Kiley said earlier this year he’d be against any such change if haulers weren’t planning on lowering rates for reduced service.
Councilor Janet Brekke has also regularly expressed her support for the current ordinance and how it keeps trash cans away from the street, improving the city’s aesthetics.
You never know, it might come to a tie vote with Poops siding with the haulers, we will see. You know my feelings on it, I think the city should contract with 4 major PRIVATE haulers and divide the city into 4 sections and pay our garbage bill with our water and sewer. We already own the landfill, why would we charge tipping fees? Yesterday while driving to work thru Cathedral neighborhood I saw two trucks parked next to each other from different haulers collecting cans at the same time on the same street. Dumb.
Oh, and let’s hear about 3 city councilors who profess about apartment dwellers being great for a neighborhood, but don’t live next to them. I do, and I love apartments, but I love my house more.
“Really, if it’s just a change of address, not a change of ownership, they’re just playing a game,” said Greg Jamison, a state Representative from Sioux Falls who also spent eight years on the Sioux Falls City Council.
This happens quite often. Just recently a national franchise sports bar parked their license at Casino so they can complete their building. Or my favorite, a liquor license jumped from a 2nd floor insurance office to an ice cream shop and now to a vacant space.
I hope Joe does some more investigating on this. It’s time to get rid of liquor licenses as assets. Someday I hope to sell my driver license for $400K 🙂
I have often said many of these problems could be fixed if we would just make our liquor licenses similiar to malt beverage licenses and charge a yearly rate like many other states do;
The city of Sioux Falls has been waiting for more than a year to be paid $310,000 for two coveted liquor licenses, but no city ordinance exists to force business owners to pay up in a timely manner – something city officials say they want to review.
I also find it ironic that two businesses can sit on a license this long without them being revoked, while the city spends thousands of dollars chasing down a private citizen for having a piece of cement they don’t like. Where is the justice? I think it is pretty simple, if you don’t pay for the license, fucking yank it and give it to someone who is willing to pay for it. This ain’t rocket science, just simple accounting.
Restaurants in Sioux Falls that want to serve liquor will have to fork over a lot more money to get a license.Â
The city council raised the licensing fee to $260-thousand dollars Monday night, that’s twice the amount bars pay. The ordinance also limits liquor sales… a restaurant can’t make more than 40% of its profits from alcohol.
As councilor Costello points out the licenses should be a yearly fee like they are in Nebraska so you are not stuck with an expensive piece of paper when you go outta business. (of course, the Gargoyle Leader editorial board thinks it is a great idea) The pricetag is also a barrier. It is pretty obvious that a smaller locally owned restaurant cannot afford such a pricetag only allowing crappy franchise restaurants to buy up the licenses or gigantic grocery store chains. This of course is a competition killer. I have often said the best food in town is served in locally owned restaurants (Minervas, Sushi Masa, Touch of Europe) but only one of them has a liquor license.
Rumor has it that the law is still flawed anyway, it also includes liquor stores, so when the last time the licenses came up for sale, rumor has it, a regional grocery chain bought them all up so they could squash out local liquor store competition.
 Just another dumb law on South Dakota’s books that leaves the little guy out in the cold.
The day to day stress of being a police officer can be difficult to manage. Which is why the Sioux Falls Police Department is developing a new program to help officers with their mental health.
It's an exciting time at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls. Not only is it celebrating its 60th anniversary, the zoo is also celebrating the births of six new red wolf puppies.
