He goes on to say on the B-N-B show that most people probably think he is running for a 3rd term and don’t know he can’t. He basically accuses the mayoral candidates of not getting their message out there.

While I will agree with Mike partially that voter turnout will be low again, I think he is sadly mistaken about messaging. I think the normal municipal voter turnout will be there on election day and have been listening. In fact when I attended the YPN mayoral forum, it was the largest crowd I have ever seen at a mayoral forum.

Ironically, one of the main reasons why nobody knows about the municipal election is because the city refuses to do a PSA either on CityLink or in a water bill insert. There are many things to discuss; absentee voting, precincts, voter registration, dates of election and run-off, who is running, etc, etc. While we will be spending well over $100K on both elections we are spending zilch on promoting the election. Go Figure. Heck, why don’t we just skip the election and give the money to the Huether Tennis Center?

Besides the fact that he is in a state of denial that he is finished on May 15 and a new person is taken over, he continues to think the RR redevelopment project was one of the best projects he negotiated. LMFAO! Burlington Northern certainly got what they wanted. They sold $62 a square foot dirty land to Federal taxpayers, they continue to run the trains through the same area, more frequently, and still store and switch cars only a couple of blocks from the redevelopment land. They literally got their cake and ate it too. We got hosed! Big time! You can’t even build housing in the area, because the first time a train whistle blows some stinky rich empty nester will be crying to the SFPD about the noise. I would have been extremely embarrassed to have negotiated such a deal. But that is what happens folks when you do these kind of deals in the dark of the night. If that plan would have been negotiated in the public I guarantee the train traffic would be moving differently. Probably one of MMM’s biggest failures of his administration (but that list is pretty long).

STILL TAKING CREDIT FOR REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN

While Mike deserves some credit for revitalizing downtown in his past 8 years, that train left the station in the early 1990’s, I know, because I was working downtown. Than the downtown folks put a boot up Munson’s butt and it really started moving. The mayor claimed on the show this morning that downtown in 2009 was a ‘ghost town’. Puhleezze! as I have told people, Munson dropped the snowball at the top of the hill and Huether is now standing at the bottom of the hill claiming he created the snow boulder. All Mike did (with mostly action by the city council) was continue the progress that was already set in motion.

While they were discussing that matter the mayor referenced transforming DT into a place where you can Live, Work & Play. A caller reminded the mayor that ‘HE’ doesn’t live that way. That was hilarious. The mayor lives in a very sleepy neighborhood over by Paisley Park and has a lake home on a swamp nobody else has a house on.

He was also asked about the noise levels downtown in reference to having entertainment facilities mixed in with residential in reference to the ICON / Jones building kerfuffle. He said there are some issues that need to be ‘worked on’. In other words, next mayor’s problem that our city’s building department does whatever they want. Don’t believe me? Here’s a short list; Events Center buckling siding, Copper Lounge collapse, McKennan Park Monster House, etc, etc.

A few weeks ago I asked the city council and mayor why CityLink doesn’t run a PSA about the city election? Or interview our City Clerk, Tom Greco for an Inside Town Hall about the election? There are many things to discuss, like time of the Election and Runoff, the Precincts, how many candidates, when you can absentee vote, etc, etc.

Funny how when we were trying to build an indoor pool there was all kinds of public meetings, yet with an election a little over a month away not a peep from CityLink.

Hey, but we have plenty of money to dress our mayor up like Elmer Fudd and drool on people at Pheasant Fest for over an hour.

UPDATE II: Bravo to Warren Phear for digging up this Argus Leader story from a year ago. Apparently they released the names of the interested parties back than.

So what really was the administration trying to keep from us? But what is even more ironic is that the AL had this information for almost a year and apparently didn’t check the archives 🙂

Asking why Huether is a closed government advocate is like asking why the sky is blue. We know the answer to the question, yet we still struggle with why it has to be that way;

Sioux Falls officials are refusing to provide the identities of developers in the running for the first phase of the rail yard redevelopment project downtown.

I’m getting to the point, that I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. It is what it is. Lies, schemes, scams, boondoggles, etc. etc.

I will bet you though that Legacy Development is on that list, and that is why Heather and the city are pulling excuses from their rear ends.

Isn’t it ironic that while Huether is setting up his ‘legacy’ he keeps promoting ‘Legacy’.

UPDATE: Shocker! Legacy is one of the developers!

Of the six development firms who responded to the city’s request for qualifications for the rail yard redevelopment project, four are local to Sioux Falls: Lloyd Companies, Legacy Developments, Eighth and Railroad Center and Pender Cherapa. The other two submitters were Inland Development Partners of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and Philadelphia-based development firm Smart Visions.

The funny part is that I have known for years Eighth and Railroad Center has been interested in developing this property since they border it. It’s not like Lloyd being interested in the property is some big secret either. Huether keeping the developers ‘secret’ is like saying he also knows Santa Claus isn’t real either, but isn’t going to tell anyone.

The absurd actions of Mikey the other night are great theater.

The wonderful things about moving the SIRE videos over to YouTube is our ability to catch action and text normally missed. I wasn’t able to be at the meeting but sure heard a lot about it so I went to the YouTube machine at www.siouxfall.org and pulled a transcript. Here are some morsels starting at the moment:

(1:13:01 – Scott Ehrisman) “This, I guess we’re just going to go all the way to the end – may 15th no transparency all the way to the end keep the game consistent” (1:13:02)

(Mike starts a 24 second staring contest with the audience)

(It appears Councilor Erickson tries to break the silence with a quiet) “Mr. Chair” (Mike does not acknowledge her)

(1:13:26 – Mike then continues:) “Tracy, I, ah know you’re chopping at the bit and so am I, is there anybody else in the audience who wanted to speak to this particular item before I turn it over to the council” (1:13:33)

Councilors Erickson, Stehly and Kiley speak and then this;

(1:22:59 – while Kiley is speaking) “push the whole transaction back by far and”

(Mike injects) “Council Chair, if you don’t… my apologies sir, my apologies to you sir you, Tracy if you would just repeat that one more time I, I, councilors if you would have, just beg you to listen to councilor, to Tracy, thank you is keep it simple as much as you can thank you”

(Tracy restarts his explanation…)

Notice Mike tells Tracy to take it real slow and easy on the ignorant councilors by making sure the message is in simple terms?

A couple of thoughts about this exchange:

1. Why did the mayor inject anything at all while he still held the gavel? If he is such a stickler for Robert’s Rules he should have given it up so he could speak out of term.

2. Are our councilors so dumb the mayor has to tell his Director to speak slowly and in simpler words to make it more understandable. How insulting.

3. Why did no one call a POINT OF ORDER to stop him?

My count as of today show we only have 9 more meetings with him in charge then its to let the door hit yah where the good Lord split yah.