Mayor Subprime Mike Huether

Tears of a Clown?

Here is a recap of Mike’s first day in office;

It started out with some show tunes by some school children and some tears from our new mayor. (Seriously Mike, stop crying. You spent a gob of money and won. We get it. Congrats).

He kinda shoots the whole transparent government thingy in the toilet in this interview with Megan Luther from the Gargoyle Leader. He refuses to;

• Name members of his transition team

• Name what department heads might be canned

• Jodi Schwan’s future

I guess he will only be transparent when it is convenient for Subprime Mike. This of course is no surprise to me. He worked in a very secretive industry and it will be hard for him to adjust.

In the informational meeting Mike decided to repeat his campaign speech at the beginning and did it again in the regular council meeting. I had a few disappointments during the first meeting. When the competitive bids were discussed, no councilors asked questions. In fact Mayor Subprime didn’t ask a single question during the entire meeting. This worries me a little with him having NO government experience. Of course the mantra from the department heads was they were coming inline with state law when it comes to competitive bids (which is true). But since when does the city care about state law or the US Constitution?

In other news, Greggo Jamison gets elected Council Chair and Sue Aguliar gets elected Vice-Chair. And not once did Greggo rip up fake checks or bitch about a casinos.

Huether: Retail & Job opportunities; BAD. Eggs & Bacon; GOOD.

Mayor Subprime gets sworn in on Monday, 2 PM at Carnegie Hall, so it isn’t too early to be critical (gotta get a jump on it, yah know).

First he wants you to know ‘He is listening’

New Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether will begin hosting “Listening and Learning” sessions starting May 22 at the Whisk and Chop Cafe, 108 S. Minnesota Ave.

I think this is a fantastic idea. But I also think it will be a flop. If you are not handing out FREE pork sandwiches, donuts or coffee, good luck having anybody show up. I often encourage people, that if they have a bone to pick, go to the Monday night city council meetings and address the council while the film is rolling so it is on public record. Never discuss ANYTHING with a politician without a witness or record. I think these sessions won’t be very well attended for other reasons to. People get excited about candidates during campaigns, but once they vote, they want to move on. While a handful of people will be watching and listening, most will be fishing, spending time with families or sleeping off a hangover Saturday mornings. I wish him luck on the concept though.

It seems he is also taking the NEGATIVE road on the Lyon County Casino;

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Sioux Falls mayor-elect Mike Huether calls himself a positive guy, but he sees nothing positive about the large-scale casino that will soon be going up across the border in Iowa.

Besides the job opportunities, the retail opportunities are HUGE. I think it will actually bring more sales revenue to the state and city which will offset the VL revenue loss. It seems some city councilors get it, let’s hope;

Sioux Falls’ four newly elected city council members aren’t necessarily happy about the casino, but they’re excited about the opportunities the casino could bring to the city’s economy.   You can hear their thoughts this Sunday on Inside KELOLAND at 10:30 p.m.

And it looks like some people get it;

Supporters also think the venue will lure out-of-towners to the area, despite concerns over losing revenue.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect our economy that much, because a lot of people come to Sioux Falls for a lot of different things, and I don’t think a lot of those people are going to go gambling,” Marcia Steffen from Sioux Falls said.

Hopefully at least a handful of them at city hall will make and effort to reach out the Lyon County. Because I can guarantee if city hall doesn’t, eastside businesses will snatch up the opportunity.

It also seems councilor Greg Jamison seems to be confused about what it means to ‘Purchase’ something.

“The state of South Dakota should just write them a $60 million check each year and call it good so they don’t have to build the place,” Jamison said.

He thinks we will just be giving the casino a handout. Not true. They will have to purchase their water just like we will from Lewis & Clark. But unlike the city of Sioux Falls, they were not suckered into prepaying for something they ‘may’ have by 2012 like we were. It also surprises me that Greg is being so negative about the potential sales tax revenue that will be flowing into Sioux Falls from casino visitors. This is a guy who has called people like myself and Stehly negative and ‘hot heads’. Maybe he should take a good look in the mirror. A word of advice to Lyon County if they decide to reach out to our city government. Don’t invite Greg to the meetings.