Sioux Falls City Councilor Jensen; Let the Developers figure it out

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During the city council informational meeting last night (sorry for the jacked up link, but the city has been busy trying to make it harder to access the videos and agendas-WHO USES DOUBLE SCROLL BARS!?) councilor Jensen was addressing the proposed mixed use ordinance.

The point of the new ordinance is to help encourage mixed use housing and retail in higher density areas. Something that is long overdue.

Councilor Merkouris suggested during the item discussion that maybe there should be more requirements when it comes to the type of varied construction and units a developer builds.

Councilor Soehl protested based purely on citizens griping to him about the transition between single family and multi-family and having to be the one to make the decision.

Well after almost 8 years on the city council, Mr. Soehl has finally figured out he is part of the policy body of city government and sometimes has to make decisions that affect real people’s lives. Who knew?

His partner in crime and fellow lazy leadership companion, Alex Jensen had an even better solution, let the developers determine zoning and development.

After I stopped laughing at the initial statements, I realized as Alex continued to stammer and mumble he was dead serious. He feels the development community should just determine long term growth and housing.

Well guess what Alex, we have allowed this to happen over the past 30 years and what it has created is a cottage industry of developers building McMansions and condos (with TIF funded parking ramps attached) while ignoring our workforce and affordable housing crunch in Sioux Falls. We let the industry fart around long enough it is time we changed ordinances to encourage this kind of growth instead.

Of course, I don’t expect any major changes during the cruise control administration. They will probably just take the initial proposal, water it down and have have the Pumpkin Policy Advisor re-write it.

The developers run the city and at least two city councilors proved it in their testimonies.

ADMINISTRATION CRONIES STOPPED SHOWING UP FOR CONSENT AGENDA QUESTIONING

During the meeting last night councilor Starr asked for an item to be removed from the consent agenda. He also followed protocol and informed the department within the city the day before that he had questions about the item. No one showed up to answer the questions. So now the administration isn’t even bothering to show up to council meetings?

COUNCIL STRUGGLING WITH EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT

During last week’s operations committee meeting the council discussed how to hire and maintain city council employees. After listening to the discussion it makes you wonder who has been managing the city council employees? Certainly not the council or leadership. My suggestion all along was to bump up the pay a little to the operations manager and make him king sh!t of the council employees. If there is any problems he can’t deal with he can bring those to the council in an executive session. I am not sure why the council likes to make things so complicated? I think they only have 5-6 full-time employees, that’s less then a food truck.

MAYOR TENHAKEN ASKING FOR REGISTRATION ‘AGAIN’ FOR STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

I’m still baffled why the Mayor thinks he can ask for registration of a public event;

Mayor Paul TenHaken will deliver the 2023 State of the City address on Monday, April 17 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Doors open at 7:30 a.m. that day. This year’s event will feature a special panel discussion on the Riverline District.

The event is free and open to the public. Advance registration is requested by April 7 because breakfast will be served. Please note that seating is limited, but the address will be available to view via livestream on the City of Sioux Falls’ Facebook page.

First off, you don’t need to register for a public event, this is just a way to collect data on who may be attending and secondly, who is paying for the breakfast?

It seems they will also be shoving the Riverline District down our throats whether we like it or not, even recruiting Jodi to write a column about the possibilities;

Based on the comments, there is a clear reluctance from many who participated in this exercise to support a large-scale publicly funded sports venue. To be clear, I did not read all the comments and I have not seen the results of the survey that went with this, which might give a broader look at the sentiment. But each time I saw someone mention a stadium, the number of negative reactions far exceeded the number of positives.

Besides the very glaring and obvious sentiment taxpayers don’t want us to invest in a baseball stadium there are other issues that NO one wants to talk about;

• Besides infrastructure (like roads, utilities and green space) citizen taxpayers should not be involved in any type of purchase agreement with this land. We will take care of the infrastructure, let the developers take care of the investment

• Housing will be a challenge. Unless there is some long term plan to create a quiet zone in the area or remove the tracks all together, it will be a hard sell putting apartments next to the busiest train line downtown.

• Drake Springs limits permanent development. One of the main reasons a stadium or other outdoor venue is being pushed is because where the Drake Springs lie would cause water issues with any permanent structure. In other words because of the natural springs in a large part of this area, green space will be the ONLY option.

I’m not sure why the mayor is pushing this development so hard, but if I had to guess it is because some of his friends involved with this are looking to pad their pockets on the backs of taxpayers because that is how it is done in Sioux Falls. Play ball!

Does this mean Smithfield’s will close?

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I find all this posturing about China kind of ironic considering we allow a Chinese owned packing plant to operate in Sioux Falls and send product to China;

This legislation codifies Governor Noem’s Executive Order 2023-02 by restricting state and local governments from contracting with six “Evil Foreign Governments,” including the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

“It’s very clear that throughout history that when we do business with another country that it becomes a more friendly neighborhood,” said Noem. “We are doing an exchange and commerce with them, barriers break down, there is more communication and information with that country because you are doing commerce with them. When it’s a country we don’t like, we shouldn’t be doing business with them.”

So I am guessing once this law goes into place Smithfield’s will be closed? I also see Mayor TenHaken decided to put his two cents in about foreign policy. This guy couldn’t even pick a mural, and he wants to give advice on national security?

City of Sioux Falls Sustainability fight heating up

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Arlene Brandt-Jenson, Administrative Coordinator, SoDak 350 and President, League of Women Voters – Sioux Falls, also wrote a letter to editor with her opinion on what happened;

The Mayor’s new policy advisor, which had not been a part of the monthslong process, says the new “framework” was created in response to concerns from “people” and “the public,” without disclosing sources.

Because they have no sources except political hacks and they would never give that information up;

Let’s be clear: city leadership has shown that they only care about the few loud voices who want to kick the can down the road. By replacing the Sustainable Sioux Falls Plan with a shoddy “framework,” the administration that once committed to grow Sioux Falls through “consensus and transparency” has chosen to override consensus for purposes of apparent political expediency.

I have NOT met with or spoken to any members of this group. I know what the media has been reporting and little else (just like the public).

It was actually refreshing to see a group call out the subversion of information the mayor’s office has been engaging in. While Lori said she would be interviewing the mayor on the topic, a video has yet to pop up. Maybe the press briefings will be re-instated this week and we will hear about these supposed sources that gutted the sustainability recommendations. We can all dream I guess (just make sure you are NOT dreaming next to a river shirtless).

Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken’s newest policy advisor has experience in Pumpkin Recycling

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Paul’s newest advisor, Jenna Harris, comes from San Diego where she served as an advisor to a city councilor there. One of her achievements was this;

Seeing the need to divert solid waste and raise awareness of climate action goals, I designed and implemented the City’s Pumpkin Composting Pilot Program, diverting thousands of pounds of Halloween pumpkins from the landfill. 

There is so much turnover in the Mayor’s Office lately, one has to wonder who is advising him and if this advisor had anything to do with white washing the sustainability recommendations? I think Charlie Brown would have something to say about it.

City Hall ends press briefings after only 2 weeks

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There is one thing you can say about Sioux Falls City Government, it is predictable. After having two consecutive weeks of these supposed weekly Wednesday briefings we have radio silence. Nothing on YT, FB or the city website (there isn’t much there anyway).

I actually thought there would be at least 4 or 5 consecutive weeks before they threw in the towel. Maybe the new communications person with all of her food truck reporting experience they could setup the briefings in a parking lot where the food trucks could participate?

“We are still investigating the homicide that occurred yesterday, but no worries because the pulled pork sandwich I just got is bang’n! Oh, and have you heard, the price of bridges are going up!“

I also find it a little ironic that the new press briefing room that the taxpayers spent gazillion dollars on isn’t equip for the media to ask questions (that we can hear).

Of course, they will probably poke Detroit Lewis in the eye tomorrow with a press briefing . . . I guess I am it.