I followed this LIVE. Here are my observations;
• Pat is hell bent on revisiting the sales tax next year to pay for the events center, he blames the governor for the bill not passing, quote; “The governor killed the bill.” Mind you, it never even made it out of committee, it never even got voted on or saw the governor’s desk. He still says that a BB & B tax couldn’t pay for the events center. Boloney. It could, it would just take longer.
• Pat also thinks a rec center needs to be built for indoor swimming and hockey. He does admit that the SFHA is pursuing a private facility. So, Pat, what’s the point of a rec center?
• He talks about the healthcare industry and attracting workers. What he leaves out is that people in the healthcare industry in Sioux Falls are some of the lowest paid in the nation. My neighbor got a job in Tacoma, Washington last year that pays DOUBLE of what she was making here, doing the same job as a nurse. Another friend who recently moved out of state to be a nurse used to work for a private surgeon and also left for money reasons. How do we attract people to Sioux Falls? Pay better wages, even to those who make croutons.
• Pat talks about the city budget. He admits he knew about the recession in late 2008, yet ironically voted for bonds for things we did not need, like monkey crappers and football fields. If you ‘know’ we are in a recession, why do you continue to vote for fee increases and bonds we don’t need?
• The ED board asks how fiscally conservative Pat is, and they can’t resist to take a potshot at Kermit, one member says, “Are you like Kermit who thinks we should only spend money on streets and sidewalks.” What a crock. Kermit’s stand is not that, and the AL continues to parrot this crap. Kermit just believes in the value of tax dollars and thinks it should be spent on services to citizens like snowgates and tree trimmming and parks. I hope Kermit goes in there and hands them their ass on the topic.
• Pat blames low voter turnout for why the rec center vote failed (13%?) He also believes that the indoor pool would have passed to if the citizens were more informed. Really? The Rec center people and the indoor pool people spent quite a bit of money ‘informing the public.’ While the other side used only grassroots efforts. People knew it was a boondoggle, that is why they got voted down. Funny, he doesn’t bring up the fact that most of the council and mayor were voted into office by low voter turnout. He also fails to mention that Kermit HAD NO CHALLENGERS IN his last bid.
• He thinks neighborhood revitalization would be better if we invested in better street lighing and police presence. Try fixing the streets and sidewalks in these neighborhoods. They are in awful shape. Try deregualtion for people who are fixing up older homes. Pat admits they give TIF’s to downtown businesses but not to people who fix up these homes (which I think would be a brilliant way to spark revitalization). He of course doesn’t endorse that idea and kind of trails off talking about home loans or something.
• He admits that the city directors give less information now then they did when he took office in 2006. And says that is a bad thing. But doesn’t offer a plan to fix it. Just says they do a good job.
• Pat talks about customer service to citizens and says that there is room for improvement and says we need to inform city employees who pays their wages; citizens. I couldn’t agree more.
• They ask Pat about replacing any of the city directors. He kinda dances around the question and doesn’t say either way if there will be replacements.
• They ask Pat about campaign finances and admits he is NOT SELF FINANCING his campaign. He is asked if all of the money in his war chest is a turnoff to voters. He claims he has gotten small donations and a ‘FEW $1,000 checks’ BAHAHAHAHA. Actually in his first financial report, he received over forty $1,000 checks. Whatever Pat, you have had some the richest, most influential people and special interests donate to your campaign. You are being bought, and you know it.
• Pat thinks we need to develop more, but should have “planned orderly growth” and shouldn’t let developers build their own lift stations because the city would not be able to handle the capacity. What is wrong with allowing developers to build their own infrastructure as long as the city knows about it? Seriously? Kinda sounds like the city has had an iron fist on development in this town, and it is time to loosen that grip and push for some deregulation so that tax payers are not always footing the bill for these new developments. If developers want to pay for it – let them!
