South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Patrick Starr

1st Amendment Alex Jensen Count-cilor Alex Jensen Dr. Sarah Cole Elections Janet Brekke Jeff Barth Patrick Starr Rex Rolfing SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Who could serve as Sioux Falls City Councilor Cole’s fill in?

l3wis 2Comments

Here is the short list;

Jeff Barth

Pat Starr

Janet Brekke

Greg Neitzert

Theresa Stehly

Alex Jensen

Rex Rolfing

I know, those last two made me hurl a bit in my mouth. I do know that Jeff, Pat and Greg are interested and if I had to be a dictator I would pick Barth. Hopefully the appointment process is open and we see every one interested testify at a public meeting. If that is the case, I will also apply and I encourage as many as possible community activists do so also. Even if they don’t pick you, it is a learning experience in municipal civic engagement and it may convince you to run for office someday.

Greg Neitzert Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

E2 Recommendations, a whole lotta nothing and not a whole lotta love

l3wis 5Comments

As I have mentioned earlier today, both the Active Transportation Board and the Parks Board tabled the recommendation citing ignorance of E2 technology.

And that is FAIR.

As I told Councilor Neitzert after the first meeting, I would much rather have NO recommendation then one from a group of volunteers that don’t understand the topic.

While Greg wants to rework the ordinance, AGAIN, and bring it back, I told him to just bring it to the council as is. Councilor Starr agreed and further added that we gave these boards an opportunity to make a recommendation and they passed citing their lack of knowledge on the topic. So what would make you think they would become any wiser in a month or two?

I think the council has at least 5 votes to pass this, and there will be public opposition and support. Even if it fails, you can use the experience to figure out what needs to be reworked. Or better yet, pass the ordinance with an amendment that funds a year long study of the effects of E2s on the trails and speed limits. After a 12 month review the city council can come back and tweak the issues, or expand the availability. This isn’t rocket science folks. You could even put a 12-month cutoff on the temporary ordinance with the intent to re-introduce or make permanent.

One of my friends who recently moved back to Sioux Falls after living in the Southwest for the past decade is an E-bike fanatic and was really involved in her last E-Biking community and she was amazed by how far behind Sioux Falls is when it comes to regulating the technology. We are essentially 5 years behind the rest of the country (ironically when they passed this stupid ordinance to begin with).

We want to be big kids when it comes to parking ramps and hotels on the river but we play like tots* when it comes to modernizing city policies. I think I am going to start handing out binkies at these meetings moving forward.

*There was an ‘incident’ at the Parks Board Meeting that I will posting about in the near future.

Paratransit Patrick Starr Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Transit

Sioux Falls City Councilor Merkouris suggests free transit rides

l3wis 6Comments

As I have discussed in the past many cities throughout the US provide FREE public transit. Kansas City introduced it in 2019 to boost the working poor and has found great success. I guess Chapel Hill, NC has been doing it for 20 years.

During the city council meeting last night they approved a resolution;

Item #36, A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE 2022 SIOUX FALLS TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

During discussion before the vote, Rich Merkouris suggested FREE fare for our public transit system. He acknowledged it would be a heavy lift to get the public on board but when we are only collecting $500K a year in fares and spending $7 million a year on the program, what’s the point? Just think with the money we are spending on the 6th Street Bunker Bridge and the DSU research facility we could have had 40 years of FREE fares. Councilor Starr and Merkouris both suggested that the frequency and usage of the transit system needs to improve and experimenting with different approaches, like FREE fares, may get us better results. There was a suggestion that city officials have been sitting on their hands for the past 20 years when it comes to transit. I would disagree. They are not sitting on their hands they are using them to spread their butt cheeks so their heads can easily be placed.

To be honest with you, I think our current public transit system is beyond fixable. I would much rather see the city dismantle the whole system and bring in a new contractor.

Alex Jensen Count-cilor Alex Jensen Curt Soehl Patrick Starr Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council has a leadership problem

l3wis 8Comments

Patrick Lalley of Siouxfallslive.com wrote an interesting article about how the city council doesn’t have any staff advocates, I’m not sure that is the problem;

The council has some research and legislative assistance. They may need more of an ombudsperson who advocates on their behalf.

The city council has three full-time clerks, an operations manager and and legislative person, I am not sure they need more (I have even suggested they cut back to 2 clerks and an operations person).

The problem is council vice-chair Jensen and chair Soehl who were both re-elected by their peers last year to the same positions. Their main responsibility is to be the connection between the mayor’s office and the council, not only negotiating with the administration but informing the rest of the council what is in the pipeline.

In fact we still have gotten NO reason why Shana Nelson left as Audit Manager (she was appointed in a public meeting) and joined the administration as a Housing Compliance Manager (which garnered her a $7,000 raise).

Not only has council leadership failed the council when it comes to transparency but they have failed the constituents also.

I would suggest the rest of the city council hold a special election and appoint Starr as chair and Merkouris as vice-chair and get some adults in those seats.

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