Planning Commission

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda • April 2, 2019

l3wis March 31, 2019 0Comments

City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM

Presentations on;

• CVB Strategic Plan

• Administrative Goals from COS Beck (I guess after almost a year in office PTH has goals)

• City Council Budget Discussion (wonder if anyone will have anything to add this time around?)

• City Council Leadership Election Ordinance (There is an attached PDF of the proposed changes by Councilor Brekke). I don’t know all the details, but it seems now there will be public council discussion about the nominations instead of it getting all decided ahead of time thru private phone calls and emails.

City Council Regular Meeting • 7 PM

Item #7, Approval of Contracts, while I understand that we have to dispose of the sandbags & we will probably be reimbursed by FEMA. I betcha if you asked the public they would take care of those bags real quick for FREE.

Item #8, Change Orders, apparently now we are giving contractors (who work on outdoor infrastructure projects) extra money due to ‘weather’. Isn’t that something you would pad in your bid? “Oh, I didn’t realize it would be harder to work in the winter than in the summer. Who knew?”

Item #56, Ordinance, 1st Reading, the first set of bonds for Water Reclamation

Item #57, Ordinance, 1st Reading, Changing ominations and election for council leadership

Item #61, Notice of Appropriation Transfers, there seems to be a lot of money being transferred from arterial road repairs.

Planning Commission Meeting • Wed, April 3 • 6 PM

Lifescape’s Damage Control? (Guest Post – Jannelle Cain)

l3wis March 29, 2019 5Comments

Did anyone notice the shout out on KFSY News last night they have a half hour special coming up Saturday night, March 30 from 6:30-7 pm called “Empowered by Lifescape”. It will run every day next week at noon on the CW channel. How does a nonprofit have enough money for a fully produced half hour advertisement in the aftermath of a public lawsuit on the abuse of a resident last summer? And let’s not forget the fiasco of how they tried to force the street closure of Elmwood Avenue and all the bad press they have created for themselves through their tactics not just in the neighborhood but throughout the city.

Are they looking for donations or something bigger?

In the news recently, Sanford Health partnered with the VA for research with a $25 million research grant from T. Denny. Does Sanford have expansion plans in the VA neighborhood?

Lifescape had their orders and failed to get the street donated and made A LOT of people angry in this city.  They may have even lied directly to the City Council about moving. Lifescape has already admitted once in this process they want/desire to move within 5 years, but as these things go, they need a buyer.

I would love to still support Lifescape as a neighbor, but the process they used to close the street has left a bad taste in my mouth and a rather chapped hide. I was denied a meeting with the Foundation, and with CEO Steve and VP Rick DeSanto when I requested it on the safety issue of the parking lot for their employees. I received a call at exactly 5:30 pm, one half hour after my business closes so Rick thought he would get my voicemail, however, I answered personal. It was obvious it was a written/prepared statement 8 hours and 20 minutes after my call to request the meeting and told them what I wanted to discuss.  In the return call I was told “Your intentions are “disingenuous” and that I do not believe in the mission of Lifescape or care about their employees or the people they serve.”  That could not be further from the truth, if they would have taken the time to talk to me, they would know that my aunt and maternal grandmother and grandfather were all crippled from mercury poisoning during my Mom’s senior year in high school.  So by the end of that year at graduation she was working 3 jobs, buying them a house in town, and had her younger sister enrolled in the ND Cripple Children’s School after she was released from the University of Minnesota Hospital.

I wish Lifescape luck on their attempt to the gain positive public opinion and raise money with their half hour commercial. It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples at the organization are over turning the apple cart of an otherwise useful and well intentioned institution.