SF City Council

The City of Sioux Falls doesn’t understand transparency and open government

Here we go again, concocting some ‘solution’ for an issue in the city and not bringing the public along in that ‘solution’;

City officials say more information on a $150,000 marketing campaign aimed at addressing “nuisance behavior” and discouraging panhandling in downtown Sioux Falls is coming soon.

There have been several ‘rumored’ ordinances that are awaiting the council’s approval including making it illegal (trespassing/camping) in our parks. But why not have a public discussion where the citizens can offer solutions?

Asked for an update this week, TenHaken’s communications officer Vanessa Gomez said, “I would expect us to be able to share more in the next month or so.”

So what’s the big secret? If you are instituting new laws shouldn’t you tell the public in advance? My guess is that they are going to be very controversial and I wouldn’t doubt the ACLU gets involved. Just like the Brockhouse animals you are going to drop this in our laps at the last minute.

I told a city official last week that every country and community that has either solved homelessness or made virtually invisible did it one way; Transitional housing. I suggested the city buy four Tzadik properties on bank foreclosure, remodel them to be 1 bedroom and studios and gift them to the St. Francis house and offer them a yearly subsidy for handling the transitional housing. We seem to be throwing money at ad agencies to educate the public, but we are doing very little to actually help these folks. For $150K you could house 25 people for a year!

I suggest that moving forward, the council tells us what they are planning, and NOT next month, TODAY!

We may have the ‘Trots’ for another few months

It seems Poops and Curtis the Blurtist are in a tizzy over moving our city Spring elections. The state legislature, in all their insanity, changed state law so the city election has to be in June (during primaries) or in November (general). I’m okay with that, but I would support the election in November instead of June. Primaries are partisan and would only confuse voters to see a mayoral and council candidate with NO party affiliation on a ballot with legislators that are partisan. I do believe it will help voter turnout, but I will be curious as to how many undervotes (non-votes) are recorded in the city races if we move the election. Of course the city may have to call a special election asking voters to choose either June or November for the election. I think Curtis and Poops will support a June election. It will be interesting to see if Sioux Falls voters get to choose the date or if we are just approving what these two clowns want. I think the Charter Revision Commission will have to weigh in on this. Like I said, I support moving the election to November, but I am not looking forward to 5 more months of the ‘Trots’.

DID THE CONVENTION CENTER GET KILLED BECAUSE IT’S MAIN CHEERLEADER IS NO LONGER WITH US?

A reader pointed out to me that the CC at the Riversh!t Pisstrict was probably dropped from the Mayor’s agenda because it’s main cheerleader (not Paul) has died, Craig Lloyd. I kind of agree and never really thought about it, but Lloyd had a lot of weight behind the project, and I have a feeling after his passing, the leadership team at Lloyd said we got enough irons in the fire we don’t need to fart around with this. The company is also rumored to be under ‘reorganization’ which started last summer (this has been confirmed to me by several sub-contractors to Lloyd). I’m glad it’s dead, for now, but we will have to watch this. I’m sure future council and mayoral candidates won’t touch this topic with a ten foot pole. I think major discussions will be had about property taxes and the homeless in the next city campaign. I would love it if at least one council candidate and one mayoral candidate (I’m talking to you Christine) bring up transparency in city government and especially the information coming from the SFPD. A closed government doesn’t function properly, and until we fix that, we won’t accomplish anything in city government.

Did Tre Ministries LIE to the City Council?

Pretty much.

10 command . . .?

When the development plan was first presented to the planning commission it was under the pretense that the developer at the time who owned the property, Justin Johnson, would develop it as presented. After that, JJ sold the property to Tre who got private investors. When the SF City Council approved the open ended, interest free loan of $500K for demolition, Tre, once again, seemed to lie about the development plan. The shcity council approved the expense to taxpayers and now Tre are saying there is no plan, because they have no money. May I suggest a SF Heroes garden for the space?! Just like the Arc of Dreams, it would be a game changer for 18th and Minnesota.

Like the Dems in Congress, I ask the CC, what the Hell are you doing?!

Now is the time to speak up

Not sure what Lalley was getting at, but if I understand it just a little bit he may be asking advocates to sit down and shut up;

But there are rules, written and implied, that guide us in the public redress of grievances.

Civility, decorum, manners – call it what you wish – but we do ourselves no favors in support of our values by casting it aside.

Passion is human, it is admirable.

For me at least, roiling anger is destructive.

What’s become clear over the past several weeks, as the proposal for the city to lease the parking lot at Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue came to light, is that we need to take a breath.

Doesn’t matter who is president, governor or mayor of our fine city, I have always supported free speech rights, and I don’t care how those words come out. In a time where DC is trying to chill free speech rights, and we have a local governing body of total secrecy this is the most important time to be heard. Sure, I would agree, screaming at these people or dropping dirty words at the podium may not be the best approach to being heard, but difficult things must be brought up in these meetings in order to come up with the best solutions. Problems get solved with differing views and objectives. When 9 people on a body agree on something, it makes me a bit suspicious and a little concerned issues are not being fully vetted (well I know they are not being fully vetted).

As Lalley suggests, try to keep decorum when attending these meetings, but don’t hold back, speaking truth to power is the only way we take back our country and city and if enough of us are loud enough they will have no choice but to listen. Sorry Pat, the Kumbyah approach doesn’t work with these folks.

City of Sioux Falls Tidbits

DELBRIDGE ANIMAL COLLECTION REFERENDUM FAILS

I was told they got between 500-1000 sigs, which surprised me, because I didn’t think they would get that many. I truly believe if Sioux Falls voters were polled about keeping the collection 80%+ would say they don’t care if it gets given away. Which is unfortunate because science and art are important, not to mention we are giving away a priceless collection of mounts. But people care more about the price of eggs and who wins an Oscar then they do about history.

NOEM GETS SERIOUS ABOUT HER CREDIT CARD RECEIPTS

It seems Noem now is calling Dakota Skab ‘Fake News’;

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s legal team hit a South Dakota media outlet with a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it correct and end its knowingly “false and misleading” reporting that Noem allegedly racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars on a government-issued credit card when she served as governor, Fox News Digital has learned. 

“On behalf of former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in her personal capacity, I write out of concern that your website continues to publish false and misleading information about my client that you have known to be false since at least July 2024,” an attorney representing Noem in her personal capacity said in a letter to the co-founders of a South Dakota outlet called The Dakota Scout. The letter was obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

“Specifically, your website repeatedly, and inaccurately, refers to all charges on credit cards used by the Office of the Governor of South Dakota as charges of my client—allowing a conclusion by multiple commenters on the site and other news outlets that my client violated the laws of South Dakota or stole taxpayer funds for her personal use,” it continued.  “We demand that The Dakota Scout immediately cease spreading these false, misleading, and inaccurate statements and take immediate and significant steps to correct past inaccuracies.

Reading a FOX news story is like reading a 7th grader’s book report, either way, when I have read all the stories about her hair and nail receipts it seemed clear to me she was spending the money on her staff. But that is NOT what is in question, the question is why were you racking up these CC bills so your staff could travel with you? The taxpayers of SD shouldn’t have to foot the bill so your Trump ass-kissing entourage can parade all over the US. I’m sure the DS will fight this, but Noem’s law firm is pretty tough at this stuff. I think it would be ironic if the suit bankrupts the fledgling paper and the county commission, city council and school district have to grovel back to the Argus to print their legals. I’m sure the Argus would be happy to oblige, but I am guessing under a whole new rate.

SIOUX FALLS CITY COUNCIL GETS ROLLED BY THE MAYOR ON DUD FENCE

At the council meeting Tuesday night I spoke during public input (2:20:00) after Jordan Deffenbaugh spoke about the lack of policy leadership and transparency of the current council (47:30). I also told the council they need their own outside counsel (law firm) to write policy and they should put a line in next year’s budget for the expenditure. I knew it was going to be 8 yes votes. First off, because the council is extremely predictable and when I texted councilors to please vote no, I got no response, so I knew how this was going down. They act like they need unity on all votes, you don’t. I told them solving the problems of the city doesn’t take unity between councilors and the mayor it is about solving problems and sometimes you have to vote NO and start over. Many constituents including myself know this was cooked up by the mayor’s office and not dropped in councilor’s laps until the Thursday before the meeting, and let’s just say they weren’t happy about it. If I was them, I would have all voted NO and told the mayor that they will come up with a better solution within 30 days. Grow a sack already council.

WHY IS A NON-PROFIT PROVIDING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LOANS?

I received a postcard in the mail recently from Habitat for Humanity asking me to apply for this program. Someone asked me how I would have received this. I said, I worked in direct mail for 30 years and you can buy a list for anything. So I am sure they purchased a mailing list that had homeowners in a certain income bracket, and that would certainly be me, LOL. While I appreciate this program, it had me thinking, why isn’t the city mailing out postcards for their similar program thru the Feds of community development loans? The premise is the same, help with needed home repairs. There is a reason we had to but a fence around the Dud, there is NO affordable housing in Sioux Falls and the places that are affordable are falling apart.