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UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

l3wis December 2, 2025 0Comments

UPDATE: IT REALLY IS A TACO TRUCK! I was glad I have been posting about this, because I assumed the contractor would drag the restaurant owner to the meeting after my transparency needling. I know now why it has been under the radar, which we will get to in a moment. When the contractor introduced this restaurant owner to the podium he didn’t say his name or even the name of the establishment, only that he was ‘experienced’. Yeah, experience with failure. This guy has been carting his Gringo Walmart food truck around town after his physical restaurant failed several years ago. And now he wants to park the fart mobile next to a drive thru. Of course the council passed it, but I want to reassure the neighbors, the place will be closed before it even opens. Let’s just say they should name the place ‘Mediocre Microwaved Burrito’.

City Council Regular Meeting • Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 6:00 PM

Item #28, The applicant is requesting to develop a new retail building that would include a drive-through service window and outdoor speakers adjacent to residential uses. The neighbors are vehemently opposed. But what I find interesting is NO ONE is saying what the restaurant is (what style). All they say is fast food. One of the neighbors at the meeting said, ‘Nobody knows what it is. Is it a taco truck?’ And even after that NO ONE on the planning commission or the planning department mentioned what it was and they are using a private contractor to submit the application. I guess it is safe to say it is fried fish head eatery. Can’t wait! These folks have ran from transparency so long they forget how to tell the truth. Also, if I were opening a restaurant in a busy neighborhood I would tell everyone what it was to get the buzz going before I opened. Maybe it will be a mystery bag restaurant. ‘On Monday I got a meatloaf sandwich and on Thursday I got hot beef, yah just never know! It’s whatever Clem throws together in the back.’

Planning Commission Meeting • Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Item #5A, the Data Center folks barely took a breath and they are back for their rezone. I found this designation interesting;

Light Industrial Employment Center

While the ‘Light Industrial’ is a proper designation, I am not sure the ‘Employment Center’ is proper considering this place will be full of buzzing servers and NOT employees. There is also the energy sucking these places do and there have been stories across the country about how these facilities drive up energy costs for users in the vicinity because of increased infrastructure costs. But our city council can’t be bothered with that. They will approve this without asking one single important question like ‘Why hasn’t the electrical utility provider appeared at these public meetings to reassure the public their rates will not increase?’ I am not against data centers, they are needed, but there is an alternative. Some companies are building self-contained data centers that provide their own water and power thru wells, an on-site water filtration facility and solar and wind energy. Not only are they not taking away from residential needs, the energy is renewable and has NO damaging effects on the environment. The facilities also make more money and employs more people to handle the containment. Maybe the council needs to ask if this place plans wind turbines and solar arrays? Nope, in South Dakota we like to do things dirty and cheap while screwing over our neighbors, and I am sure this FOREIGN owned company (likely Communist Chinese)* isn’t real concerned about Brandon Bob’s garden.

*Nobody has been able to tell me who is ALL in the investor group.

City Council Informational Meeting • Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 4:00 PM

City Committee and Boards by Jim David, Chief Administrative Officer; Thea Rave, Executive Support Coordinator

I’m not sure what this is about, but I was told a few months ago that several of the city boards have NOT been fully filled since TenHaken has taken office, because ‘He won’t appoint anyone he doesn’t know or referred to him by a friend.’ Which is sad in a town of 200K+. And it is NOT like anyone is applying, I guess there are plenty of applicants, but if they can’t pass the ‘white church lane’ test, they don’t get appointed.*

*A neighbor and associate of the mayor recently told me he moved from the infamous street. Maybe he is living with Marshall Selberg in Harford?

Item #35/41, (35)The purpose of this rezoning is to allow for the construction of an office and apartments. (41) The city has been working with the applicant for the redevelopment of the property bounded by 18th Street and 19th Street and also Minnesota Avenue and Dakota Avenue. With this redevelopment, they have requested the vacation of 19th Street. This resolution would vacate 19th Street between Minnesota Avenue and Dakota. Tre Ministries, who I have encouraged to change their name to Lyre Ministries, is taking another bite at the apple. The rumor mill tells me that this was the plan all along and they went thru this sideshow to fool the council and the city, but who knows? I have heard all kinds of stories about conflicts with certain councilors, the mysterious ownership of the lot, the city loan that wasn’t, and a whole host of other problems. I have made it clear with certain councilors that the neighborhood is NOT against a project there, they just don’t want that street closed. I would also suggest denying the request based on the integrity of the applicant. I’m hoping the neighbors put on their pissy pants Tuesday night and read the council the riot act. Stop pleading with these folks, start demanding. They just blow you off when you come in with your hippy dippy crap. Be truthful and to the point, and call them out in advance before they even vote. Ask them who frosts their cupcakes and wipes their asses. Hard to answer the question when your mouth is full of brown nose cake and chamber charcuterie.

Item #39, Providing supplemental appropriations from Sales/Use Tax available fund balance to fund police radios. I’m all for new police radios, but how this rolled out is super suspicious. Let’s just say that the Curtist the Blurtist show will be on full display with this item. I guess the city is getting a black Friday deal with the radios. So nice the Chinese government will be able to listen in on our police calls 🙂

Item #43, The resolution adopts the City’s legislative priorities for upcoming session of the South Dakota Legislature. They should call this year’s priorities ‘Mo Money’ because all they do is ask for money from Pierre. Go read it, it reads like Baron Trump’s Santa Wish List. Ironically the stuff they are requesting money for can be handled thru non-profits that get Federal grants. Instead of asking for money from Pierre maybe help these organizations write Federal grants. Sally Tomato will be gone before we know it and hopefully all this stuff will get back to normal. The Orange Menace is like a ghost fart, deadly and sneaky at first, but it soon will dissipate.

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls homeland security Homeless SFPD Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Was the Sioux Falls homeless encampment ordinance passed with pressure from the Feds and Governor?

l3wis November 19, 2025 3Comments

UPDATE: Speaking of the homeless, last night a DTSF business owner who has been frustrated with the city’s response to homelessness spoke at the council meeting (FF: 34:10). She explained to the council she did a FOIA request with the city and her findings were astonishing. Basically the city has spent millions over the past few years putting transients in this cycle of citations without providing assistance. If we simply housed these folks with housing first initiatives we could actually save taxpayers money while addressing the issue and providing housing.

Her biggest suggestion? Have a coalition of services, in other words TALK TO EACH OTHER and coordinate those services thru different non-profits, the city administration and the Police Department. I have often said managing this issue isn’t rocket science, it just takes a conversation, transparency and the will to spend the money (or should I say ‘re-direct’ the money). I have even suggested such housing programs could be sponsored by local business donations. As far as I am concerned, it has gotten so bad, anything at this point is improvement.

Screenshot of some of the ‘citations’ our SFPD is wasting our time with;

A few weeks back the homeless coordinator for the city was at a public meeting. She was asked how the new ordinance is working out. After a brief pause she admitted that they haven’t implemented it yet because they are working out logistics. But you could tell from her nervousness she was probably making up an excuse.

What I found baffling about her answer is that when they pressured the city councilors to pass this there was a sense of ‘urgency’. So did that urgency go away? Not at all. I rode to all 4 corners of the city on Sunday, and while there is more transients in the downtown area, I saw groups of them (6 or more) wandering the sidewalks, bike trail, etc. all over town. I counted at least 10 different groups and many individuals.

If the city has realized this wasn’t the best solution, then why not rescind the ordinance?

So today, Jordan Deffenbaugh was on a city government rant, and there was a sentence in his rant that caught my attention;

Repeal the encampment ordinance – a failed policy making vulnerable residents surveillance targets.

Jordan was talking about the Feds accessing out extensive camera system in Sioux Falls to catch homeless immigrants and his concern.

Was this ordinance sponsored by the Police Department and the Mayor’s office just a pass thru with pressure from the Governor, AG and Feds?

It just seems odd to me this ordinance was needed just around the time of Prairie Thunder then never implemented after ICE was finished harassing us. So now we have the White House influencing our local laws and policies. Nice 🙁

Speaking of Sally Tomato, I have often rejected the comparisons to Hitler, but it seems they have more in common then we thought, just ask Stormy.

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Homeless SFPD Sioux Falls

Rumor Mill: Private Security for Downtown residents?

l3wis November 17, 2025 3Comments

As I have said in the past, I don’t post about 70% of what is fed to me because I can either NOT get another source or it is so personal, I just avoid it. But sometimes I get a rumor sent to me, and this person was just as inquisitive as I was, so he asked me to do some digging. I couldn’t find anything from internet searches, which doesn’t surprise me, because this would be a ‘word of mouth’ kind of personal security firm. Supposedly there is a NEW private security firm specializing in protecting high-end residents and businesses in downtown, so anonymity would not surprise me to protect their clients. I am not sure if any SFPOs are moonlighting with this business or even investing in it, which I think would present HUGE union conflicts. But let’s just pretend for a moment that indeed this was cooked up by either current or retired officers, it makes you wonder if the transient problem DTSF is being ignored on purpose? It’s good bizzo for private security.

I knew it was only a matter of time, and wouldn’t be surprised something like this is already in operation or in the works. Minneapolis has had similar firms in their downtown and there main objective is knocking transient heads together, and they seem to do it with impunity. I have seen them in action. Let’s just say that I saw several transients quickly walk the other direction when they saw them.

What a sad state of affairs. This is what happens when a problem is ignored. The minions suffer while the wealthy buy their way out of it.

1st Amendment Cindy Heiberger Donita Trump Noem Downtown Sioux Falls Dr. Sarah Cole Elections SF City Council SFPD Sioux Falls Trump

Who to Appoint or Not to Appoint, and other prickly stuff

l3wis October 18, 2025 9Comments

Old Detroit Lewis has been down the appointment path many times. I even applied once to be appointed to the Minnehaha County Commission, and then Chair Cindy Heiberger said she was offended that I came to the public input portion of a meeting to give my resume in advance of the nomination process. Yeah, she was a real peach. She makes Councilor Erpenbach look like Mary Poppens.

Or when Dean Karsky was appointed to the City Council and when he actually ran for the seat he put on his signs ‘RE-ELECT’ Karsky. I think I asked him how can you be re-elected when you were never elected to begin with? He gave me his insurance salesman look of I either ‘I sharted or lied’. It was usually a Shlart (C).

This whole appointment process is pure hypocrisy when you consider we have to have a runoff for council races instead of a plurality.

I digress.

Recently, Councilor Dr. Cole announced she is moving for her job. Good for her, but no surprise. I warned everyone before the election that Brekke was retired and had the time to dedicate to the council position while Cole had a lot of commitments with her employer as a medical doctor and being a single mother and would not have the time to dedicate to the position. I was 100% correct. I even predicted she would not make it to the end of her term. I was 100% correct. City government is sooo predictable. Well no one listened so now here we are, we need to appoint someone to fill out Councilor Dr. Cole’s seat after she leaves town in December. The stint would be a simple 6-7 months (I know, South Park reference). Four councilors have confirmed they want to appoint someone who is not running for council in 2026 and simply want a placeholder until the next election. They also have expressed appointing a former councilor who would be willing to help out for a few months without the intention of running, which I totally support. The short list would be;

• Brekke

• Stehly

• Neitzert

Yeah, there is the vampire guy, but c’mon!?

I have suggested Brekke or Neitzert and Neitzert confirmed to me to today that he would ‘think about it’. He thought having a former councilor with no desire to run would be a good fit. Greg also had some biking initiatives he was working on when he left council that he could finish (many of the projects are already funded). But if I wanted to be a rabble rouser I would appoint Bob Kolbe. And don’t laugh, he has the experience and would run circles around the current dais.

COMPOST PILOT

I guess the City of Brookings, which oddly has a progressive community and a conservative local government has started a compost program, I have suggested to two councilors we look into this PILOT program in Sux. I guess food waste takes up 25% of the landfill and produces most of the methane gas. So it is kind of a double edged sword for us to have residents compost when we sell methane gas to POET which helps to self-fund and expand and improve the landfill. I compost as much as I can and have several bins outside. What is great is after about a year you pull from the bottom and the black fertile stuff that comes out is pure fertilizer gold.

I AM AWARE

I want to thank my diligent foot soldiers for the messages this week about a certain someone running for a certain office. I am aware and have been 🙂 all week.

NO FAUX-KING FASCISTS! – That was my favorite sign I saw at the protest today;

There was a small number of protest protesters.

When I took the photo a gentleman from the group asked if I would take them down Phillips in front of the protesters with flags. This guy was incredibly respectful and likely a veteran and he did say to me that I probably didn’t want to get into the political back and forth. I said, yeah, I had a No Kings protester ask to ride down the street with a signs, and told them no. That would send the wrong message and he was totally cool. I really appreciated that. And while there was close to 2-3K NO kings protesters or more, there was about 20 MAGA supporters.

IMAGE: Patrick Lalley

I enjoyed the peaceful interaction and commend both groups even though the SFPD and Feds tried to start a fake controversy about a stolen van with likely a joint laying on the floor into some conspiracy about Oklahoma City. What a f’kd up world we live in.

RANDOM FUNNY

As I was riding around the protest tonight a mom and her children were storming down the sidewalk in front of the wine shop just north of Minerva’s. They have this metal sandwich board sign in front of the wine shop and the boy totally smoked it. He was probably around eight? And had no mobile devices in his hand. Not only was I laughing, everyone who saw it was dying. The boy was fine and guessing by his red face, not forgetting this moment for awhile, but I have a point at his expense; They were obviously going to the protest and in a hurry, which is awesome. There were tons of families and kids and I even saw some grandparents taking a todler to the protest with her own handmade sign. A portrait of patriotism (they were likely in there 70’s or 80’s).

That is why it is so laughable and ridiculous that these supposed anti-american protesters are somehow violent?! (maybe to sandwich boards?).

No body is buying the bullshi!t. Trust me when you have 3000+ peeps on one street corner and 30 peeps from the opposition on the other street corner it sends a clear faux-king message!

It wasn’t a business decision to not allow protesters from either side to ride the Rick, it was a mortality decision, and how faux-king sad is that?! I don’t recognize this country anymore.

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken SFFD SFPD Sioux Falls

Mayor TenHaken is poor at Public Safety

l3wis September 28, 2025 4Comments

This was what was on a bumper sticker on someone’s car. Not sure what the exact wording was because it was someone telling me they saw this on a car on their way to work.

They asked me, ‘What is that about?’

I was just as baffled as them and said that there have been some people who have mysteriously died in custody and those families are NOT happy with the mayor, but if it is some other beef, I wouldn’t know what it was.

I will give Poops credit on public safety. We have one of the best fire departments in the country and our SFPD keeps crime low. While this has more to do with their direct supervision then the mayor, I don’t think he has done anything to hamper them, and I would give him 4 out of 5 stars on public safety (he may lose this status depending on how he handles the ICE arrests and HiPo saturation patrols.)

The only improvements that I can see would be allowing paid fitness time for the PO’s and doing a better job of investigating petty crimes and burglaries.

While I like to pick on the rolly pollies you can’t deny we are pretty safe in Sioux Falls, and that is directly reflective of our police force.

I think this would be a more appropriate bumper sticker;

‘MAYOR TENHAKEN IS POOR AT LEADERSHIP’

That would cover most bases, and it’s factual and provable.

UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

UPDATE: Was the Sioux Falls homeless encampment ordinance passed with pressure from the Feds and Governor?

Rumor Mill: Private Security for Downtown residents?

Who to Appoint or Not to Appoint, and other prickly stuff

Mayor TenHaken is poor at Public Safety

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UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Councilor could be facing ethics violations after tonight’s vote on Tre Ministries project

UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

Seems we are a we bit behind on snow plowing

Libertyland TIF should go to a vote of the entire state!