I was pondering this today, what if I didn’t know any of the candidates running for mayor? I didn’t know them personally or even knew what they looked like and I was asked to review their professional resume (non-government experience) who would I lean towards? Well, just based on resumes it would be Joe Batcheller.
I know this sounds odd, because Joe has NOT announced yet, but it sounds like he is running, and he checks most of the boxes;
• Non-partisan moderate (not even sure if he is a Dem, Repug or Indy)
• Lead a non-profit for several years
• Worked as an urban planner (his degree)
I think the last point sealed the deal for me, because we had no mayor since Hanson that had any government experience, especially planning.
This is NOT an endorsement of a fella who hasn’t announced yet. It’s just something I thought I would look at. Joe is going to have to show some enthusiasm and some pizzazz when he is out on the trail, and I’m not sure he can pull that off, BUT on paper, he’s a winner.
We know how it rolls in SF, it comes down to looks and personality, and if you ain’t got it, you are toast.
I am encouraging citizens to actually research the professional resumes of the candidates running instead of just looking at a wink and a nod from another salesperson.
The next mayor will be handed a giant stinking turd; half the directors will be gone, the operating expenses on all the new play palaces will drain tax dollars and we will likely be in a ‘light’ recession by the end of the year, and like the last one in 2008, it will take several more years for the middle class to get caught up in Sioux Falls. I still know people who are still behind the 8-Ball from that recession.
We are going to need a leader who knows city government and how to pull it’s levers.
This is funny. A while back I met this guy riding an E-Motorcycle, they have tons of torque, too much really and he let me try it, and I wiped out. What I didn’t know is that he was filming me. Today, one of my friends called me laughing and said he had a video for me from his cousin, enjoy;
UPDATE: So I came to the presser today a few minutes late, and the door to the media room was locked so I asked the security guard why it was locked and he told me it locks automatically, and did not assist me in getting in. I asked a reporter after the presser about it and they told me they always have it locked and you have to wiggle the handle and they will let you in. WTH? This is an open to the public presser, paranoid much? More closed government BS from the king of closed government.
As for the presser, very interesting. It was obvious the mayor was fed a bunch of this information and just repeated it. He even said that SF citizens should elect better legislators. I would agree, but with gerrymandering and moving district lines, it would be hard to get a near perfect representation, but when it comes to property taxes, they did the right thing.
The mayor also concluded that the City doesn’t have much leverage when it comes managing what can be collected for property taxes (state legislature). This is patently FALSE. The council approves a tax increase every year since I can remember and having the power to institute TIFs without the approval of the counties and school district is a massive property tax restructuring that only increases taxes on the rest of us. If you stopped further TIF’s, our taxes would go down without legislation.
Now, Paul is correct, property taxes fund operating costs, but funds CAN be moved around to different departments. There are also quite a few operating expenses we could eliminate that wouldn’t have an effect on service. Paul suggests we cut essential programming instead of other cost cutting measurements. If we stop funding all the non-profits in town unless they are directly contracted by the city to provide professional services (Like the Link) we could easily save millions. But, Megan from SF Simplified had an even better suggestion, she asked why employee cuts were not looked at? I told a recent mayoral candidate that I would terminate all non-union middle management, not only would the cost saving be great (wages, benefits, retirement) they are NOT needed. The candidate laughed at me, but I told them, ‘Really? You have a director who gives an order to a supervisor below them, usually the assistant director, and takes those orders to union management. Silly. There is NO reason the director can’t instruct lower management, there is NO need for a middle man.
GREAT QUESTION MEGAN!
I heard that TenHaken is having a presser this morning (even though I can’t find any media alerts on FB or on the City’s website). I know, shocker, with all the openness and transparency with this admin . . . never mind.
He is going to discuss the city ‘losing’ $26 million in revenue over the next decade due to property tax cuts. Him and his lapdog finance director have been pushing this BS narrative for a week.
First the obvious, you are not ‘losing’ revenue that was never owed to you. The tax formula changed. So that means you change your budget forecast modeling after the new tax code and budget accordingly (in other words make cuts to capital programs).
Secondly, there will be NO cuts to regular programming (Fire, police, public works, etc.) that’s a false flag they are promoting. Who will take the hit? Mostly capital programs. In other words we may miss out on some park expansion and rec trail expansion, but these cuts wouldn’t affect regular services and they know it.
Thirdly, it is incredibly disheartening to see a lame duck promote higher taxes instead of cuts.
Lastly, I have maintained in my 18 years of blogging that TAXES are for essential services and not play things and entertainment venues. We have over extended ourselves on play palaces.
My first suggestion would be to cut MOST capital programs that are NOT essential the next 5 years. You would be SHOCKED at the tax savings, I would suggest it would be a heckuva a lot more then $2.6 million a year.
Also, I find this resistance to tax cuts insulting. As constituents we have had to cut back on stuff since Covid, and the Trump economy is making it worse, as I predict a full on recession by the end of the year.
I’m sorry, but when I am struggling to maintain my household expenses, I could give two-sh!ts about a new parking lot at a tennis court.
I spoke at the council meeting Tuesday night (last commenter) about how planning detours for bike trail repairs is really bad. I explained to them that for years if there was a detour on the bike trail you just had a temp path next to path being repaved. Not this year. They blocked off 3 miles by Cliff to pour 20 ft of concrete, they did the same today with about 4 miles blocked that has been repaved and completely dry (no oil residue on tires). Besides the poor planning with detours and putting up these ridiculous barricades with chain lock ups, the contractors doing the work are mean. They will scream at you if you even approach a barricade. Here’s the deal, I’m paying for these repairs, so be a bit respectful, and secondly, what do you care? If I am riding in the grass around the project how am I impeding your work? I’ll say it again; There is a lot of stupid people in the world, and most of them live in Sioux Falls
First, I want to say that are at least 1 or 2 councilors that do the work, but that faction changes on a daily basis and is getting smaller. Don’t get me wrong, I think peeps on the City Council are nice, and respectable business peeps in town, but they have no clue how to do policy or actually put in the time. I have blogged about city politics for over 20 years, and I have never seen a more LAZY, IGNORANT, INCOMPETENT and frankly MISINFORMED council. If it is Black they vote White, if it is White, they vote Black, they almost resist so they don’t make a bad decision. So, I get it, you think this is my opinion, not at all backed up with data;
We got an ‘F’ in workforce. I was actually surprised it wasn’t lower. Let’s face it, the rich do very well in Sux, because they are taking from the rest of us, this is enabled by a council (who have two members that never received one f’ing vote!) And maybe that is why they suck, they didn’t have to face an opponent? They didn’t do anything wrong, they signed up to run, and had no challengers, but they also have had no constituent choose them, so they tend to mend their own fence.
I guess, as I look at the policy body for the city (council) you have a lot of power to improve this, but you are not doing it, you sit on your hands, and to be honest with you, you look like a bunch of dolts when you discuss policy because everyone knows you don’t do a f’ing thing. AND, BTW, this isn’t me talking, constituents who follow this are scared, pissed and mortified by the city leadership. Tons of rich folks are mad to because they got screwed on deals. I’m sorry, but when you have a local governing body that rolls over like a dead dog every Tuesday, yah gotta question their motives.
THE CHARTER IS CLEAR! YOU ARE THE POLICY BODY, THE MAYOR IS THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER. YOU TELL HIM WHAT TO DO, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. SUCKERS!SUCKERS!SUCKERS!
I think 100% of the council knows we have issues, so what are they going to do about it? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
l3wis 
