Circus at Falls Park?
l3wis 
Sioux Falls Parks and Rec
My prediction was correct. ONLY ONE PERSON DESIRED Jacobson Plaza; Mr. Jacobson
I have been saying all along the $4M Ice Ribbon that has ballooned to $16M was NOT the idea of constituents. I haven’t heard a single person say they wanted that Plaza or needed it. There has been talk in the past of putting in a ‘temporary’ refrigerated ice ribbon at a park, but no permanent structures. A lot of this talk ended when they built the Scheels Ice Complex. So I have been saying all along, this was the idea of ONE person who was looking for a tax write-off after selling their Electrical Supply Company. (I’m all for private gifts to our parks, but that money needs to go into the Parks’ general fund and let the citizens decide how that money is being spent.)
Now don’t take my word on it, during Poops State of the City address he told the audience how the ice ribbon came about. Mr. Jacobson called the Mayor, took him to lunch and told him he wanted this. As I figured. No constituent polling. No advice from the city council. No consultant proposals. Just a rich guy buying the mayor lunch.
So this is how we make $16 million dollars in parks programming decisions, we let some rich dude looking for a tax write-off to take the mayor to lunch, while the skatepark folks had to scrape for years to get the city to pony up ‘something’.
If you want to know what the citizens want for Parks Programming, just ask them. Duh. Because as I have said, money can’t buy you class, purpose, style, taste or culture, so why do we let the rich determine our parks programming? Because they buy the mayor lunch. Unfcknbelievable.
UPDATE: What’s the ‘REAL’ reason the $16 Million ice ribbon is NOT finished?
UPDATE: The previous contractor actually died in a plane crash, so they DID find another contractor which put the ice ribbon behind schedule, but they expect to finish pouring it this summer (not sure how much the cost overruns would be).
We were told they didn’t finish the ribbon in time for this winter season because it was too cold to pour concrete. This ‘can’ be the case with certain pours when you don’t want to use chemicals to dry in the cold weather. But that’s not what happened.
Well, the rumor is that the contractor that was supposed to pour the ribbon bailed and since he was the owner he was the only one who really knew how to pour it. So now they are trying to figure out how they are going to finish it, you know, the project that costs 4x more then expected and that NO ONE ASKED FOR, except for some rich folks looking for a tax write-off.
It’s also a specialized industry pouring ice ribbons, so finding a contractor locally to finish it may be difficult. Is it safe to say we will have cost overruns on this project? You know it! It wouldn’t be a city parks project without having major cost overruns.
Doesn’t surprise me the Parks Department lied to us, that’s all they are any good at.
I also am getting some rumors about another city project that the contractor finished but really screwed up. Once I get more details I will update. If true, the irony is unbelievable.
Lally Cooler is gonna Lally Cost Yah
So with only announcing the headliners and NO opening acts, the Pavilion is attempting to sell tickets to an event no one knows much about;
I often assumed that the event was going to be FREE like JazzFest or at a greatly reduced price. If you would have opened it to the masses you would have made up the entry fees in beer money. Also, this is supposed to be some kind of anniversary celebration for the Pavilion, and after heisting millions from taxpayers over the years in taxes and subsidies you would think they would put on a backyard party for us for FREE. But that is not how it works at the WashSnotty Pavilion, we can only reward those who supported us, you know, families that can afford to drop $1,000 a night watching a Broadway Musical. Can’t wait to hear what they charge for a 12oz. Monday Light? I wonder if the Pavilion will have ‘Event Funding’ so you can pay for your beer and ticket with monthly payments? Just don’t take the bike trail to the event, you will end up in the river 
Let’s call the new bike trail expansion what it really is, a tax write-off
I get excited for new trails in Sioux Falls, as well as my bike riding crew, so we attempted to see this past weekend where the new bike trail addition goes and where it ends. It’s weird. As you can see the trail abruptly ends at a rural bridge on Bahnson only a block from Rice Avenue (FULL DOC);
It really is in the middle of nowhere. But, there seems to be a plan to extend it to Veteran’s Parkway, which is great, but with another 4 miles to go, it could take years and millions of dollars. Many folks have asked me how one mile of bike trail can cost almost $5 million. Look at the design. A bunch of private land needs to be purchased and apparently an elevated trail is needed (it is not). Oh, and a rich donor needed a tax write-off, so this was our best plan for the money? My suggestion to make this trail worthwhile and accessible quicker would be upgrading the bike lane/trail along Rice Avenue to Great Bear and extending to Veterans. This would require a small investment since a half ass bike lane already exists and just needs repaving and marking which should include a medium between Rice and the path;
I have been thinking about throwing parties at the end of this trail under the bridge. Themes?