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It’s going to be an interesting Friday in Sioux Falls

l3wis March 17, 2022 7Comments

There has been a rumor floating around today that Mayor TenHaken plans to have a news conference tomorrow afternoon at around 2 PM at City Hall concerning a new development downtown.

I guess a deal has been in the works to finish off the rest of the Railroad Redevelopment site just east of the 8th and RR Building. The two proposals floating out there are workforce housing (market rate apartments) and luxury condos. I can’t tell who the competing developers are or if this is what the rumored press conference is about, but the timing of this supposed press conference is interesting considering the council suddenly posted today they are having a 1 PM working session on Friday, that has NO public agenda items except public input and they go directly into executive session. Maybe they should have just called a City Council Poetry Reading since I find it laughable they are calling a faux working session so they can be told something privately.

These folks are so sloppy.

Councilors and council staff are not allowed to tell the public what goes on during the session, but I can make some guesses. It could be about the development Poops may announce (sneakily telling council only a few minutes before he announces a proposal to the public) or it could be a settlement has been reached with the Bunker Ramp and that could be the ultimate announcement?

My head has been spinning for weeks while watching Paul pack 4 years of his do nothing term (that he didn’t sign up for) into a few weeks of getting something done. Maybe he will announce he is cancelling the election because his opponents don’t have a snowball’s chance?

At this point nothing would f’ing surprise me.

Mayor TenHaken Paratransit SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Transit Transportation

Mayor TenHaken’s SOC Address ends in a very unusual way

l3wis March 17, 2022 4Comments

You won’t see it on the end of the video we downloaded (it was edited out) but as you can see from the screenshot below it had an unusual ending;

The city did eventually upload to their YouTube channel, but before that it was ONLY on FB. Bruce Danielson who owns and operates the SouthDacola YouTube channel that I link to frequently downloads from FB videos. He does NOT and never has had a FB account, so he was surprised when at the end of the SOC address video post on the City’s official FB page an ad/video for some kind of butt spray paint appears. Not sure why that happened, but it makes you wonder who uploaded the video to FB:) Was it a city employee or one of Paul’s campaign goons? And Bruce, if you are secretly looking for butt spray paint, we need to have a serious heart to heart conversation. LMFAO!

MAYOR TENHAKEN WANTS TO GIVE FREE YOUTH RIDES

I guess I missed this in his address;

TenHaken announced he will be proposing to the Public Transit Advisory Board and City Council to make the public transit system free to kids citywide.

Hey great idea, wonder where it came from? Oh that’s right, I wrote about it here. I won’t take credit, I was alerted about this from a citizen advocate, Cathy Brechtelsbauer, and after I blogged about it I contacted Sioux Falls School Board President Cynthia Mickelson about Cathy’s idea and she started collaborating with a couple of city councilors, as far as I know they have already been trying to draw up an ordinance to do it, but like most of Poops ideas he lifts them from other people, you know like precincts, uh, I mean, report-to-work stations 🙂

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When was Mayor TenHaken going to tell the council and public about this?

l3wis March 16, 2022 19Comments

So I have been getting several calls today about what Poops said about the Wastewater Treatment Plant in this interview yesterday;

TenHaken says city is trying to remain cognizant of rising inflation
But as he looked toward the next year, he said the city is also trying to remain cognizant of rising inflation and that many people are dealing with “incredible monetary tension” at the moment as they consider any sort of city fees or rate increases.

It’s hitting the city, too. TenHaken said groundbreaking on the expansion of the city’s wastewater plant has been postponed as “historic price escalations” began piling up.
“We’re not ready to break ground yet,” TenHaken said, “because we still got a lot of pencil sharpening to do now based on the price escalation we’re seeing.”

To be honest with you, it surprised me also. The city has bonded $260 Million dollars for the plant, and has been working on it (not sure what the groundbreaking is about). The city has been spending the money and construction has begun. I look at this project as essential for growth, and it should have been started 10 years ago. Why didn’t that happen? Well because Huether put it off so he could bond for the Midco, City Admin, Bunker Ramp and Events Center. Ten Haken continued with the Bunker Ramp and has been handing out TIFs and other Booty Prizes like a drunken pirate, including $10 million last night to DSU.

There is absolutely no reason this project should be stalled and the contractors need to be held to their bid obligations. You also have to take into account that this department in the city is funded mostly by FEES and not taxes because it is an enterprise fund, and our fees have been drastically raised to help pay the bonds on this. If we need to take money from the 2^nd penny to finish it, we have to do it, plain and simple.

Still curious why the public and council have not been alerted about a pause on a $260 million dollar essential infrastructure project? Oh, I forgot, it’s that transparency thing the administration hates so much.

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Mayor Ten Haken playing Games with an Official City Meeting

l3wis March 15, 2022 22Comments

Besides the full-color campaign like posters and the RSVP requirement, what is the strange part about the State of the City address? Well it was advertised with a start time of 8 AM, but if you look at the agenda (posted sometime between 8-8:30 AM this morning, just in the nick of time) the official meeting doesn’t start until 8:30 AM. So why the discrepancy in time? My guess is that the mayor is planning to have a campaign like event between 8-8:30 AM. Basically using city resources and giving a false time of 8 AM to get people to come early for his campaign event and stay for the SOC. This is unprecedented on many levels and completely unethical.

Paul has claimed several times to the media over the past couple of weeks that since he is the sitting mayor he has the right to use these resources to his campaign advantage, saying his opponents are jealous. There are campaign rules for a reason, and he is flagrantly ignoring them, nevermind the irony of a cheapskate Dutchman using taxpayer money to his campaign advantage.

There is also the question of using city owned property and donated food (from who?) to have a campaign rally.

Bobbi Andera Dr. Sarah Cole Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Candidate Sarah Cole has never voted in a city or school election

l3wis March 14, 2022 5Comments

***I may not vote in city elections, but I make a mean cup of coffee.***

The other opponent in the race isn’t much better, Bobbi Andera, she has only voted once.

Now, I am not sure how many primaries or generals either have voted in, this is just municipal and school board elections. But I’m curious how either one of these people think they can serve the city as elected official if they have never voted in a city election? Proves how much either one of them has been paying attention.

The one thing I have noticed about people who vote in local elections is they understand the issues, the ones that don’t, not so much.

Bruce Danielson compiled this data from several sources and compared to back data from other years.

It’s going to be an interesting Friday in Sioux Falls

Mayor TenHaken’s SOC Address ends in a very unusual way

When was Mayor TenHaken going to tell the council and public about this?

Mayor Ten Haken playing Games with an Official City Meeting

Sioux Falls City Council Candidate Sarah Cole has never voted in a city or school election

You Missed

What is the City of Sioux Falls doing with our Data?

It pays to work in the Sioux Falls City Attorney’s office

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

What was the count?