Someone is having a little AI fun with Poops
l3wis Someone sent me a link to this AI video, funny.
Yeah, Paul has issues with math.
Taxes
1st Amendment
6th street Bunker Bridge
Bunker Ramp
Developers
Development
Downtown Sioux Falls
Legacy Developments
Mayor TenHaken
Paul Ten Haken
Property Taxes
Riverline District
Sioux Falls
Taxes
Bunker Ramp Bum who bilked taxpayers wants a building permit
If this city council approves this project by this developer, they have lost their frickin’ minds;
The 10-story property at 141 N. Main Ave. was purchased by an investment group this summer and will be redeveloped by Lamont Cos. Inc., an Aberdeen-based developer with more than 50 franchised hotels nationwide.
I think the project idea and remodel is a good one, that building has immense potential. My aunt actually worked on one of the top floors of the building in the 80’s and the views when I visited were amazing. If this was ANY other investor group I would be all for it. But permits can be denied based on the (business and ethical) character of a developer or contractor. I think sticking the SF taxpayers with a $26 million dollar empty concrete block then getting a check to boot from us for your ‘troubles’ would mean your character ranks right up there with Homer Simpson. It will be fun to watch how the Planning Commission and Council handles this. Let the Weaseling begin!!!!
RIVERLINE DISTRICT GETS PAUSED
No surprise since they have identified ZERO funding sources;
But now things are coming to a pause. The committee said three of its objectives: creating a timeline, designing and pricing a new convention center, and timing out a public vote, are yet to be done. But they voted Monday evening to pause their work, claiming that no more progress can be made on those objectives as things stand right now.
I said from the beginning the only way to move forward on this is selling the public on a funding source instead of playing reindeer games with the legislature and trying to ‘trick’ us into a new tax. Complete stupidity. You need to show 2 things; 75-90% private investment and an ROI for taxpayers (not just the city coffers and private hospitality industry). Instead they showed us the shiny ball first and nobody cared.
As all of this discussion takes place, the clock is ticking on something to be built on the 7.2 acres on the east bank of the Big Sioux River. As a part of the City’s purchase agreement, State Partners, LLC has the option to repurchase the land if no construction starts in five years. Almost 11 months have passed since the City Council adopted that agreement.
This was also dumber then a mud fence. They thot they could sucker us into the new building since we already owned the land. You don’t buy a lot to build a new house without having the finances in order to pay for the construction of the house.
Do we need a new Convention Center? Sure. But I look at this two ways; 1) We can expand at current location by making the Arena a multi-level complex (the main reason we built the Denty at that location was so we could use it for convention center space). OR 2) Have a private hotel and convention center move into the Riverline space. We would lease the land for FREE for 99 years and we would give all BID tax revenue to only be exclusively spent on marketing.
We can make this happen, but not by increasing sales taxes or having expensive bonds that take 30 years to pay off. I look at the convention center business as a private one, and I think SF should make the bold move of letting this being taken over by private industry. You could actually model it after the Pavilion, which probably would be fine now without public money.
But the Banksters and Bondsters in town need a constant loan on the books to justify their bond commissions each year, and this was just another one of their ‘commission’ projects.
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE APARTMENT COMPLEX TO BE BUILT AT 8th and RAILROAD?
While the bunker ramp bum is trying to get a permit, the Riverline committee Petered out, Tre Ministries has been less then transparent and we have no idea why the Dusty Monkeys were shipped out of town and we still have no idea what is happening with a project that got millions in a TIF. Obviously if this project ever comes to fruition (I think it is dead) they will have to reapply for the TIF due to time commitments. Why did this fail?
Ironically another well know developer* in town with close ties to the city and state government put forth a plan that was rejected. It was almost entirely affordable/workforce apartments and almost 100% local investors. I asked some people why they think his idea was rejected over the Iowa development? They laughed and said, “Politics.” The irony is this project would be already done if they would have picked this developer, but hurt feelings over local politics killed it. This is what happens when you bring politics into a simple planning and zoning matter, we all lose.
* This is NOT Billion. Billion attempted to make the first go at the project but concerns with underground parking and investors had them pull out, which created a new RFP.
Reagan was Right
For at least 5 minutes in April of 1987 he was right;
So this video posted 6 months ago. Recently the Canadians used some lines from it in a TV ad over the trade war. The Supreme Court will decide soon whether Trump’s tariffs were legal without congressional approval. I’m with Reagan on what he is talking about (watch the entire video) he basically doesn’t like them and thinks they contributed to the Great Depression. Reagan was an economics major in college. Reagan supported targeted tariffs, as do I, to get American consumers to buy American products, so you would target that specific product with a tariff instead of a blanket one with every product from a specific country like Trump is doing. Reagan was referencing this in the video with semi-conductors. He wanted American manufacturing to buy American conductors instead of cheaper Japanese ones.
As for the Reagan foundation saying they didn’t get permission to use the clip, that point is moot, it is a public document, anybody can use it, even a foreign government. Also, there was NO creative editing in the AD, they just simply played a few lines from the address about the pertinent dangers of tariffs, like isolationism, inflation and high unemployment (it’s coming folks!)
EAST WING WENT BYE BYE
I love how Trump’s Press Secretary is tasked each day with revisionist history. They are claiming Truman’s remodel of the White House was no different then this. Hogwash. Truman was going to take a leak in the middle of the night and he heard a crack under the floorboards in his bedroom. They discovered that after adding the 3rd floor without reinforcing floors 1 & 2 caused the floor beams to start cracking and breaking. Truman had no choice but to remodel or the place was going to fall into itself. There was the controversy of adding the balcony, but it wasn’t a gold plated ballroom double the size of the current white house. I have said that the next president needs to undo all of this in the last year of their first term. I would auction off the ballroom in pieces, make the buyers responsible for removal and take the money raised to rebuild the East Wing to original standards but modernized. I would also restore the rose garden. Trump has done enough damage to this country and it’s reputation we don’t need any reminders of him after he has left the Whitehouse.
I think in Germany after WWII they have some law where you can’t talk about Hitler or Nazis or something. . . just an idea.
Is Mitchell trying to steal sales tax revenue from Sioux Falls?
I found this story intriguing, and I didn’t even know you could hire a consultant to do this kind of work;
Alabama-based Retail Strategies community partnerships associate Banks Perry will present to the council on a data-driven approach to attract retailers and developers to Mitchell.
According to Hanson, the Retail Strategies process involves tracking when people from Mitchell and the surrounding areas go and buy something in Sioux Falls at a certain store, and based on that, Retail Strategies calls that store to recruit that store or a competitor store to come to Mitchell.
Good for Mitchell! Not so good for Sux 🙁 Maybe we should hire a consultant to find out what kind of retailers we want to steal from Mitchell – LMFAO!
Can we attract an all nude strip club? How about a gymnasium covered in corn? And who doesn’t miss Happy Chef?
I kind of feel bad for the Mayor of Mitchell on this one, it is actually a GREAT idea, and pretty cheap for consultant fees, so I don’t understand why he is getting so much grief.
UPDATE: Why is the city proposing an increase in our reserve funds?
UPDATE: While the reasons are still murky why they are doing this, there was some hints last night. They pretty much want to take more of the 2nd penny to fill the reserves. Why are they nervous about the reserves? Because the Feds are turning off the faucet. Local governments especially should work off of a balanced budget with the taxes they collect. Any additional funds from the state or feds should be considered ONE TIME MONEY to be used on needed infrastructure upgrades. Those dollars should never be considered as part of a permanent, ongoing budget. But this is what the city has done for years. Did you know that only two-thirds of the city’s budget is covered by local taxes and fees? The city has been using these extra monies to inflate the budget. The city should NEVER have a savings account. I think 25% is good enough for emergencies but anything above that needs to be spent or refunded. When I see $80 million in a city’s reserve fund, I don’t see prudence I see a community being overtaxed. Want to make significant cuts that will save citizens millions without effecting services? Cut staff. I figured if you cut 5-10% of employees in the city you could save up to $25 million a year. Salaries and benefits are paid from the 1st penny. We would have oodles of money to fill the gap. Recently a mayoral candidate says they plan to hire a HR director that will do a full review of ALL city employees and job performance. And the ones that don’t cut the mustard, well, they’ll be shown the door. This is past due. I think ALL city employees should be re-interviewed each year for job performance. I have often said, city employees are an investment, and we should take care of those investments, and when we have a bad one, we need to sell.
(Item #13) It is hard to understand where this is coming from;
This resolution is establishing reserve goals for the City’s General Fund and Sales/Use Tax Fund. Where the City is to maintain a General Fund available balance be at 25-35 percent of that year’s expense budget, maintain a 25% reserve minimum at year-end, establish the 10-year general fund forecast maintains reserves at or above 25% for each fiscal year, and maintain a Sales/Use Tax reserve equal to 3 percent of the total sales tax revenue budgeted for that fiscal year.
I will wait and see ‘why’ this is being proposed, but what I find interesting is this is being sponsored by the mayor while it is the duty of the council to implement this;
WHEREAS, the Home Rule Charter of the City of Sioux Falls authorizes the Council to appropriate City funds and set City policy; and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires adequate reserves to cash flow City government, mitigate risk from unforeseen reductions in revenue and changes in the economic environment, and meet any emergencies; and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires to ensure the long-term fiscal responsibility of the City; and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires an ongoing plan for a fiscally sound budget; and
WHEREAS, the City Council expects potential new revenue streams be approved prior to final
adoption of the budget.
Instead of trying to spend down some of the reserves (we have around $30 MILLION over what the current ordinance requires) for needed projects (not playlands) they are just going to make the reserve fund bigger so the council can’t touch it.