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UPDATE III: Were 911 Services hacked across the state and country?

l3wis April 19, 2024 10Comments

UPDATE III: So a computer nerd friend told me last night that even if a fiber is cut, there are backups, and if that truly happened the calls would have just been rerouted thru another line which would only take a matter of seconds or minutes, so this is certainly suspicious. Hey Dan, you worked in this industry, is my computer friend correct?

UPDATE II: Looks like they took out a light pole in Kansas. Um, ok.

UPDATE: We are back up, but curious what happened? You wonder if the states effected had the same software glitch and figured it out and shared with other states? Presser tomorrow.

Also, CNN is reporting some locations are blaming cell phone companies for the issue, but are keeping tight lipped about WHAT it exactly was (could have been multiple hack assaults) and HOW they fixed it, and WHAT preventative measures we are implementing forward.

If I can’t even trust the SOS office to properly notify candidates of requirements how can you expect any state or local agency to combat this?

So this is an interesting tidbit for tonight;

They also reported that the outages appear to have impacted additional cities and counties across the US, but the reason for the outages is currently unknown.

Usually if IT can’t fix something within a few hours or even minutes, that usually means there was a hack. The City of Sioux Falls has been worried about this for awhile and have been doing different training with cyber security for city IT employees.

You would think with the programs at DSU they would have someone over there smart enough to combat this.

It will be interesting to see how they fix this. They may have to setup a backup or patch, which could take a few hours to a few days. Cross your fingers and hope you don’t have an emergency.

UPDATES:

The Sun is reporting 8 states are now affected. I have a feeling by morning it will be 20 or more. This is starting to look like a hack.

The Daily Beast has this article from 2017 when something similar happened.

Reuters said this ‘The Department of Homeland Security has warned, of increased risks of cyber attacks on 911 services, as they have migrated to digital, internet-protocol based systems.’

The City of Sioux Falls can afford a sales tax cut on food

l3wis April 18, 2024 4Comments

Poops couldn’t resist to say the sky is falling in front of all of his Republican friends at his illegal meeting this morning;

“What might sound like a good plan and a win for the average person or family to have to pay a few cents less on consumables, depending on how it would be structured, could instead lead to decreased funding for essential services like street repair, snow removal, parks and rec programming, and funding staffing for our public safety team members,” TenHaken said.

Hogwash. When you have $80+ million in reserves and property taxes are thru the roof you can afford the cut.

It’s about budgeting (the city needs to adopt ZERO based budgeting). When we are taking out bonds for $100 million here and $77 million there, a bunker ramp disaster and millions and millions in tax rebates and TIFS, the city could easily manage without the food tax if they just stopped spending money foolishly.

Of course, the same BS comes from their collective mouths, like we may get an income tax. That will NEVER happen in SD. The likely scenario is the legislature raising taxes on all other items.

The way the initiative is written, cities in SD can still collect sales taxes on food, it only eliminates the state from that equation.

BUT, we could do a city petition to end the food tax in city limits, which is a distinct possibility.

The Chicken Littles in the world don’t want to give the little guy a break. This initiative will pass by over 70% of the vote and the only people that will vote against it are the rich that are worried about their property taxes going up more because of it.

It astonishes me that ANY elected official in SD would be against a food tax cut, especially the mayor of a city that has high levels of food insecurity.

I encourage EVERYONE to vote for the cut, and once we pass that, we move to taking it out in the city. Enough of this chickensh!t rhetoric.

Early Voting will start on Tuesday April 23rd

l3wis April 17, 2024 3Comments

There was some speculation about this because they were waiting on the printer to give them a timeline, but it was confirmed this afternoon that it WILL start on that day.

Early voting takes place at the Minnehaha County Admin building.

GO VOTE EARLY!

UPDATE: So why are we not using reserves for the Aquatic’s bonds?

l3wis April 16, 2024 6Comments

I have been hearing rumors for weeks about some of the things in the bonds. I guess they may be released to the public tomorrow at the weekly presser (10:30 AM at city hall). Not sure though.

What I found out tonight (ironically a day before the big reveal) that several of the rumors were just that, rumors and nothing solid.

But this is what I do know. The city is considering buying a private fitness center with a pool and other fitness amenities like weights, basketball and racquetball.

I am NOT saying who it is, because as I mentioned several times, it is still a rumor, but seems more doable since the fitness center would be a nice fit for the city, but I am not sure why we are putting private facilities out of business to have the taxpayers subsidize them? I can see the cost savings buying an existing facility, but do we really need to?

NO.

And look at this private facility that just opened. Forty thousand square feet! I am assuming they are doing this facility to make a little revenue, so why does the city want to compete!?

Also, during the informational, Jensen asked finance (we have 37% in reserves) why we are NOT taking like $20 million out of the reserves and put towards the bonds so our interest payments are less. I was told just the bond payments and NOT the subsidies will cost us $5.7 million per year for the the next 20 years! Add subsidies for the refrigerated ice, and these facilities and you are looking at about $8-9 million per year.

And when will the council talk about the yearly subsidies? One councilor told me the administration still hasn’t given that info to the council. WHY!?

This is why I often am humored when our finance director comes to the microphone saying we need to preserve property tax increases and keeping the food tax otherwise we won’t be able to plow snow and fill potholes.

Baloney.

You have around $80 million in reserves. Why are you hoarding it? Some said the mayor wants to sit on the reserves for a downpayment on a new convention center. Who knows. When you collect taxes and there is more money coming in then you are spending, you either need to 1) spend it instead of bonding or 2) give refunds to people. I like #2.

Someone asked me why do you think the administration doesn’t want to knock $20 million off the loan? I said, it is because the city didn’t come up with the $70 million amount, ‘someone’ else did. My readers are smart, I’m sure you know what I mean.

I also find it amusing that the council is talking about the bond process publicly, released the amount, hired bond counsels, etc., yet they can’t tell us what is in there? Weird.

UPDATE: Looks like Don Swanson (parks director) explains a portion of the bonds, without mentioning the purchase.

The State of City Politics

l3wis April 15, 2024 3Comments

I think this image says it best. A street light was taken out in front of Minerva’s downtown in front of Shriver. I laughed about the caution tape and the light was still operating. On the ground. Is it just me, or does the city seem a bit short staffed these days? Well, when you pay the COS a quarter million a year, and you don’t have well compensated staff to go out, and you know, shut off the light, so no one gets electrocuted.