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The Anti-Bike Crap needs to end in Sioux Falls!

l3wis March 31, 2025 5Comments

So I started riding bike on the streets of Sioux Falls in 1993. One of my first experiences was a school bus driver driving me in the ditch on West 12th street, and if that was NOT enough of insult to injury, while sitting in the ditch the bus driver pulls over and stops, opens his bus door and proceeds to tell me to get off the road. So this is how it all got started 32 years ago, peeps thinking bikes don’t belong on the street. Since I have been riding I have been in ZERO accidents involving cars. Now I have wiped out on ice, potholes, cracks in the sidewalk etc, but never had a one-on-one with a vehicle. Most would say that is luck, but I think it is because I am a defensive bike rider. In fact on my commute to work I usually have 2-4 close calls, usually a motorist not paying attention or they don’t see me (not their fault). You have to be constantly aware of your surroundings, and to tell you the truth, it’s kind of fun riding to work when you are trying to avoid danger. Would that make me a masochist?

So I was riding my bike down Minnesota avenue last Thursday night coming from 57th and Minnesota going North. I ride in the street as much as possible and take the full lane when I can. But, the reason I have a bike is so I can short cut it on my commute, some times the trail, sometimes a sidewalk, sometimes thru a parking lot DRIVING LANE. ALL COMPLETELY LEGAL ON A BIKE (you can’t ride bikes on the DTSF sidewalks) but anywhere else in town, as long as you yield to peds (stop until they pass).

So this BOOMER driver follows me from the interstate to Hy-Vee and as I walk in he approaches me and says, “I’ve been following you on your bike, and you are a menace.” I was kind of shocked because I have been taking this route for 4 years and ride it the same way. I said, ‘Huh?’ He says you were riding in the road, then you got on the sidewalk, then you rode across the Mcdonalds parking lot. I said, ‘So?’ He tried to say it was illegal. I told him to check the ordinances, it is legal and I tried to walk away. He kept calling me a menace. I told him that walking up to a stranger and calling them a menace is extremely rude and the law is on my side. I also told him I have had it with Anti-bike peeps, and said you need to review the laws instead making ones up in your head. He says, ‘I own a Harley.’ I laughed and said, ‘Yeah, that’s a motorcycle, not a bike.’ That is the other thing, peeps always want to compare e-bikes to motorcycles. Most class 2’s have about 1 horsepower, more advanced ones can have up to 4-6 horsepower, so NOT a motorcycle MORONS. Also, I always check my average speed monitor when I get home. Usually it is 14 MPH. Yeah, I am a 14 MPH menace. LOL. When I cross intersections I hit the throttle and can usually hit 25 MPH, but once across I hit brakes and retain normal speed. I am not tearing it up 25 MPH all over town, just to cross DANGEROUS intersections. Also, car vs bike, car wins every single time, so I guess I am wondering why I am the problem and not the Boomer in a car stalking me? There was a part of me that wanted to call the police and tell them about this old fart harassing me, but he was kinda cute in his 1962 haircut and faded plaid shirt. I really think the city needs to do an education marketing program to drivers and the laws that apply to bicyclists, because most peeps in this town don’t have an F’ing clue. I often tell people that the reason drivers yell at me is because they are jealous they are not enjoying their commute in their 4 wheeled coffin, because that is all it is.

This rudeness in the older generation is no surprise, they feel emboldened by their senior hairless leader. I guess if I was retired, I would just enjoy it and not chase E-bikers. I will gladly pay your Medicare and SS if you just slip away into the night. You have it all, why take if from me? I have often said the Boomer gen should be called the A-Hole gen, because they just take and take and can’t understand why you won’t shove your head up their asses.

Oh, and the SFPD has been harassing bicyclists DTSF, because you know, DTSF has NO crime besides battery powered bicycles. But the tub of lards don’t want to solve ‘real’ crimes just stuff they can do from the dashboards of their cars while sucking down their FREE 32 oz Coke from a C-Store.

So let’s review; bikes (acoustic) and Class II can ride on the trail, the street and the sidewalk legally. And if you don’t agree with that, lobby the council to change those laws, but please, don’t approach me at the grocery store and call me a menace because your old rotting brain doesn’t know the laws on the books. Yeah, there is a menace in Sioux Falls, and it’s mostly embodied by Boomers in this town. The next time I get approached by one of these folks, I hope they put an extra coat of Polident on their dentures.

I will explain someday

l3wis March 30, 2025 1Comments

3rd Penny gets killed in the Legislative Committee

l3wis February 6, 2025 9Comments

Gotta admit, I was a bit worried about this, but former city councilor Neitzert nailed it in submitted testimony:

To: Honorable members of the House Taxation Committee

From: Greg Neitzert, Sioux Falls, SD (District 9 resident)

RE: HB 1050 (2025 legislative session)

Hello,

I am a citizen of District 9 in Sioux Falls. I am also a former City Councilor for the city of Sioux Falls having served from 2016-2024 until I was term limited after (2) 4-year terms. You are going to consider in the House Taxation committee bill HB1050 which is titled “authorize municipalities to impose a new tax to fund capital improvement projects.”

This is not a new idea. This has come up in the legislature in the past and has been defeated. I urge you to reject it again.

I can speak to it from the perspective I am intimately familiar with, Sioux Falls city government. We do NOT have a revenue problem. If we have any problem, it simply comes down to priorities. I am a big supporter of quality of life, in general, but core infrastructure must always be the priority. And quality of life can mean a lot of things – in city government we have a lot of it – and we are proud of it. Parks, libraries, etc. But in a city like ours “quality of life” also includes some things that can be very controversial, and very expensive. Events centers, convention centers, baseball stadiums, etc. Each has their pros and cons, and I don’t mean to imply that I am necessarily against any of those. They are highly dependent on several factors – cost, priorities, etc.

In Sioux Falls, we generate an enormous amount of sales tax revenue. The first penny pays for operations (which is matched by property tax that also contributes to operations). The second penny pays for our capital improvements. We have a 5-year capital improvement plan. We also obtain significant revenue from the 3rd penny entertainment tax (bed, booze, etc.) that helps to fund operations and some capital at our entertainment facilities. We have a lot of needs, and a lot of wants. We had to prioritize every year when we did the budget. We had to say no at times. But we certainly could figure it out. The city is in a very strong financial position. It has a reasonably low debt load on a per capita basis. We aren’t even close to our statutory debt limit. We have a very large reserve fund. We are proud of all those things. At any given time, about 20-25% of our 2nd penny is obligated for debt service for large capital projects (pools, libraries, major city buildings, etc.). Notably, we also have a 9-million-dollar debt service payment for the events center obligated to our second penny as the 3rd penny didn’t generate enough to pay that debt service on its own, even though it is an entertainment venue. So, operations and capital improvements come from the entertainment tax, but the actual bond (the “mortgage”) comes out of our second penny. We cash flow all our road projects. We don’t bond unless we really must, and the project is something that would not be possible to do in one year. We know that getting in the business of bonding for infrastructure that deteriorates the day you complete it is a bad idea. If we ever get there we will be in trouble. The city is growing, “sprawling”, and a lot of it is being allowed to be done in growth patterns that are too low of a density and property tax base to sustain itself. That is a problem of our own making and is not a problem that should be papered over by just getting more tax authority. We need to address our own structural issues. You will be told that we need the funds for critical infrastructure. Keep in mind, in Sioux Falls all the following are enterprise funds and are 100% paid from user fees – NO TAX DOLLARS: Sewer, Potable Water, Landfill, Electric Light and Power, and our Parking Ramps. None of those depend on sales tax revenues. It comes down to roads/bridges, parks, libraries, fire stations, and most notably for this discussion – entertainment venues.

Which leads me to the real reason behind this bill, at least from the Sioux Falls perspective. The current Mayor has proposed and set in motion what would be the largest spending spree in city history – by a factor of 3 to 5. That being the combination of a convention center – which his own proponents say could be in the 200 to 400 million-dollar range, and if that happens, they would then propose to remodel our current convention center into a large indoor recreation facility. It was well known and an open secret in city government, and those of us in the “know” are aware of this, but it isn’t shared publicly that the only way to possibly pay for the new convention center idea is with a new tax. There is no other way. Conveniently, our mayor and the proponents of this plan have yet to disclose this proposed funding source to the citizens. They’re hoping you pass this, and then they’ll reveal it – not very transparent.

A new penny sales tax would be the first new tax imposed in the city in many, many years. The last time we had a new tax was probably 20 years ago when we as a city decided to round out our second penny from .92% to 1.00% – the state limit. That .08% is dedicated by our own Council/city policy for arterial road expansion.

At the end of the day, a major proponent of this bill is the city of Sioux Falls, and while the Municipal League and/or our mayor or city leaders may testify to you about “critical infrastructure” like roads and bridges, make no mistake – this is about a massively expensive dream, which no one asked for, that would be the largest expansion in our tax authority in probably my lifetime. At a time when people are groaning under the weight of property tax load, allowing another penny of sales tax on citizens is not the right choice, particularly when it is based on wants, at least in our case. If smaller towns with different dynamics have a real need, consider how you could limit or revise this. Don’t take comfort in public votes and 5-year sunsets. New “temporary” taxes eventually become permanent, whether by amendment or by it becoming what is just done every 5 years it becomes regular. Allowing another penny will allow for more growth of government, and more structural obligations such as capital that must be serviced and paid to operate. It will not end here.

I urge you to oppose this bill, and to encourage cities to do what we all do, prioritize based on the constraints we have, and to live within our means, and to say no to wants. No person’s legacy is more important than the long-term health of a city.

Thanks.

Greg Neitzert

Former Sioux Falls City Councilor

Councilor Barranco suggests a ‘Renters Ombudsman’ in the city attorney’s office

l3wis January 29, 2025 9Comments

This wasn’t the first councilor to make this suggestion. Councilor Janet Brekke, also an attorney and the first full-time city attorney, said they need a citizen’s ombudsman in the office to answer basic questions about property rights, etc. Personally, I think it is a great idea. The city attorney’s office works for us, we pay their wages and benefits and if we have a basic question about our legal rights as a citizen of this city, we should be able to get an answer. This in no way is expecting the city to represent a citizen in court, this is basically a Q & A service to citizens. I wouldn’t even be opposed to this person sitting on the staff of the HelpLine center with a dedicated line and funding from the city. This is important. There are so many slumlords in town and most people don’t know where to turn.

Barranco wants to add funding for this to this year’s budget and as he said in the budget hearing, he knows he has some work to do to win over his fellow councilors,

Also during this period in the meeting Chair Soehl ‘allowed’ other councilors to bring up their priorities with the budget, and that is what Barranco addressed. Lucy was rambling about something with the parks(?). Sorry, every time she talks I just tune out. Merkouris was talking about crime prevention funding, which I totally support, but then quickly went into the ‘kids’ which he brings up a lot. Hey, I’m with you man, but sometimes your priorities are whacked. Go serve on the school board already! This is all the things they address! The city’s responsibilities are simple; infrastructure, crime, fire. That’s it! If you want to help raise the kids of this community, sit on the respective board. It’s not the city council Rich. Curt’s priority was making sure we had ambulance funding in place in 2026 when the contract runs out. I would encourage the council to go a step further and put a plan together for a municipal ambulance service and compare that with a private service. Right now, we are getting screwed as taxpayers and patients! Basically the SFFD provides FREE EMT service and the private ambulance shows up as a taxi to the hospital and the city gets NO reimbursement for that service while the taxi service collects all the fees. With a muni service we hire a third party bill collector and we receive a commission on those rides, and if someone is unable to pay, it is a simple write-off by the city. This isn’t rocket science Curtis the Blurtist!