The Metric System and Institutional Racism
l3wis This is one of the funniest skits I have seen on SNL in a long time. I have often said there needs to be more comedy routines about our lack of embracing the metric system.
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City of Sioux Falls ‘Paint the Plows’ goes crucifix free for the first time in years!
Imagine my surprise this year when I perused the plows and saw NO crosses painted on them?! I hope our public works department can manage plowing our streets without the Savior to guide them?
But of course, there were a couple of absconders that still had to push the envelope in their quest to convert us all to good Bible loving boys and girls while we navigate the winter streets. I think O’Gorman had the most clever by recreating a scene from the Sistine Chapel by adding elements of a Metallic Album cover;
Lars would be proud!
And apparently God is like a big supreme pizza with a zipper in it (the rumor is Heaven smells like a NYC Pizzeria with just a pinch of English Lavender!)
Even the Mayor’s family got out the paintbrushes;
I guess the boss vetoed the original design of a naked native gentleman taking a nap in a snowbank (and those stick arms on the snowman could be misconstrued as crucifixes!)
But you gotta hand it to the only private Christian school that decided to go with a Jaws theme this year and give up on the conversion therapy via snowplow (they must be reading Leviticus right now).
The most amazing part to me is that all these news organizations cover this event, and they should, but none of them ask the lingering 1st Amendment question about separation of church and state. I’m wondering if they would have staged a food truck by the event yesterday we could get the news crews to show up and do an actual story about this. And BTW, what happened to the disclaimer signs!?
Personally if I ever had to paint one of these plows I would go with the classic Man Ray image;
You never know who you will meet on a bike ride
Love this vid of common Brits on a mountain bike ride and they meet King Charles taking a stroll!
City of Sioux Falls plans AARP Bike Audit in Spring
While reading the minutes from Wednesday’s Active Transportation Board meeting they mentioned this;
Lacock stated that no meeting had been held in October. Lacock indicated that the Bicycle Committee would be tasked with reviewing a Bike Audit program from AARP in November for potential implementation in the Spring.
AARP just released this handy tool kit on October 11 and several communities across the country are participating.
I encourage you to read the document. The one glaring thing you will notice is we are NOT doing a lot of the things recommended in this document.
One thing that jumped out were buffered or protected bicycle lanes in which there is essentially a median between the bike lane and the car lane. This would be nice considering I get buzzed all the time by people riding in the street.
Another was bike parking;
Short-term bike parking is important for shoppers, diners and visitors. A shopper popping into a store for a few items or a client visiting an office will most likely look for the closest and most convenient parking outside of the business. Because of that, the visibility and proximity to the building entrance should be prioritized.
We lack this so badly in Sioux Falls. But no worries, I tell people we have tons of bike racks in this town, they are just mysteriously disguised as ADA parking signs 🙂
City of Sioux Falls misses another opportunity
When I talk about open and transparent government, I am also talking about the little things.
Several councilors over the years have told me that if the public knew what our city has spent on CityLink and our media department and broadcasting equipment at Carnegie they would be flabbergasted, so why isn’t it used much?
A great example is the Capital Improvements Tour the city council takes yearly and the public is encouraged to attend, but you may have to drive your own vehicle if you don’t get a reservation on the bus;
The media and public are invited to attend. However, due to limited seating on the bus, the City is asking all those interested in attending to RSVP no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, October 16. To RSVP, please contact Jim David at jdavid@siouxfalls.org or at 367-8085.
I don’t believe this agenda was posted until last Friday, so I am curious how someone could make plans that fast? Either or, a better approach would be to film the entire tour and livestream it on FB and on YT. If advertised and promoted it could be quite the city government entertainment special.
This is an example of a well funded department that is completely capable of pulling off a livestream of this tour. It is also a great example of one of the ‘little things’ our city can do that also improves transparency.
Oh, and one more piece of advice, BUY SOME FRICKING MICROPHONES FOR THE MEDIA AT THE WEEKLY PRESSERS SO WE CAN HEAR THE QUESTIONS THEY ASK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!