South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Zoo

Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken Riverline District SF City Council Sioux Falls Zoo

Is the President of Downtown Sioux Falls running for Mayor?

l3wis 6Comments

Well, that is what my exploding phone told me today (it’s not Hungarian 🙂 the phone . . .

President of DTSF, Joe Batcheller announced today he was stepping down in December for personal professional development. The rumor is he is running for mayor.

I am relieved to hear this. I was a bit worried we were going to have the same slate of grifters running for mayor. Joe, as an urban planner, would be an excellent candidate and would make a fantastic mayor. I know the last few convos we have had about city issues told me he wasn’t going to be warming the seat at DTSF for much longer. Good for him, surprised he lasted this long.

If you are NOT running for mayor Joe, I apologize for the rumor mill, but I blame you for the burned hole in my pocket, because half the town seems to think you are running, and if not, YOU SHOULD! (I also like that he is not very good at keeping a secret. WOOT! WOOT! Open government baby!!!!)

BROCKHOUSE PETITION DRIVE

I was told today that Mike Zitterich is heading up a petition drive to save the Brockhouse Dusty Monkey collection. I wish him luck. I will post the petition once it is certified and circulated. I encourage people to sign it, even if you are opposed to keeping the collection. Let the people of this city decide if they value it not some anti-science pumpkin recycling administration.

RIVERLINE STACKED DECK

Oh the things I could say about this committee. So laughable. Why didn’t they just make up some AI characters and have them on the committee? Probably more trustworthy. They should call the committee the ‘Grifters Social Club’. And who let former city councilor Rick Kiley out of his cage (or should I say wet paper bag)?

Downtown Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls Zoo

Say good bye to the Brockhouse Collection

l3wis 7Comments

City officials are soooooo chickensh!t to tell the public in person they already gave away Lenin’s Tomb of Dusty Monkeys they are telling the public in a webinar;

This is the informational meeting on the future ownership, preservation, relocation, and utilization of the Brockhouse collection.

Representatives from the City of Sioux Falls and the Great Plains Zoo and others will be on hand to answer questions about the next steps for the collection.

If you go to this LINK then to this LINK you will see you can sign up for this meeting ONLY online, so NO public meeting where the public can intervene. This is also a Q & A for interested parties. Don’t make me laugh. The collection has already been chosen to go somewhere, this is a formality to make it look like they are going thru the proper steps.

If the ZOO, it’s board and director, the Mayor and his devious staff, really wanted the best interest of the public on this, this meeting would be in a public forum like Carnegie or the Convention Center, hiding behind your little web cameras doesn’t cut it, but doesn’t surprise me from the spineless individual who had to call in security to defend his po(o)p cooler at city hall.

Since the media rolled over like an old (dead) dog on this matter, don’t expect them to come to your rescue, this collection is as good as gone, as I predicted, because no one will hold our mayor and the person running this city, his COS, accountable. And that folks is sadder then a dead dusty monkey crying arsenic tears.

I do believe the night of the first reading of the ordinance tossing the tomb out of town will be one for the record books. I think I will watch from the SAFETY of my home 🙂

Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls Zoo

UPDATE: Forget about the dead animals, Mayor TenHaken threw open government in the dump years ago

l3wis 17Comments

UPDATE: Paul is trying to make up for lost time in this interview with Belfrage. Sorry, too little, too late.

During the presser yesterday, PTH brought up he didn’t want to tell the council in executive session about this because information from those sessions tends to get leaked out. Anything within the laws governing executive sessions cannot be discussed. But any hypothetical legal discussions or policy discussions need to be in the public. Councilors CAN talk about policy and hypotheticals with the public, and he seems to be confused about what an executive session is for.

I also have heard several Sioux Falls area legislators reached out to the City Hall saying they would assist in changing the state law, they are awaiting a response.

In defense of PTH, maybe he is correct, maybe the only option we have TODAY is to dispose of the animals . . .

But, state law and city ordinances COULD be changed that could possibly save them.

That is what ‘leaders’ do. They work with the public and the stakeholders to come up with a compromise that everyone can be comfortable with instead of a poutfest presser after 11 days of dead silence.

*Note to MisTaken’s communications staff; milk, cookies and a brief nap before the next presser will work wonders, and remember to wipe those eye boogers away before the cameras are rolling!

It starts with bringing the public along in these discussions. When you look at the poison report (the only document they provide with NO recommendation) it was presented on July 21 and official on August 1. The city did not make an announcement for another 18 days. Wouldn’t the smart thing to do is hold a press conference about what options the city may have before we throw it in the council’s lap?

I would also agree with PTH that is is his responsibility to work thru the minutiae of this deal with the Zoo, but he should bring the city’s policy body along in the process instead of hurling spitballs at them at a press conference.

I could rant for days about all the crap said at this presser today (like when he kicked someone from the public out of the presser and said it was only open to the media) but at the end of the day, you can’t get all poopy pants about your laxity, have the CEO of the Zoo in almost tears, and claim others are spreading misinformation.

When you keep the public and the council in the dark, that is when rumors and speculation begin to grow, and PTH gave them 432 hours to grow that mushroom, so don’t be surprised the public is trippin’ ba!!s over this.

I don’t give two rips about who the mayor ‘thinks’ is causing issues for him, if he wants to find the real culprit, he can just look in the mirror.

Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls Zoo

Mayor TenHaken to hold presser about Zoo Bunker Mounts

l3wis 11Comments

The media was informed today that the administration will be holding a presser Tuesday morning at 9:30 AM to put a hold on the timeline for the Delbridge Museum Mounts disposal.

It seems somebody has been listening. Councilor Neitzert did an interview on Belfrage this morning, and it was NOT a glowing review of city hall.

They CAN be saved, but where will the money come from?

I think we should do something like this to make them more interesting 🙂

Maybe instead of a mural on the Bunker Ramp, they could project a giant fireplace on it at night with all the mounts reduced to just head mounts surrounding it. We need to get creative, but don’t ask any experts outside of Sioux Falls, because they make us look like a bunch of rubes, oh that’s right, because we are.

I’ve been telling people recently if there was something I could change about the demographics in this community it would be making people more culturally aware. I can almost guarantee most people don’t know or don’t care about those mounts, which is unfortunate.

Trying to come up with a reasonable solution to this problem will be difficult enough, but when you are dealing with people who don’t want to have a cultural understanding of the significance of these mounts, it makes the lift even harder.

*Rumor was the mayor tried to get the Parks Board to have a special September meeting this week (they only meet once a month) to approve the destruction and disposal of the mounts. Oh the irony, we have an E2 ordinance on the books for 5 years that isn’t enforced and when faced with making a decision they plead ignorance, but somehow they have the expertise to approve disposing of invaluable mounts when the mayor snaps his fingers.

Place hand on face, shake head from left to right.

Sioux Falls Zoo

UPDATE: The City of Sioux Falls & the Zoo want to move the dead animal museum to the dump

l3wis 14Comments

UPDATE: During Coffee with the Councilors this morning (Starr and Barranco were in attendance) a taxidermist and someone representing West Sioux offered to take the collection at their expense. The councilors seemed open to the idea. I mentioned liability issues but Barranco felt a waiver could be written. I joked with the group that the Zoo should get a VPN and sell them on the black market, they could raise all kinds of money for butterflies and lions 🙂

I support letting them take the collection, but like most things with the city, it will get very messy, very fast.

Well you have to give them credit for using fancy word games;

During the coming weeks, the Sioux Falls City Council must approve the surplus and disposition of the Delbridge collection, according to the release. The city and zoo will also work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to safely disposition the mounts in the collection. It’s expected to take several months.

In other words they are taking them to the city dump and DISPOSING them! They are not getting REARRANGED! Now remember, if there is any asbestos in them, don’t drag it across town in some leaf bags and a late model Chevy like some other ‘LLCs’ did. But no worries if you get caught, you can get out of the fine with a couple of TIFs and Parking Ramps to boot . . . I mean a settlement check.

“This difficult decision was reached after extensive discussion, research, testing and consultations about best practices to manage aged taxidermy with experts at other reputable museums,” the release read.

I am willing to take their word for it that they have no other option but to dispose of them, but I would be curious what kind of research they did trying to find an institution that would take them and restore them? I told a city councilor they need to request the consultation reports.

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