Long time public transportation coordinator and Senior Planner let colleagues know in an email he will be leaving;
After 23 ½ years with the City of Sioux Falls, I have decided to take a new job. One of my best experiences at the City of Sioux Falls has been working with the Bicycle Committee and implementation of the Bicycle Plan. The Bicycle Committee has been instrumental in helping me over that time. Please stay engaged with the Bicycle Committee (and now Active Transportation Board too) helping Sioux Falls become a more bicycle-friendly city. My last day at the City is December 1, but I will continue to be here in Sioux Falls. Thanks!
Sam Trebilcock, AICP, Senior Planner // City of Sioux Falls
To tell you the truth, I can’t blame him. With a new vendor moving in for public transportation and the Active Transportation board still working on solutions, retirement probably looked pretty inviting.
While I have disagreed with Sam on a whole host of things, he has been fair and straightforward.
Throughout the conversation about the censored mural design of the Bunker Ramp many journalists and fellow arts advocates have asked to see the censored design to better understand it.
The artists have not acquiesced. Their argument has been they may use the imagery in a future project so they prefer not to show peeps.
I have argued it would go a long way in fighting censorship by the mayor’s office if the public is shown the image and make a judgement for themselves.
Many artists and free speech advocates throughout the city have suggested on social media they sell t-shirts of the rejected art and donate some of the proceeds to a local visual arts charity or better yet use the money to put the mural on private property in public view.
Not long ago this community came together to turn a similar negative situation into a positive. A few years back a state employee decided to design the infamous Rainbow Buffalo. After posting it to FB the employee’s job was threatened and was asked to take the image off of FB. What happened next was remarkable. The person shared their story and soon the image was emblazened on everything from stickers to stocking caps.
But the reason I bring this up AGAIN is the intriguing conversation I had with a fellow artist about this recently. The artist in question is a practicing professional artist who follows state and local politics like a hawk, so I decided to ask him his opinion on the censored piece, this is what I can remember from the conversation;
ME: HAVE YOU SEEN THE IMAGE OF THE CENSORED PIECE?
ARTIST: NO. HAVE YOU?
ME: NO. BUT WAS IT EXPLAINED TO YOU?
ARTIST: YES.
ME: I DON’T UNDERSTAND ALL THE HOOPLA ABOUT A SHIRTLESS NATIVE MAN?
ARTIST: MAYBE IT WASN’T A MAN?
ME: SO YOU THINK IT WAS A TOPLESS WOMAN?
ARTIST: NO (THEY GIVE ME A SIDEWAYS GLANCE)
You’ve got your mother in a whirl She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl Hey babe, your hair’s alright Hey babe, let’s go out tonight You like me, and I like it all We like dancing and we look divine You love bands when they’re playing hard You want more and you want it fast They put you down, they say I’m wrong You tacky thing, you put them on
Rebel rebel, you’ve torn your dress Rebel rebel, your face is a mess Rebel rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!
REBEL REBEL, DAVID BOWIE
We came to the conclusion that image was more then likely a depiction of what natives call ‘Two-Spirit’;
“Two-Spirit” is a term used within some Indigenous communities, encompassing cultural, spiritual, sexual and gender identity. The term reflects complex Indigenous understandings of gender roles, spirituality, and the long history of sexual and gender diversity in Indigenous cultures.
So are we getting the whole story here? I wouldn’t know since I haven’t seen Jack, uh I mean Jackie.
People often ask me what kind of music do I like, the answer is always the same, ‘I like everything but pop country.’
The lyrics are cliche, the melodies are meandering, the guitar leads don’t sync with the rhythm and they all dress like a bunch of metros that look like they stole their wardrobe from a Patsy Cline drag show parody.
So when I hear one of these drugstore cowboys wins an CMA for a cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ it got me curious (I never heard the cover until tonight).
This song is very special to me and many of my friends, because we can relate to the same situations in our lives;
‘Starting from zero, got nothing to lose Maybe we’ll make something Me, myself, I got nothing to prove’
So this ass in a hat gets a CMA for covering Tracy Chapman’s ‘FAST CAR’?!
I have to tell you, I almost fell asleep listening to his cover. It is obvious that the original passion in the song comes from the fact that the original writer sang it. There is also a gender line. I think a man can cover this song, but it was specifically written into the perspective of a woman, so that is hard for a male singer to pull it off and sound sincere, as Luke exhibited.
But what makes his turd version even more recognizable is the dripping passion and emotion Chapman puts into her creation.
The irony of this progression is that folk and blues was passed onto to white folks from African Americans in which early performers transformed into country swing and bluegrass and later into blues & jazz, rock & roll, reggae, rap and hip hop.
Now we have the pop country crowd once again going to the well of African American influence. And while other international and national artists have successfully cultivated and praised those influences, pop country wipes their behinds with it.
They are changing it to a .gov domain designation, which has been pretty common in other cities across the country for better security.
But I will be curious how well the NEW search options work and if they will start livestreaming ALL meetings on YouTube and embed the videos into the website.
The website has been a POS for a long time and has continued to get worse. I have never understood how a city with it’s own IT department can have such a horribly functioning website for over 15 years!
Our city website should be a citizen’s first tool of open government not a maze of tomfoolery.
I wish I had a buck for every time I got an email from a citizen asking me how to access information on the city website. I have offered some different tips but for the most part I tell people, ‘If you figure it out, let me know.’
So YES, I am very happy they finally fixed it, let’s just hope the fix isn’t in.
I will cut to the chase. I don’t support either side in this conflict. I have true convictions about diplomacy and believe having hard conversations not only solves problems but nobody dies.
War solves nothing, and religious wars are even worse, they continue to have no end.
What is happening to the people of this region reminds me of the forced religious schooling of indigenous people in North America.
We could have found a way to live in solidarity with natives, instead we have enslaved them.
Both parties in this conflict have endured irreparable harm to generations of people in the name of hate. REAL HATE. The kind that makes you want to kill your fellow man based on his faith beliefs.
I am hoping that the citizens on both sides stand up and tell their supposed leadership, we don’t want to live and die this way anymore. You can read your book and I can read mine, and when we meet on the street we can agree to disagree on how we spell GOD.
We don’t have to love each other, but we do need to understand why we love the people we do.
No matter your faith in a higher power, we all have to live together, but why do we have to make it so f’king miserable?
l3wis 
