The Writers Strike has ended
l3wis Can’t believe I went 5 months without Maher and Oliver. It’s a good Monday. (NSFW)
Lenin’s Tomb at the Zoo becoming quite the sideshow
Recently a group has said they are exploring doing a petition drive to try to save the collection. They are working thru the details but hope to have an initiative put together so they can put it on the Spring ballot. I don’t think it would be hard to get the sigs, I just don’t know if voters would support spending millions to save them.
But the potential petition drive isn’t the ‘crazy’ part of the story.
I’ve heard rumors that city councilors have been ‘told’ by the city’s legal team not to discuss the zoo tomb with the media or openly on social media. Not sure if it that is the case and if any of them are complying? Their 1st Amendment rights trump any silly by-laws or state laws that may prevent them from speaking out. Our lead city attorney isn’t known to be a real constitutional scholar.
I have also heard rumors of threats made toward officials. Unfortunately, I believe some people have gone way overboard on this issue, and nothing would surprise me at this point.
Closed government is a double-edge sword. You can’t just close it to your detractors, you have to close everyone out for it to work, including your followers. So guess what? Sometimes your devout followers can become your biggest enemies when you start cutting them out of the information loop.
I’ll keep saying it, there are NO winners with closed government just the LOSERS at the top.
SIOUX FALLS HAS A NEW TOURIST ATTRACTION, ZEBRA MUSSELS
This was from East Dakota Water Development District;
The attached release references the detection of zebra mussels in the Big Sioux River just south of Watertown. The presumed source is Lake Kampeska, which has been known to harbor the little buggers for a few years. Given the relatively rapid movement of river water, GF&P is now considering the entire river downstream of Lake Kampeska “infested.” We will need to adjust our river sampling protocols to avoid the potential of spreading them further. Fortunately, the sampling season is about to end for 2023.
This should be of particular note to the City of Sioux Falls, which draws water directly from the river just north of the airport. We’ve all seen the pictures of zebra mussels clogging water intakes. The last I heard, they get about 6-7% of their water from the river, so this could have an impact in a time of growing demand.
I’ve never heard our public works team talk about this before. Maybe the administration will treat it like other issues, ignore it and hope it goes away and if not paint a mural over it.
E-Bikes Popularity explained in 5 minutes
I saw this clip on PBS tonight and thought it was a fair assessment of E-Bikes. Like she said, you shouldn’t just buy one and start flying thru traffic right away. I suggest people rent one first and try it out. Also, batteries can catch fire, but as she explains it has to do with mix and matching with after market chargers and batteries. She is also correct that they have become very affordable. There are so many sales going on right now you can easily find an E-Bike that will go 28 MPH for $1,200.
Like any emerging technologies there are pros and cons. Remember 3-Wheel ATV’s?
As she suggests, no matter what kind of bike you ride, it comes down to your speed, total weight (you+bike) and stopping time.
Looks like they are recycling the Event Center’s siding
I guess there was quite the brouhaha yesterday on various Sioux Falls social media sites about this siding on the Cherapa Place Condos. Many complained and some worried about the rusting. It is actually a coating that looks like rust, but whatever.
Would Christine Erickson make a good mayor?
So Christine pulled herself from hiding (not really) today and was featured on the podcast of the Dakota Scout.* She talked about a run for mayor at the very end of the podcast.
Christine has been a pretty effective politician, organizing the FREE youth bus rides, changing the school start date (though the fascists on the school board overturned it the next year, because that is the cool thing to do 
and saving a packing plant that apparently didn’t need saving.)
She has moxie. And I don’t say that about a lot of people. While Erickson and Stehly could be worlds apart, they share this passion. Women who understand leadership know they must work twice as hard, be twice as loud and fight right up until the end to be effective.
Christine checks those boxes. She also doesn’t let criticism deter her.
While she wouldn’t be my first choice in the 2026 mayoral election (there are some interesting names dropping lately) if it was a runoff between her and another candidate, she would probably crush it.
A fellow city government nerd who leans left like me said to me today, ‘I think Christine would be a good mayor, because she wouldn’t tolerate the BS and she knows how to organize.’ That pretty much summed it up for me.
In the brief time I got to know Christine, one thing stands out, she takes no prisoners, and she will always fight for you. I may not agree with her on numerous policy points, but I can guarantee Christine would never show up to a presser and say, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ or ‘I got a million other things to do.’ Likely she would say, “Well this f’ckn sucks! Let’s fix it!”
I think we might see our first female Sioux Falls mayor. But can she do jumping jacks?
*Towards the end of the podcast, Christine decided to spread a bunch of BS about EVs, and of course Joe and Jon jumped on the rightwinger bandwagon. Christine claimed that EVs cost $60,000 grand. Sure, depending on the model. But you can get a used one in the teens and a newer, more modest model for around $30K. The technology with EVs is moving so fast, batteries for these vehicles will hold enough charge that will compete with combustion within a few years (there are already EV’s out there that have long distance charges). And once the car companies figure out battery exchange stations, you won’t have to wait for a charge. The right winger tropes about EVs always cracks me up. They are making anti-EV arguments from 1995.
With all the ramblings about the autoworkers strike and converting to EV manufacturing I just laugh at the CEO’s of these companies. You could of had a very successful and profitable EV transition years ago, but you decided to kill that? Didn’t you?