UK’s Daily Mail does exclusive story on Noem
l3wis Thanks to VSG for the hat tip on this story. It ain’t flattering.
Seasoned Local Freelance Journalist rips Sioux Falls City Council & Mayor
I have appreciated Megan Reposa’s writing style, but I have been more entertained if not informed by Megan’s very pointed questions at city pressers, with a baby strapped to her (for the record, I am not making fun, I would strap a baby to the front of me, the back of me and maybe have one in a carseat on my head if it means I could get the council to take action).
It’s been awhile since I have seen a local journalist take the council and mayor to task, and it was HOT;
So, fine. Go further the conversation, city officials. Go talk. Talk to every parent in town. Talk to employers. Talk to whoever you need to talk to so you feel like you really understand the problem.
But then stop talking and do something.
Let’s make something clear here, I don’t think Reposa was saying our 1,300+ city employees are not doing their jobs, they are, and that mechanism keeps ticking away, I think her criticism was more towards the 9 elected city officials. While it is easy to point fingers at the snowplow operator who missed your driveway with a snowgate or the police officer who gave you a speeding violation, the real issue are the policy makers. City employees can’t enforce anything or cash their paycheck without the consent and approval of the council and mayor, they are the policy body.
I said to someone the other day about the departure of councilor Selberg next year after his 8 years of service(?), “Has he ever been the main sponsor of any piece of legislation or major policy changes besides the Siouxperhero award?” Maybe he has, but I forget.
But it is not just Selberg. Most policy changes are coming from the administration with ZERO input from the council and the king is fine with that.
Councilors current and past starting with Staggers have complained to me that getting anyone from the administration to assist with formulating new legislation is next to impossible because you are put into a loop. Councilors cannot directly discuss policy changes with department heads without consent from the administration, and they must work those changes thru the mayor’s office and not directly with the department head. In other words councilors have told me it ‘creates a loop’ and just puts them on the runaround and the main reason they have discussed having their own attorney to help craft legislation.
Just look at the hoops councilor Neitzert has gone thru with the E2 ordinance. This should have been a slam dunk.
So while Megan’s criticism of the council is definitely warranted until we get a transparent administration willing to give the reigns over to the policy body we will see more inaction by the council and 4 new councilors rolling in next Spring*.
A city official asked me an interesting question yesterday, “So what has this administration finished? What problems or issues have they solved? With all of his initiatives which ones have garnered results?”
I laughed and said something like, “Oh, there has been results, just not the ones he would have liked.”
Maybe Megan caught something I have been missing here, maybe the problem isn’t transparency, or the lack of integrity and ethics or even all the lying and hiding costs from taxpayers, maybe the real problem is the lack of leadership and talent starting at City Hall and slowly rolling down the hill to Carnegie.
Or maybe they just lack courage?
*I heard two more people may drop into the council race. One is a frequent public inputer and the other is a community activist. Not sure what races they would get into? That puts my possible council race count to 6 candidates! Woot! Woot!
UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Attorney forgets why he lost the open meetings complaint from the former city clerk
UPDATE II (updated): Towards the end of the CRC meeting, chair Hajek mentions they will be discussing emergency appropriations and supplemental appropriations at the next meeting(?), and I am not sure if anyone is bringing a proposal. After I rewatched the meeting it was hard to understand if someone was actually bringing a proposal to the next meeting or not but sounded like there will be a discussion. Sorry about the confusion earlier in the post, THERE IS NOTHING IN WRITING RIGHT NOW, but we will watch for the next agenda. (FF 40:00)
I had a good laugh listening to the CRC meeting today. Mike Zitterich asked a great question about the city attorney and issuing opinions. Lead attorney David P. answered first and basically said the AG has more power. Former AG, Larry Long and CRC member answered next and basically said the AG’s opinion can be thrown out or ignored by the courts.
When former city clerk Owen filed an open meetings violation against the city after she was terminated, David used the defense of an AG’s opinion and the lawyers on the open meetings commission told David then that the opinion is NOT case law and cannot be used as a defense. In fact, I was at the hearing, and they told him TWICE that his defense was flimsy, and he lost.
He learned nothing.
UPDATE: One thing that came to mind when they were having the discussion about litigation transparency, etc., it got me thinking about the Active Transportation Board and why it may have come about. If you look at how it got started there is NO mention of someone nicely asking them to form this board. I have a sneaky feeling the 4,000 ADA violations lawsuit may have something to do with it.
UPDATE III: The Parks board is meeting TWO times on September 20th with a 2 PM meeting with NO agenda or location (I’m sure it is some quasi-executive session about Lenin’s Tomb at the Zoo).
Sioux Falls City Council has the authority to put a dent in the affordable housing crisis
During the meeting last night the council and mayor’s office were throwing money at affordable housing like nobody’s business (even though they all know the real problem is low wages).
While there is a lot of pass thru with federal dollars going towards most of this spending you have to ask if some of these issues could be fixed with legislation instead just more handouts to developers and landlords?
The city council could spend ZERO dollars and pass a series of ordinances that address how employment is advertised in the city limits (must list starting pay) having a city minimum wage of $15 per/hr, zoning and development changes to require developers to build a certain percentage of stock as affordable rents.
There are probably hundreds of tax free, cost neutral ordinances the council could pass that would put a huge dent in our housing struggles.
The developers and retailers throw the same red flags everytime ‘We are leaving town, never build here again, closing down my Sioux Falls location!!!’ So you are going to build a $30 million dollar high end apartment complex in Kimball? Or maybe Platte will have you for a $100 million dollar hotel and convention center on the river?
Give me a break! You would adjust to the changes and you would still get all your greedy little tax breaks!
The city council has the power of the pen, but lately all they have been using it for is to sign checks.
Last night after the council passed their $800 million dollar budget I decided to do a little digging.
Sioux Falls, SD with a population of 200K had a 2024 budget of $800 million ($4,000 per person)
Omaha, NE with a population of 500K had a 2023 budget of $1.35 billion ($2,700 per person)
Lincoln, NE with a population of 300K had a 23/24 budget of $253 million ($810 per person)
I find the disparities interesting.
We should just be happy that public art is happening in our community!
Walter Portz showing off his shining achievement!
I had a heartfelt moment the other night as I was conversing and watching Mr. Portz work on a mural that is about 260 ft long and 75 ft high. I love to watch mural painters because it is fascinating to watch people work on a canvas so large. So I have been visiting Walter Portz at night watching the progress, and it has been my highlight of the day riding by at night, and Walter said to me, “You are my only visitor that has come back multiple times.” I’m an art nerd like that, but it got me wondering why others are not watching this historic art piece take shape.
The picture above was from tonight, and Walter was putting on the finishing pieces so I wanted the first photo of the (almost) completed piece. I’m little disappointed he edited out the naked lady (I will update soon about her) but for the most part, the piece, which Walter edited several times in the process, is chocked full of fun imagery and context, and it looks a Hell of lot better then what the politicians left there.
This is a sticker design I came up with last night with elements of the mural (H/T to Shepard Fairey, yeah, I stole it 🙂
But it got me thinking about all the controversy and barbs thrown at Mr. Portz. For the record, Walter and I are NOT close, I only know him thru the skatepark association and several mutual friends and our love of art. That’s it. We are NOT in cahoots and I had NO idea he was working on this before it was announced. I want to make this clear because some people have made accusations that are simply not true, and laughable if they were. MOST of our conversations have been about the piece and what he might tweak. I know, weird that two artists would just sit and talk about art . . .
First off, Portz didn’t know the rejected mural artists, and did NOT do this to spite them. That is ludicrous. And while local artists will always dig on each other about style and form, it’s not cool to rip on someone who is doing something to beautify this town. We are all in this together. And while you might be jealous that someone got this sweet gig, that only means you should strive for it and look to it as inspiration. When I walk out of a fine art museum, all I want to do is paint! Be inspired by what he did in just a matter of weeks instead of angry about your missed opportunity!
The way the original proposed artists were treated was total bullcrap, and trust me, I worked my sources to get a picture of that mural, no luck, but you must separate this work from that one. One is about transparent government, that other is about taking a different approach. And all of this could actually come to a head if they would just SHOW us what they proposed. It’s hard to say you were treated unfairly if you don’t let us make an actual determination. We can’t do that if you don’t show us. So until that step is taken, I’m not buying the crocodile tears.
As for using AI, I had a good laugh with Walter about this the other night. I have been a visual artist most of my life and a graphic designer for 30 years, everything good I did as an artist or designer was stolen. Artists have done this for thousands of years. Greek architecture is used to this day! Considered the world’s greatest modern artist, Pablo Picasso, became famous by duplicating an ancient primitive form of African tribal and folk art. The most famous artist in the world was a Klepto! I know, SHOCKER!
AI, Photoshop, Illustrator Live Trace, blah, blah, blah, are all tools in an artist’s toolbox just like a paintbrush or easel. Nothing more. Nothing less.
While I like to bitch about a lot things, this is NOT one of them. A guy decided to cover up that awful wall with colorful paint and devised a plan to do it, did it, and now it is done.
Once in awhile you just have to look up at the canvas and say ‘Thank You’ because we got a million other concerns in this town besides what we will do Lenin’s Tomb at the Zoo. Dead for 99 years and looks like he died yesterday! Don’t tell anyone, but I think I saw an Arsenic tear roll down his face. Though it might just be cheeseburger grease. I heard the West Sioux folks are also angling to move his tomb to Sioux Falls. Watch out Arc of Dreams there’s a new shiny object in town! Well, kind of shiny.