South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

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.

Greg Neitzert Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

E2 Recommendations, a whole lotta nothing and not a whole lotta love

l3wis 5Comments

As I have mentioned earlier today, both the Active Transportation Board and the Parks Board tabled the recommendation citing ignorance of E2 technology.

And that is FAIR.

As I told Councilor Neitzert after the first meeting, I would much rather have NO recommendation then one from a group of volunteers that don’t understand the topic.

While Greg wants to rework the ordinance, AGAIN, and bring it back, I told him to just bring it to the council as is. Councilor Starr agreed and further added that we gave these boards an opportunity to make a recommendation and they passed citing their lack of knowledge on the topic. So what would make you think they would become any wiser in a month or two?

I think the council has at least 5 votes to pass this, and there will be public opposition and support. Even if it fails, you can use the experience to figure out what needs to be reworked. Or better yet, pass the ordinance with an amendment that funds a year long study of the effects of E2s on the trails and speed limits. After a 12 month review the city council can come back and tweak the issues, or expand the availability. This isn’t rocket science folks. You could even put a 12-month cutoff on the temporary ordinance with the intent to re-introduce or make permanent.

One of my friends who recently moved back to Sioux Falls after living in the Southwest for the past decade is an E-bike fanatic and was really involved in her last E-Biking community and she was amazed by how far behind Sioux Falls is when it comes to regulating the technology. We are essentially 5 years behind the rest of the country (ironically when they passed this stupid ordinance to begin with).

We want to be big kids when it comes to parking ramps and hotels on the river but we play like tots* when it comes to modernizing city policies. I think I am going to start handing out binkies at these meetings moving forward.

*There was an ‘incident’ at the Parks Board Meeting that I will posting about in the near future.

Art Bunker Ramp Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls recommends SHAG(?) inspired mural by Walter Portz

l3wis 17Comments

Not sure if many people follow tiki artist, SHAG, but you can see his images here. SHAG was actually inspired by mid-century commercial artists that painted in a similar style. I love the style and have a bunch of SHAG prints. But the mural needs more tikis and martini glasses.

Not sure if Portz was inspired by SHAG, but now days nothing is original, and I certainly steal ideas from several artists, most notably, Andy Warhol.

During the video the mayor made the comment that they are ‘doing it the right way’. According to who? You? He also said that the image was ‘Non-Controversial’ though I do see a nod to this guy going on. As the mayor also said ‘Art is subjective’ and exactly the reason that we shouldn’t allow ONE person or special group of people to be selecting public art behind closed doors.

During the public input period at the Active Transportation Board I commented on the darkness of city hall and how I have never seen it this bad in 20 years. I told the board, until you have a transparent government you accomplish very little.

I feel bad for all the good people involved with this project, from the artist, to the donor to the city staff who have to tow the line of secretive government because that is what your master demands, but at the end of the day you can either feed at that trough or you can do the right thing and say ‘NO. This is wrong.’

The mural will ultimately be an improvement of what we have now, but golly, that’s a lot of lipstick!

6th street Bunker Bridge SF City Council Sioux Falls

More surprises at the Sioux Falls city council meetings

l3wis 0Comments

I had several city government nerds call me in frustration during the city council meetings this afternoon and tonight because the live stream was NOT working in SIRE (the online meeting portal). This has been happening a lot recently and on and off over the past decade with no fix or solution. The irony is the meetings still stream in citylink, so I just watch them there now instead of waiting for the Model T version of the meeting software to warm up. And how does that work? The cameras are rolling and feeding to CityLink but not to SIRE? Hmmm? I think the city deserves a Sooperhero award for at least being consistent over the past decade and not fixing the problem.

BRIDGE DISCOUNT? WHAT BRIDGE DISCOUNT?

Remember how we got duped out of $20 million dollars for a bridge that is only having the decking replaced? Public Works Director Cotter told councilors during the run up to the funding that they will get a $1.5 million dollar discount because they changed the timeline of the project (extended it). During the budget hearings today he said that hasn’t happened yet and mumbled something about legal. In other words, it will be like the $1 million dollar EC siding settlement that was our money in a contingency fund. This administration and it’s lackey’s will stop at nothing to cross the finish line, including lying about possible cost savings.

ANOTHER CITY FACILITY WE DON’T REALLY NEED

Also during the meeting this facility was mentioned to be planned for in 2026. It is interesting that they have architectural drawings of a facility the public knows nothing about. Maybe I missed it, but this was the first I heard about this project.

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