Plenty of Entrepreneur Parking still available at StartUp Sioux Falls!
l3wis Someone should have told them to lock their doors, I guess we have a problem with that in Sioux Falls.
Who is investing in Development along Veteran’s Parkway?
While homeowners have legitimate questions about this road;
They’re worried the six-lane highway that will handle close to 30,000 vehicles a day is being built so close to their homes.
“A semi is 70 thousand pounds loaded, it takes 265 feet to stop at 60 mph that’s 130 feet off this person’s property here and the one back further is 120 feet,” Kampa said.
“My concern is the safety mainly and also the noise,” Wayne Wilhelmi said.
Wayne Wilhelmi built his house in 2015 and was never told Veterans Parkway was going to be in his backyard.
The real question is who is investing in development along the road.
But the city says landowners have been well informed and knew about this highway for years.
I will agree that this has been in the news for several years, and not insider city news, I think every major media source in Sioux Falls has been covering this road plan which was first initiated in 2003 and updated to final design in 2011.
I would agree we need another corridor in Sioux Falls, but I’m not sure a high speed road next to residential is the answer.
But one question I have been nagging reporters about for several years is looking into who is investing in development along the road, and specifically if any local elected officials (councilors, county commissioners, mayor, etc.) are investing in it thru various LLCs and different private investor groups.
I understand that getting this kind of information can be difficult, but I would encourage reporters to just ASK all our local elected officials if they or their spouse have any investments along this corridor. If they all say NO, your work is cut out for you, start digging, because guardrails and brakes on a semi-trucks is just a small part of this behemoth running thru our town.
Another Installment of Parks Workers odd Jobs
A few years back I told you about the gentleman who’s job was scraping goose manure off the bike trail and blowing it away with a leaf blower . . .
There was also the guy who used to water trees around Yankton Trail Park with a water truck and he would run only one hose, watering one tree at a time which helped him catch up on his latest Tom Clancy novel.
Today I bring you tennis court dryer. While I’m sure this kind of thing goes on at Wimbledon, I’m not sure we need to be having parks staff walk randomly around pushing puddles with a leaf blower. It was kind of fun to watch. I think she successfully got two puddles to stick together as one 🙂
Hopefully they moved her onto goose manure scraping or Tom Clancy novels by morning coffee break.
UPDATE: Amazing testimony about the irony of restricting E2’s on Bike Trail
A gentleman came forward to the council meeting tonight during public input (FF 40:00) and was surprised that he was told not to ride his newly purchased E2 Bike on the trail.
He found it ironic because he got a warning from a motorcycle cop.
UPDATE: Someone who spoke to the gentleman before his testimony, said he wasn’t even riding his bike on the rec trail but was SITTING next to it on a park bench when the officer gave him the warning. I guess it is easier to give out citations to people who are not moving 🙂
I also found it funny that the mayor tried to correct this first time inputer by telling him there is a speed limit on the trail. THERE IS NOT! No where in city ordinance is there a speed limit on the rec trail, there are also NO posted signs except one on the 41st street bridge that has been there for over 30 years.
UPDATE: I have also been informed that the rec trail does have a 20 MPH, but it is NOT posted and is just a ‘parks policy‘. Would love for someone to pay me to try to find this policy on the city website, it could get expensive.
Once again the mayor has NO CLUE what is actually in statute.
I heard from a city official tonight that they will be moving forward within the next couple of weeks on a change to the E2 restrictions (and other adjustments).
UPDATE: The bicycle ordinances on the bike trail are a prime example of the lack of transparency in our government. They post NO signs telling people about rec trail restrictions (vehicle, speed or otherwise) and expect people to just pull up their city hall crystal ball and know these things. Government runs more efficiently based on transparency, not tongue and cheek suggestions based on limited information.
Why has the Riverline District gone silent?
I get nervous when the administration drops grenades then retreats.
After the big reveal of this district there seems to be little public discussion about what next steps are.
I have no doubt that after most of the comments came back negative to building a baseball stadium and the council knowing nothing about the proposed purchase agreement, that the committee has decided to pull back and work on a better messaging strategy.
It seems the truth really does hurt in this case.
There is also the question of the city getting involved with a purchase agreement. I would hope the city council had the 5 votes to kill this but I doubt it.
Rumors circulating that after January 1st the administration will ask for the quality of life bonds which will be about $30 million for pools and another $20 million for ‘other stuff’. Don’t hold your breath now, but I bet your bottom dollar that the Riverline District will be a part of this bond.
We are going to get that baseball stadium whether we want it or not.