South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Jim Entenman Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

So Erica Beck wants to run for mayor? LOL.

l3wis 4Comments

Not sure what is going on, but several months ago I was told she was running and had the endorsement of Poops. Then this Micah guy showed up and I thot the Beckster was done. Now she is resigning in June and said, “I want to hang with the grandkids.” Oldest excuse in the book. We know you are running. You have been running the city since you have been COS as one of the first thing’s Jumping Jack Flash did was give her the authority to sign mayoral documents when he is ‘absent’ and she has been running the city ever since.

What I find completely arrogant is as her tenure as our shadow mayor nothing has gotten accomplished except shipping dusty monkeys to the East Coast. So many failures under her leadership it is hard to keep track.

But this is what happens when you pull authoritarian leadership and the people (the council) tunes you out.

I have written in the past the former folks who worked with Beck at Lloyd Companies have told me the same thing, SHE IS NOT A CONSENSUS BUILDER. I have also heard from multiple current and past councilors that she is a brow beater when it comes to the mayor’s agenda proposals, and they ain’t happy about it.

The irony of all this is Erica reached out to me after she quit the city and we had coffee and a long chat (mostly her talking). She was a different person. She told me she quit the planning department after MMM forced her to write the Sanford TIF in which she said to me, “This TIF was precedent because this has never been done before for a recreational event center.” Oh, and she was completely opposed to it. She also tried to bring a casino to Sioux Falls (Flandreau Tribe) to use their revenues to pay for the event center in which they pledged $10 million a year towards the bond payments but Mike refused to meet with them because he didn’t want a ‘casino’ in town. LOL. The town is nothing but casinos, but I digress.

She had a good head on her shoulders, but after tasting the power of working for Lloyd she seems to think she has the Chutzpah to do the job. Not even F’ing close!

Besides the horrible management of the city, Beck embraces non-transparent government, which costs taxpayers $$$$. She can’t even say why she is quitting. So I guess your mayoral campaign strategy is to keep this secret as long as you can then surprise people? Weird. If you are running, you tell everyone and your sister, and you continue to let that steam out. Huether won because he was relentless and not mysterious (what a weird dude, and this is coming from a weird dude). The one thing I learned about running successful city campaigns is you come out early and you pound constituents with information about your candidacy. I guess Beck’s strategy is to keep it a secret until election day and hopefully peeps will be confused and vote for her. I can’t believe we are letting this putz run our city (into the ground).

My hope is that she will run for mayor, spend $500K and come in dead last. The chamber folks might think you are the best thing since sliced bread, but their 100 votes won’t get you past the finish line. Can’t wait for you to announce. Jim Entenman part II.

1st Amendment Bishop Dudley House Downtown Sioux Falls Homeless Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council

The City of Sioux Falls doesn’t understand transparency and open government

l3wis 7Comments

Here we go again, concocting some ‘solution’ for an issue in the city and not bringing the public along in that ‘solution’;

City officials say more information on a $150,000 marketing campaign aimed at addressing “nuisance behavior” and discouraging panhandling in downtown Sioux Falls is coming soon.

There have been several ‘rumored’ ordinances that are awaiting the council’s approval including making it illegal (trespassing/camping) in our parks. But why not have a public discussion where the citizens can offer solutions?

Asked for an update this week, TenHaken’s communications officer Vanessa Gomez said, “I would expect us to be able to share more in the next month or so.”

So what’s the big secret? If you are instituting new laws shouldn’t you tell the public in advance? My guess is that they are going to be very controversial and I wouldn’t doubt the ACLU gets involved. Just like the Brockhouse animals you are going to drop this in our laps at the last minute.

I told a city official last week that every country and community that has either solved homelessness or made virtually invisible did it one way; Transitional housing. I suggested the city buy four Tzadik properties on bank foreclosure, remodel them to be 1 bedroom and studios and gift them to the St. Francis house and offer them a yearly subsidy for handling the transitional housing. We seem to be throwing money at ad agencies to educate the public, but we are doing very little to actually help these folks. For $150K you could house 25 people for a year!

I suggest that moving forward, the council tells us what they are planning, and NOT next month, TODAY!

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE: What’s the ‘REAL’ reason the $16 Million ice ribbon is NOT finished?

l3wis 10Comments

UPDATE: The previous contractor actually died in a plane crash, so they DID find another contractor which put the ice ribbon behind schedule, but they expect to finish pouring it this summer (not sure how much the cost overruns would be).

We were told they didn’t finish the ribbon in time for this winter season because it was too cold to pour concrete. This ‘can’ be the case with certain pours when you don’t want to use chemicals to dry in the cold weather. But that’s not what happened.

Well, the rumor is that the contractor that was supposed to pour the ribbon bailed and since he was the owner he was the only one who really knew how to pour it. So now they are trying to figure out how they are going to finish it, you know, the project that costs 4x more then expected and that NO ONE ASKED FOR, except for some rich folks looking for a tax write-off.

It’s also a specialized industry pouring ice ribbons, so finding a contractor locally to finish it may be difficult. Is it safe to say we will have cost overruns on this project? You know it! It wouldn’t be a city parks project without having major cost overruns.

Doesn’t surprise me the Parks Department lied to us, that’s all they are any good at.

I also am getting some rumors about another city project that the contractor finished but really screwed up. Once I get more details I will update. If true, the irony is unbelievable.

Education funding SF School Board Member SF School District Sioux Falls State Funding State Legislature

Sioux Falls School Board rips the State Legislature to shreds

l3wis 5Comments

This was fantastic. It was about time a local governing body told the public what they really think of our legislature. I have been following our legislature for 20 years, and they have always been morons, but over the past 5 years you almost wonder if the only people we elect are crazy and (extra) stupid? This happens because we don’t have open primaries, oh, and our Dem party is almost non-existent. (FF: 1:00:00)

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

1st Amendment Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Trump

Over 1,000 show up for Anti-Trump Rally DTSF

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Traffic Control

Solutions for a dangerous 14th Street?

Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls still can’t get agenda page to work correctly

Art Sioux Falls

What is the City’s Art’s Coordinator up to?