I have received the comments from the NCS. The city provided them. I have to reformat them before I post, but after a quick review I was surprised by how many people commented about the transient problem DTSF, this is just one of many;
I am not typically insensitive to such things or unthoughtful about the words I choose but it must be said. Bums have taken over downtown. I have lived here most of my 41 years and have not seen anything like it before. Covid hit and it’s like we now tolerate vagrancy. Even as folks are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into making this the showpiece of our city, we are just overrun with bums. Sure there’s mental health and addiction issues but a lot of it is just bums. I saw someone sleeping on Phillips Ave in front of the old Visnu Bunny space at 9am on a weekday. Why do they feel comfortable doing that? There should be a multi-pronged effort to squash this immediately. Make laws that empower police to push back against panhandling. Offer transients bus tickets to leave the city. Put constant pressure on those who haunt DT and litter and generally degrade our quality of life. Why would the behavior of a couple hundred people be allowed to ruin the heart of a city that hundreds of thousands of people.
A multi-prong approach would require multiple agencies working together within the city. I know, laughable.
Not a lot of solutions offered but it was most certainly the NUMBER one topic in the comment section.
Wednesday, January 28 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM The Painted Lady (HQ)
We’re in the home stretch of the Let Sioux Falls Vote petition campaign and need your help with a critical task: validating petition signatures.
What we’re doing: As petition sheets come in, we need volunteers to verify that signatures match voter registration records. You’ll look up voter information on the Secretary of State’s website and confirm addresses and details are accurate. This verification work is essential to ensure our petition has the strongest possible validity rate when we submit to the city.
What you need: Bring your laptop or computer. If you have an extra device you can share, even better. The work is straightforward and we’ll show you exactly what to do.
Why this matters: The city will likely challenge this petition. Every signature we validate correctly strengthens our case and demonstrates that Sioux Falls voters want this on the ballot. We need as many validators as possible to process the incoming sheets efficiently.
Other ways to help: We also need people at the front desk to assist circulators dropping off sheets, notaries for extended coverage, and drive-up team members to help with traffic flow.
Can you give us a few hours tomorrow? This is how we get across the finish line.
Questions? Comment below or stop by.
UPDATE: Love this video of Chris with Jordan. The irony is I disagree with both of them on politics, but they are spot on about the petition drive! Thank YOU! Hey Chris, I need a new bed, can we work something out 🙂
“We’re excited to see people pay attention to what’s happening in Sioux Falls. But I think there was a lot of misinformation there,” said Ryan Spellerberg, a city councilor.
YES! And it all of that misinformation is coming from the city.
Let Sioux Falls Vote will be collecting circulator sheets starting tomorrow with a deadline of Thursday to turn in the petitions. I have no idea how many sigs they have, because they decided to collect signatures in what I call the ‘chaos’ style. Now, this is NOT bad, just chaotic because you are depending on hundreds of volunteers (not paid circulators) to collect the sigs for you and you come in at the end with the booty. If I had to guess, they have the sigs, maybe more, but there is NO way of knowing until Thursday. All that aside, even if they don’t make the mark, this petition drive has united many folks across the political landscape. Dems, Repubs, Indies and all stripes are working together on this. With all the horrible political division going on in this country, it makes me smile that EVERYONE in the community is working on this together, and it is what I envisioned anyway; CITIZENS UNITED AGAINST A CORRUPT CITY GOVERNMENT And even if they get the valid sigs, the city and developer will likely challenge in court; language, active voters, etc. It will be a sh!t show. But let’s pretend for a moment this makes it to the June ballot, the rezone will go down 70/30. And even if the petition drive isn’t successful, it will reveal the true colors of our city government, and that sends the best message.
I also want people to know Sam Scarlata who is organizing the petition drive is also running for At-Large City Council against the incumbent Rich Merkouris. We may not be able to kill the Data Center, but we can kill his council seat! I want Sam to know, there is a grassroots network in this town that will destroy the Matt Paulson money machine, we are going to change city hall in June, and I mean it this time 🙂
Speaking of the Developer Welfare Queens, I was awaiting Jodi’s article defending the grifter class in Sioux Falls with all the Data Center resistance;
Rapid City voters last week made a clear statement about the guardrails they believe should exist around tax increment financing. Without delving too deep, Rapid City also historically has used tax increment financing to fund growth in ways that fundamentally are different from Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls generally has taken what I would call a conservative approach with structuring TIFs, focusing on some of the most basic qualifying costs allowed under state law: things like site preparation, infrastructure and parking. I can point to numerous downtown redevelopment projects that would not exist at the scale they do or exist at all without this economic development tool. They have done what they were intended to do: driven additional economic activity well beyond the increment in property tax growth they were able to use to support their projects.
This statement is on it’s head. Rapid City has actually used TIFs more, but for smaller infrastructure and housing projects, that is why the Libertyland TIF was so ridiculous to RC voters. Sioux Falls has NOT used them CONSERVATIVELY. Massive tax breaks for parking ramps ($100 MILLION) that mostly residents of the expensive condos use, which drive up our personal property taxes and forces residents across the state to fund our school district with sales tax revenue. In other words when the SF city council gives a TIF (property tax break) the school district has to make up that property tax revenue from state sales tax collection. So when you buy a loaf of bread in Milbank you are funding the tax cut for millionaire condos in Sioux Falls. I know, not fair. At all.
Economic development incentives aren’t giveaways. They’re more like investments.
I would agree 100%. When we use tax dollars to fight a fire, build a road or give us clean drinking water, that is an INVESTMENT, in EVERYONE. When we give that to rich developers that just creates a wealth gap and raises taxes on the rest of us. If anything it is a DI-VESTMENT in our citizens.
Every time I hear a journalist or some other talking head talk about the benefits of TIFs, I ask the same question, ‘What is the benefit to the average tax payer?’ I usually get crickets and the reason there has never been an independent state or city audit of TIFs is because there is NO benefit, and they know it. TIFs are really the emperor with no clothes.
If TIFs really work, why not an audit?
I hope Jodi had a nice dinner from the revenue she made from this article, because you are the only one benefiting from TIFs. Just sayin.’
UPDATE: So the informational went different then I thot, but more of the same BS. Vernon Brown who decided to come out of his coffin, told the public, ‘We get public input every day.’ He was referring to the tired old councilor argument that they have constituent convos at the grocery store. Yeah, and I have a ten inch . . .
It made me laugh, because Vernon was using the 1990’s argument for open government. The only thing that would have made the argument funnier is if he was wearing a Cosby sweater.
They also talked about how citizens would show up to board meetings in a random city hall room and the door was locked. It happened to me recently.
How can you claim you are open government when you have closed door meetings?! And this has been going on for YEARS!!! Why? Because someone stole a coke from the mayor’s frig. NO LIE!!!!
But it got better, the council wants a $150K supplemental appropriation to fund video equipment for off site meetings (in the field). So this is what the media department does when they are asked to do extra duties within their scope of work, they say they need extra equipment and staff hopes it will shut it down. It’s such horsesh!t. To livestream on YouTube is free, and considering the city already has an account, not an issue. Also, I went on Amazon and found this complete package for remote recording and streaming for $28, so the equipment argument is total BS. I think any city employee who doesn’t embrace open government should be fired on the spot, and in doing so I would tell them to their face why.
Yes, that is councilor Spellerberg and his hot wings show
(g) Public input shall be received at each City Council budget hearing and at all informational, committee, task force, joint, and working session meetings that are open to the public. Each meeting agenda shall include an item labeled “Public Input.” Each speaker shall be permitted to speak for up to three (3) minutes. A minimum of fifteen (15) minutes shall be allotted for public input at each meeting. If additional speakers are present and time permits, the public input period may be extended at the discretion of the City Council Chair or the City Council. All provisions of this section shall apply to City Council budget hearings and to all informational, committee, task force, joint, and working session meetings, except to the extent such provisions conflict with this subsection
So in other words, a violation of FREE speech rights. While a body CAN limit the time a speaker has, it really can’t put a time limit on the amount of speakers. If 20 constituents show up to talk about the same agenda item, you have to listen to them and afford them their free speech rights.
Each agenda will include a time for public input at the start of the meeting. Prior to the start of public input, the presiding officer will announce that public input can be provided on any agenda items and any other topics of interest to the person addressing the city agency, authority, board, committee, or commission. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, if public input is permitted on each agenda item, the city agency, authority, board, committee, or commission is not required to receive public input during an initial public input period and may instead receive general public comment at the conclusion of the meeting.
This is also a violation of the 1st Amendment. If public input time is afforded in the meeting, a constituent can talk about anything that occurred in that meeting, even previous agenda items. This is a ridiculous rule they continue to push, but it is unconstitutional and you don’t have to follow it if they threaten you in a meeting. I just simply say, ‘You are violating my 1st Amendment rights.’ and that usually gets them to shut up.
As you can see, they are making all these changes without consulting with the public. I have said the smartest thing they could do was create a committee by resolution to make transparency recommendations to the council after having several public meetings on the topic. When you make supposed ‘civic engagement’ recommendations, you should engage the public.
Speaking of transparency, look at how many FOIA requests the city has rejected. Also, you must make your requests thru the SFPD. This is incorrect, all FOIA requests should be emailed to the mayor, since he is the top city administrator. I also suggest you CC the city attorney and city clerk.
If we want transparency in city government we are going to have to get it done ourselves. Once we get closer to the city election and I have a better understanding of who will serve on the next council, I will be urging them to put together an open government task force compiled of residents, city employees and city councilors and kick this closed government in the fanny once and for all.
I will also urge the next mayor to hire a director level public information officer to manage open government.
Love Angela’s first post on her blog. She takes Noem to the woodshed. It is monumental.
I had the pleasure of donating for the second year to Emily’s Hope art auction. This year I attended. First I will say when you serve medium rare 8 oz filets, provide a steak knife (I was laughing at all the people sawing thru their steak with a butter knife, maybe 4 star hotels don’t have steak knives?)
Either or, it was a great night talking to my artist friends! Chad, David and Nancy, you made my night, always great catching up!
Now back to Angela’s article. I enjoyed the candor of the article, but if you knew this was going on, why didn’t you say something?
Many peeps over the years have worried about me and my big mouth online and have asked me if I was worried and I always say, ‘Last time I checked I live in America, and the 1st Amendment rules the day.’ And it has always protected me. I have had so many private organization peeps try to shut me down with cease and desist orders, which I ignore. I have only taken down ONE post, I used a copyrighted image of a mountain, and the photographer was not happy. So I deleted the post. As for government folks, screw you, I own this information and I paid for it, and you know it.
So let’s deep dive into Angela’s piece;
In fact, early in my career, when people from both sides of the aisle complained about my work, I took it as confirmation that I was doing my job correctly.
Exactly. When I see action in local government because of my needling, I look at it as a win!
Kristi Noem became the first governor in my career who not only refused to sit down for interviews on these issues, but who actively tried to discredit me as a journalist.
Kristi Noem is the Dumbest Person on Earth. And I don’t mean that as satire, it is true. I have followed her career since she was screaming in a 4-H barn.
She is a Sadist. There is no other word to describe her. She takes pleasure in other peoples pain, and she has been doing it for a long time;
What makes this moment even more disturbing is that Noem is no longer just discrediting journalists. She is discrediting the dead. Alex Pretti cannot correct the record. He cannot defend himself against false claims that portray him as a violent threat. His family has to live with the public narrative created by an administration that chose to misrepresent what happened, even when video evidence shows otherwise. To lose a loved one in such a sudden and traumatic way is devastating enough. To then watch the government lie about who that person was, what they did, and why they died is an added cruelty no family should have to endure. This is not about politics or messaging. It is about basic human decency and the obligation of those in power to tell the truth, especially when the person most affected no longer has a voice.
Thank you for saying this Angela!
When elected officials are not held to account, trust collapses. When journalists are discredited for doing their jobs, the public is left without a shared set of facts. When authority goes unchecked, abuses become easier to justify, easier to dismiss, and easier to repeat.
This is why I bitched about Marshall Selberg who was ILLEGALLY living out of his district while serving on the city council and perjured a campaign finance form. PERJURY! Elected officials need to be held to account, on all actions, including lying about a financial disclosure at a public meeting, Mr. Spellerberg!!!!
A functioning democracy depends on credibility.
AMEN!
Hey Angela, if you ever want to cooperate on stories together, hit me up! I still forgive you for your hard hitting article about me making fun of Vernon Brown’s bald head. I still laugh about that to this day!
BTW, speaking of funny stories that went by the wayside, here is one for you. So when Jolene Loetscher was running against Poops her and I had a side convo at one of her coffees, and she told me the story about Poops being a ‘stalker’. At first I was alarmed, because that is a crazy accusation, until she explained. Apparently Jolene and John Thune were good friends and Jolene asked John for an endorsement and he told her it would put the SD GOP on it’s head, but he did tell Jolene something funny, he said that when Poops was running his rip off web developer business he tried to get Thune as a client, and Thune told Jolene that Poops was a ‘Stalker.’
l3wis 
