Reflecting on 2021 in Sioux Falls City Government, Part I

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You will see a continuing trend in the current administration, a HATRED towards transparency and dozens of potential coverups;

• Mayor TenHaken said his goal for 2021 was to be the most inclusive mayor of all time in the city. I guess he has moved on in 2022 . . .

• The City of Sioux Falls got an ethics (violations) insurance policy.

• City Council gives out 3 TIFs in 2021 totaling around $144 million for condos, parking ramps and egg roll factories.

• The Sioux Falls Planning commission has serious attendance issues and conflicts of interest.

• Ghost Ambulance REMSA coverup artist, SF Health Director Jill Franken retires.

• City Attorney’s office covers up over a dozen ethics complaints and throws them out without public view.

• Accused and wanted child molester is found working at the MIDCO.

• Even with an entire department dedicated to technology the city continues to have issues with the online streaming of videos.

• Legal settlement with the DT Bunker Ramp still has not been accomplished (or maybe it has?)

• During a mask mandate discussion at a city council meeting TenHaken looses his marbles after being called out on how he tries to stop public input.

• After several years of panhandling issues in Sioux Falls the city puts up signs to tell people to stop doing it while panhandlers just stand under the signs and continue to do it.

• City blows COVID money on play things like butterflies, ice rinks and tennis courts.

• City opens TRIAGE center in which it continues to be underfunded and hardly makes a dent on the problems it was meant to solve.

• City approves a tiny house community for veterans.

• Multi-cultural Center Director is dismissed(?).

• City of Sioux Falls concocts Medical MJ dispensary rules behind closed doors making a mockery of the public process.

• Sioux Falls police chief retires(?)

• TenHaken decides to run for a 2nd Term but has yet to campaign or have an official FB page for the campaign.

• TenHaken continues to push behind closed doors to buy up property along the loop so it can be bulldozed for preferred developers.

• 2021 School Board Election has a 5.13% voter turnout.

• Councilors Jensen and Erickson hold a housing summit coffee, nothing came of it.

• Councilor Jensen’s sidewalk scooter ordinance is withdrawn because he fails to engage the public.

• Levitt has successful season even if the adult beverage vendor stretched the truth about being the major contributor to their annual budget. Still waiting for the 2021 budget numbers . . .

• Wholestone Farms, an entity owned by regional pork producers, plans to build a more than $500 million pork processing facility in Sioux Falls without ANY government handouts (TIFs). They are even considering building housing (apartments) for the employees.

• Sioux Falls Districting Commission changes Central District to include Whittier and Cathedral neighborhoods.

• The Charter Revision Commission throws out ALL citizen proposals for the April ballot, but the city council manages to put a salary increase on the ballot.

• The city sprays for mosquitos in broad daylight and claims it is safe to spray on humans and pets. When asked why they are spraying in daylight they claim they can’t get employees to work at night (a couple hours later).

• It takes private donors to SAVE the Tuthill hospitality home and they do it for half the price the city would have spent.

• City Attorney’s office makes a secret deal for a land swap with the developers of the Sioux Steel project and councilors are told they can’t talk about it publicly.

• Sioux Falls ONLY daily newspaper finally admits the failure of the EC entertainment district, and does it anonymously. Now that is integrity in journalism!

• City leadership does very little to encourage Covid vaccination leaving it up to the private sector to inform us.

• The city parks department takes my advice and posts safety signs along bike trail even though they read more like a Bible verse than a warning.

• There is a push by city council and the planning department to have the State Legislature change laws in 2022 to allow rebates on excise taxes, 0% TIFs and skipping the zoning process when it comes to building apartments next to residential. While dome deregulation and tax breaks would be great, they really need to start at the bottom.

• A (non) settlement is made with the defective windows on the Midco while no one is really held accountable and the SF MSM did NO stories about it. It’s like it never happened.

• The mayor’s youngest daughter gives us a new nickname for him, Mayor Poops. (I was surprised there wasn’t more media coverage on this 🙂

Posted in: Mayor TenHaken, Planning Commission, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls Thursday’s Tidbits

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Sioux Falls Ethics Commission met today, but we don’t know why

It says in the agenda;

CONFIDENTIAL REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION 21-1 RECEIVED 10-14-2021 (EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL MATTERS PURSUANT TO SDCL 1-25-2(1) AND CONSULTING WITH LEGAL COUNSEL PURSUANT TO SDCL 1-25-2(3))

This could be anyone with the city, employee or elected official. Since it is confidential we will never know. I think even if these meetings are in private, they should at least release the question and the decision without exposing who is asking. How do we know if the Ethics Commission made the right decision if we cannot watch the proceedings?

Will the Washington Pavilion be hired to run the Ice Ribbon?

With the new ice ribbon set to be built soon down by Falls Park, some are wondering if the Parks Department has what it takes to run the paid admission facility. Since they will have to have a ticketing booth and some kind of staff to assist people, they will likely have to hire a contractor to do it. While I am sure the Pavilion could handle it, what I don’t understand is why can’t the Parks Department? Oh that’s right, besides the department being ran by a two-faced liar, they can’t even hire part-time lifeguards, now try to find part-time ice guards. Maybe we should just let the Pavilion run our entire parks department, they are already draining our entertainment tax fund every year, might as well put them to work.

Available Liquor Licenses in Sioux Falls

After the 2020 Census, Sioux Falls has become eligible for more ON and OFF-SALE liquor licenses, I am awaiting the official numbers from the city but what I have heard unofficially is there is 27 additional Package (off-sale) licenses and 19 Retail (on-sale) licenses available. Not sure how many are already spoken for. Once I get more information I will let you know.

The Curbside Garbage ordinance is already on next week’s docket

I can almost guarantee the Rubberstamp Council will pass the curbside garbage ordinance and allow haulers to charge extra for valet service:

The Sioux Falls City Council will likely consider an amendment to the city’s garbage ordinances that could allow garbage haulers to require curbside placement of garbage cans for pickup or charge extra to continue valet service.

It should be up to the consumer if they want to do it and there should be NO extra charge for the service. But it sounds like the hauler wants the city to force the consumer to do it, and if they don’t want to, they will be charged extra.

Whether the city council will support the move is another issue. In his Facebook post, Neitzert said he was “torn on this issue,” and asked for feedback from residents, and Councilor Rick Kiley said earlier this year he’d be against any such change if haulers weren’t planning on lowering rates for reduced service.


Councilor Janet Brekke has also regularly expressed her support for the current ordinance and how it keeps trash cans away from the street, improving the city’s aesthetics.

You never know, it might come to a tie vote with Poops siding with the haulers, we will see. You know my feelings on it, I think the city should contract with 4 major PRIVATE haulers and divide the city into 4 sections and pay our garbage bill with our water and sewer. We already own the landfill, why would we charge tipping fees? Yesterday while driving to work thru Cathedral neighborhood I saw two trucks parked next to each other from different haulers collecting cans at the same time on the same street. Dumb.

Oh, and let’s hear about 3 city councilors who profess about apartment dwellers being great for a neighborhood, but don’t live next to them. I do, and I love apartments, but I love my house more.

Posted in: Ethics, Liquor Licenses, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec, Washington Pavilion

Sioux Falls Districting Commission Recommends New Map

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They recommended C11A. I like it because it includes Whittier and Cathedral neighborhoods into the Central and further makes that district more diverse. This is only a recommendation (all members voted for it). It still has to go thru the public review process and be approved by the City Council.

I would also like to commend Chair Mark Millage and especially Commissioner Tom Hurlbert for pushing for this major change in the Central District it is something I think should have been done a long time ago. I have often felt that the Legislative District of 13 should look like this to.

Posted in: Downtown Sioux Falls, Elections, Redistricting Sioux Falls, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Core Neighborhood Opposed to Casino in high crime area

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From Egg Rolls to Aces

I guess the Pettigrew/Cathedral neighborhood was a bit surprised when this popped up on the agenda;

Petition: CU-014556-2021: Conditional Use Permit for an On-sale alcoholic beverage establishment within 500 feet of a sensitive use located at 523 W 10TH ST.

Notice staff has stayed out of making a recommendation;

While the zoning is appropriate for an on-sale alcohol use, staff are reluctant to provide a
recommendation as the subject area has enough societal challenges with such establishments in
the immediate vicinity. Management of this facility plays a pivotal in being a good neighbor by
educating staff, enforcing policies, and being proactive with law enforcement.

Well that is certainly refreshing, they shouldn’t be recommending approval for any project.

Many in the neighborhood have asked me how this even got on the agenda. This will be an interesting one to watch, but if I was a betting man it won’t pass.

Posted in: Downtown Sioux Falls, Planning Commission, Sioux Falls

Drinking Liberally sums up Trump and the Mueller Report

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The Mueller report is finally out and, despite Attorney General Barr’s assurances to the contrary, it confirms the worst about Donald Trump. At times it is difficult to describe the abhorrence I feel as Trump daily tramples on the customs and traditions which bind us together as a Country. But, having watched the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burn almost to the ground this week, I would compare Trump’s presidency to that event. In his series on Civilization, Kenneth Clark famously said, as the camera panned out to show the magnificence of Notre Dame, that he couldn’t describe what Civilization is but he knows it when he sees it. That symbol of Western Civilization now lies partially destroyed for all to see, saved from total destruction only by the firemen and women of Paris. It will hopefully be rebuilt by the people of France.

Much as fire consumed Notre Dame, Trump daily attacks our institutions, the rule of law, and our international network of alliances which together provide the foundation of our Country’s prosperity and strength. Trump perceives these same institutions as a threat to the culture of White Male privilege which has nurtured him and his followers. He believe they impede his desires. He wants to pull them down and pull us back to a darker time. Whether he will succeed is still an open question but the slow burn he started is threatening to become a conflagration. We are the firemen and women of our country. We are the only ones who can extinguish the fire Trump has begun and determine what kind of country we want to be. Do we want a Country hopeful, tolerant, prosperous and open to new possibilities, or a Country of Trump, selfish, intolerant, poor and afraid of what is different? The next election will tell the story. Can we count on you?

Posted in: Trump