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1st Amendment Developers Development Elections Planning Commission Rapid City TIFs

Libertyland TIF gets Slaughtered

l3wis January 21, 2026 3Comments

It is no surprise to me this failed, I predicted a 70/30 split;

RAPID CITY, SD — Results have been finalized by Rapid City Officials, who have declared the citizens of Rapid City have voted against the establishment of the “Destination” TIF District, with a final tally of:

All 25 precincts in:

Yes 3,415 (30%)

No 7,965 (70%)

22.32% Turn Out (11,380 out of 50,995 Voters in Rapid City)

Absentee results

Yes 961

No 2,479

It surprised me there was so many absentee, seems a lot of snowbirds voted 🙂 which is ironic considering some of the people behind the petition drive are against mail in voting.

The success of this vote doesn’t surprise me, I think if citizens have an opportunity to vote on ‘economic development’ TIFs they will vote them down, they just don’t have any payback to the average Joe and actually cost us in higher property taxes and retail taxes. Notice our legislature keeps trying to shift tax burdens onto the consumer, it is regressive and idiotic and for every penny paid in retail taxes one penny gets taken out of the local economy. Horrible way to fund government.

So with the petition drive going on with the Data Center, it may be time to keep those clipboards warm for another one.

Yesterday at one of the City Council meetings there was a gentle mention that this development was coming back. If you read what I posted, you will notice that the TIF for this development was ONLY approved by the Planning Commission and that was in July of 2024. The project got stalled so the city council NEVER approved a TIF or final development plan, that means if they are resurrecting this project it will have to go thru the same process as it did 2 years ago. They will have to present a new development plan and TIF proposal. If the TIF proceeds are for any NON infrastructure upgrades we could challenge the TIF with another petition drive and I think we should. Citizens really should be deciding on their own property tax increases and not letting a vote by a meaningless board decide. So I hope the new development doesn’t include a TIF, but if it does, I smell a petition drive.

Oh, and the developer is from out-of-state, so we would essentially being subsidizing an out-of-state developer welfare queen. We can’t even launder money locally anymore 🙁

1st Amendment Bike Trail Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec State Legislature

THE WAR ON E-BIKES HAS BEGUN

l3wis January 20, 2026 7Comments

I knew when Sally rolled into office for a second term with his anti-electric agenda, the war on e-bikes would begin. The industry was already collapsing on itself since most of them came about during Covid and once fat lazy Americans could go back to driving cars to work, their bikes are collecting dust or are sitting at a pawn shop. In fact you can buy non-used older models for about 1/3 of what they cost new. There have been tons of regs passed across the country that have really killed sales. Many states either limit throttling to a certain speed OR it is NOT allowed. A lot of the newer bikes have PAS only, that means you only get assistance while pedaling and have no throttle only pedal activated motor. This means slower starts and since an e-bike is really a motorcycle when you are NOT pedaling and only throttling is probably the reason states have limited throttling. Which I totally understand. I hardly use my throttle except to push off, while riding I can maintain speeds depending on my pedaling cadence and PAS level. I can max out at about 14 MPH in PAS 1 and 33+ MPH in PAS 5, all controlled by my pedaling and no throttle. Believe it or not, I like the exercise. If you bought an e-bike to ride like a motorcycle, go buy a motorcycle and get off the trails.

New Jersey went a step farther and put age restrictions on the bikes. You will also have to have a valid driver’s license or equivalent for an e-bike (you will be able to get an e-bike license if you CAN’T get a car license) and you will have to carry insurance.

The reasoning is that a lot of teens are getting killed in NJ on E-Bikes. OK. So how do any of these laws fix that? The age restrictions, sure, I don’t take issue with that. But the other crap? Really? This just sounds like a scam by the insurance companies to expand into another market. They look at these as motorcycles, and they are, IF they have a throttle, but if they don’t they are simply a bike with a battery. Personally I think the industry should stop putting throttles on them.

It angers me, not only the license and registration part, but the insurance grab. The original reason I bought an e-bike was to lose weight, and it worked! But in that process I realized that an e-bike is so functional and multi-purpose that I use it for everything. I also like that I don’t have to put any gas in it. I do spend a lot on maintenance. In fact 3x more than on my car a year, but I love the freedom. Now days when I leave the house, the only decision I have to make is ‘which bike do I ride today?’ depending on the weather.

I think it would be a f’ing travesty if they started requiring e-bikes to be registered with the state, I will revolt like a MOFO! There has been talk of this over the past couple of years and I have convinced moderate Republicans to hold the line on it, and so far they have held back the goons both on the left and the right, but I think the MAGA steam is a building, so we need to watch this.

It is also a kick in the nuts to the guy who is just trying to get back on his feet out of prison, and was able to pick up a decent ride at a pawn shop, and the next thing he knows he needs a DL to ride this thing* and he can’t get one because he just spent 3 years in the penn for 6 DUI’s. When we talk about re-offenders in Sioux Falls, this kind of crap contributes to it.

*I also find it funny to think they can police this. They already make throttle e-bikes now with hidden batteries and even motors. Some even have cruise control (mine does) so the throttle can be hidden in the app.

If any of these hair brain ideas pass in SD, it certainly won’t make our lives better. I would agree that throttles are BAD if you don’t know how to use them and maybe there should be age restrictions, but all that other crap, no way. Maybe another idea would be requiring all e-bike shops to offer a FREE one-hour class once a month on e-bike safety. Oh, and it would be nice if I could buy full coverage insurance for my e-bike, but right now, I can’t find it. So there you have that.

1st Amendment Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls Trump

UPDATE II: Let Sioux Falls Vote! Sign Data Center petition!

l3wis January 20, 2026 11Comments

UPDATE II: Here is a link to the SD Data Center Action site, there will be updates on there about legislation in Pierre.

UPDATE: Dusty weighs in on Data Centers;

Under his proposal, Johnson said projects should move forward only if they demonstrate no adverse impact on water quality or price, no adverse impact on electric rates, create good jobs, and deliver long-term tax revenue.

They do the EXACT opposite, so I am guessing Dusty is opposed?

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You can go here to see all the signing events, there are several this week starting tomorrow. I also encourage folks to pick up a couple of petition sheets and collect sigs to. While there are thousands of legitimate reasons to not build this Data Center, I am opposed to my electrical rates going up. Full stop. This decision by the council is one of the worst since it hurts individual’s personal finances.

Our elected leaders are telling us these days what they really think of the public;

Sally flipping off an auto worker and telling him ‘F You’ after he questioned Trump about protecting Epstein.

1st Amendment Federal Spending Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion

Fiddler on the Roof

l3wis January 20, 2026 2Comments

I figured this would eventually rear it’s head;

I guess we will have to wait and see the evidence before making any conclusions on this, BUT, as I understand it the reason ARS had to make additional repairs was because they damaged it while making the initial repairs, not sure if that is true, but I would assume this is why McGill didn’t pay them to make the repairs, because ARS was responsible. Like I said, I haven’t seen the evidence yet, but I also find it peculiar that the city is suing on behalf of a contractor? In my opinion the city (taxpayers) should get our money back from McGill for the repairs, but that should NOT go to ARS since they are partially responsible. I guess I am not buying the ‘on for seen damage’ claims for additional costs. Why? Because this roof has been a repair issue since 2015, and before that, the first year it opened people noticed water damage on the fourth floor, I saw it myself. We all knew the amount of damage, that’s why the price tag was so high.

It will be interesting what the courts decide, but we will never hear about it in the local news.

1st Amendment Denny Sanford Premier Center Employee Free Choice Act Employment Event Center Sioux Falls Uncategorized Unemployment

A ‘Dumpling’ of a Deal

l3wis January 19, 2026 2Comments

So this bank president wrote an editorial, that I won’t even link, because it read like an internal memo to the Chamber of Commerce, but he had to tell us how great it is for the state to be dumpling millions in taxdollars and rebates to the new dumpling factory being built in Sioux Falls. He also downplayed the conflicts of interest and scandals around the place because we are going to get 650 JOBS!

And that is the real reason we got this dumpling of a deal. Low wages, no corporate income taxes, TIFs, tax rebates, state backed low interest loans, direct handouts. Things couldn’t look better for the Koreans that will be making BANK from our cheap labor. There is even rumors they are going to build apartment complexes around the facility so the workers won’t have transportation costs. Kinda tells you what kind of labor demographic they are looking at (I bet they will build them a big community garden right next to the Data Center);

Ironically, looks like a line worker makes more then a teller at the bank the writer of the editorial runs;

I love it when these corporate rats climb out of their luxury suites at the Denty and decide to address the minions to tell us how good we have it.

Recently they have said that if the Federal Minimum Wage kept up with inflation, it would be at about $23 per hour in 2026. It is Not, it is about a third that.

I still think a living wage in Sioux Falls is $20 an hour if it comes with benefits and investment opportunities.

I guess low wage companies are going to come to our state whether we like it or not, but please, stop using my tax dollars to incentivize foreign investors. You clearly did NO research on Korean work ethic, but I have a feeling they will try to instill it here. Can’t wait to read those horror stories.

When fat ass bank presidents try to tell me about all the golden opportunities for the community because he gave away MY tax dollars to his rich buddies, it reminds of this story about a guy who wants an island, and he wants me to pay for it. I know. CRAZY! Besides, there is only one dumpling in this world worthy, the softball sized flour dumplings at Bohemian Cafe in Omaha (RIP). You put in a factory like that, and I will open a Kolache and Kuchen bakery next door.

Libertyland TIF gets Slaughtered

THE WAR ON E-BIKES HAS BEGUN

UPDATE II: Let Sioux Falls Vote! Sign Data Center petition!

Fiddler on the Roof

A ‘Dumpling’ of a Deal

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