Falls Park, data center and an RFP

(SCOTT L. EHRISMAN (C) 12/16/2025)

You need to watch the informational meeting today where they talk about transforming Falls Park into an entertainment complex. The council pushed back pretty hard. Merkouris expressed he would like to see more of a natural park. I agree, they are cheaper, a lot cheaper, and they pretty much maintain themselves if you plant the right native species. They also look much more beautiful then layers of concrete like we currently have on the greenway (I think it is so funny we call concrete a GREENWAY). And as a visitor staying in a hotel downtown would you much rather take a stroll thru butterflies and flowers instead of a massive concrete path? We could turn Falls Park into a nature gem. Hopefully the next council takes this proposed plan and burns it, oh, and ask for our money back.

Why don’t we learn something from our immense failure of Jacobsen Plaza? What is the most popular part of the Plaza? FREE SH!T!!!! DUH!!!!! Make more natural trails at Falls Park and turn it into a nature wonderland instead of a mini-donut crap hole.

DATA CENTER MOVING FORWARD

The city council approved the 1st reading of zoning for the proposed data center and the conditions. Once again the council has FAILED to ask about the increasing energy costs. Not only is our council voting against our interests this will hurt us financially. Demand will drive up costs. I think if they plan to self-contain the center in 5 years, I would support it. But sucking water and power from us won’t help our rates. I beg the council to do their research. I see a national story EVERY DAY about the increased costs of Data Centers if their water and power is not self contained.

SHAWN ‘FIREBALL’ PRITCHETT HAD A CHANGE OF HEART.

It’s rare, but I gotta give Curtis the Blurtist credit on this one. When the finance director, Pritchett, came to the council tonight to fund motor graders he did his homework and put out an RFP (did his job for once). I believe this is because Curt put a boot up his ass about this and he was NOT going to buy motor graders without having an RFP. Funny how things work out better when you follow rules.

VERNON DID WHAT HE WAS HIRED TO DO

Everyone knows that the city council just wanted a shadow councilor over the next 6 months who won’t ask questions and ink up the rubber stamp. Vernon did not disappoint tonight. Besides his swearing in the only word coming out of Vernon’s mouth tonight was ‘YES’. Good Boy! I hope they gave you a treat.

City of Sioux Falls continues to spend Hundreds of Thousands of dollars with out-of-state marketing firms

As I have stated in the past, the city doesn’t need to spend any money on marketing our city. We have given the Development and Community Foundation and CVB millions over the years to do just that; MARKET SIOUX FALLS. These organizations exist solely for that purpose, so why would the city have a separate contract;

And just look at the vendor, this is what they specialize in;

Make it easy for your customers to shop directly from their feeds. Sprout’s social commerce solution integrates social media into your sales funnel to offer faster customer service and sell instantly.

They specialize in social media marketing for major retailers. When will our city leaders figure our that city government isn’t a business? And if I have one more rich POS in Sioux Falls tell me government needs to run like a business and we need a CEO as a mayor, I am going to just remain silent and walk away.

We are getting a Weapons Manufacturer in Sioux Falls. Woohoo!

I am not celebrating. When I hear about West Virginia or Georgia getting defense contracts, I say, good for you, you can have them.

I agree we need more manufacturing in Sioux Falls and across the country, but we should be building things that actually improve lives instead of destroying them.

There is also the economic factor. Since these folks are making weapons for the Pentagon the final product won’t even be available for sale on the open market so we will get NO tax revenue from the facility. Besides maybe 100 local jobs, most of the profits will ship directly out of state and never recycle in our community. Plus, once the contract is fullfilled in two years, will the government order more or will they just pack up and leave while laying off those workers?

We are ALSO paying for all of this with our Federal Tax Dollars so the facility is actually COSTING us. This isn’t free market capitalism manufacturing. This is your tax dollars buying WMD’s that kill foreigners, and little else.

I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when city council was told about this privately and their reaction. I’m guessing not all of them were happy about it. I also think GOED and Rhoden pushed this onto us like the prison and local leadership didn’t have much of a choice in the matter or the courage to stop him. Last I checked with Home Rule Charter we decide on our local zoning, so the council could stop this, but they won’t.