Heard in the Hall

Myself and some other colleagues have heard a few rumblings of residents upset over the city taking down their trees when they didn’t think they needed to be taken down, following the April ice storm.

I talked to some city staff about this, and while they said they haven’t really heard any “complaints,” they have heard of some people “concerned and sentimental about their trees.”

The city follows FEMA guidelines when it comes to removing what they deem to be hazardous trees. They are as follows:

A tree is considered hazardous if it has a diameter breast height of six inches or greater; and one or more of the following criteria are met:

·         It has more than 50 percent of the crown damaged or destroyed;

·         It has a split trunk or broken branches that expose the heartwood;

·         It has fallen or been uprooted within a public-use area; and/or

·         It is leaning at an angle greater than 30 degrees.

-Information from Sioux Falls Public Works

Mark Cotter with Public Works told me the city does take photos of the trees to prove they needed to be cut down, and sometimes, when staff takes down the broken or hanging branches, it pushes it into that territory of having more than 50 percent of the crown damaged or destroyed. 

Members of “Save Our Neighborhood,” a group opposed to a proposed Walmart supercenter at 85th and Minnesota, gave me a few photos to illustrate the change Walmart officials are suggesting they will make to one of the entrances to the store.

Originally, the entrance would have been nearly right across the street from Bonita Schwan’s house (you can see it on the corner), but Walmart now has opted to move the entrance 300 feet (where the stake is).

Schwan and Dan Wray provided these photos to me. Schwan told me moving the entrance does little to help the situation. Neighbors in that area have been vocal about their disapproval with the size of the store, and the fact that it will be a 24-hour store.

Read the latest on the Walmart issue here.  The City Council is expected to consider the rezoning and a subdivision plan at a future meeting.

I recently wrote a story about a proposed plan to build a museum archive building. Under the plan, a $3.8 million building would be built, with the city and county each paying a third, and the last third coming form the sale of some donated land.

Siouxland Heritage Museum officials say there is a desperate need for the storage, with some items being stored in an attic that is deemed not structurally sound enough to handle a vast majority of items.

Some were obviously on board with the plan, some were not, particularly Mayor Mike Huether, who told me there needed to be some serious questions asked of this plan before the city would move forward.

No decisions have been made yet, and likely won’t until 2014 budget talks wrap up later this summer.

My colleague, Peter Harriman, covers Minnehaha County Commission, and said this list of questions from the city was received and discussed today. He passed it along to me:

City questions for archive storage

You may recall that a few months ago, an aquatics engineering consulting firm hired to create a 10-year aquatics master plan for Sioux Falls recommended building a large, indoor aquatics facility at Spellerberg Park within the next two to three years, citing its central location and size as the determining factors.

Estimated cost for the indoor facility would be about $18.5 million. The pool would draw more than 80,000 visitors a year and bring in an estimated $355,823 a year, according to the study.

A number of other suggestions came from the study, including: Maintaining family aquatic centers at current locations; maintaining the wading pool and spray park at McKennan and Pioneer parks, respectively; adding a sprayground to Frank Olson; and adding a medium-sized family aquatic center; all at a cost, during the next 10 years, of about $27.6 million.

The study, in its entirety, has become available to the City Council, and will be presented during the informational meeting tomorrow at 4 p.m. I’m not sure if there will be any new information presented, but I did take a gander at the study posted here, and it includes some comments given after the initial recommendations, and they’re pretty interesting. No names or affiliation with any groups are included in the comment.

City residents will get the opportunity to vote on a whether or not to replace the aging Spellerberg pool with a new outdoor pool next April, after petitioners got enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

Here’s some of the  comments, broken down by category:

Need for Indoor

-Good Analysis! Bussing from FAC to indoor facility should be offered for inclement weather. Indoor pool is needed.

-Build it now! Build it at Spellerberg! It’s cold here we need an indoor year-round facility. Great presentation!

-Option #1 looks great. We really need a public indoor pool in Sioux Falls and we would love to see a 50m pool.

-I like the thought of an indoor aquatic center. I have young kids and it would be a great winter activity.

-Having young children and swim team members, I support an indoor aquatic center.

-This is a long time coming and hope it doesn’t take several more years to build. If you build it, they will come!

-We need an indoor pool in SF for a community pool and Spellerberg is the best location. Also, I think putting an 50m pool (outdoor) at Drake Springs would help. You would have an outdoor option for the swim teams and you could create extra revenue by keeping Drake open during meets and getting their siblings to utilize those pools.

- SF NEEDS an large indoor facility. Other communities are passing SD’s largest city by. SF should be a leader, not a bystander community. The economic impact for SF is huge!

-We need an indoor pool for competitive swimming.

-Let’s not be talking about an indoor aquatics center 10-15 years from now like we did with the events center. That would be a big mistake!

Spellerberg–FOR

-Lived in neighborhood of the VA for almost 27 years. Purchased (a home), married, raised a child, now an empty-nester. Thank you to SFPR for considering the Spellerberg site for a multi-million dollar infusion of much needed infrastructure and economic development in

my neighborhood.

-Please adopt Option #1! The “pie” will grow. Hopefully there will be resources to include other 50m pools indoor or outdoor. We have the need! Take the lead!

-Spellerberg’s central location is ideal for more usage by local and distant people.

-I appreciate the extensive study & consideration to aquatic facility needs, am happy to see Spellerberg considered for a more useful/useable indoor pool

-Our city needs this for all ages! A central location is logical & the space is available

-Let’s use it! Traffic will be spread out and not everyone is going to use the facility at one time.

AGAINST

- I’m afraid the large indoor is going to make that worse and not just in front of our rental, but also along the “tight” side of the street and the surrounding area. Please know we are for an indoor pool, but I just don’t agree with the location. Adding that facility there it’s

going to make it harder to cross Western and not just for our tenants, but for the kids that use that park who live east of Western.

-I support an indoor aquatics center, but oppose the proposed location at Spellerberg Park.

-Spellerberg Park is not the best location for the large aquatic center. It does not provide room for development around the new facility. I support a new aquatic center.

-Free land at Sanford! Federal contingencies on Spellerberg land. Parking at Spellerberg and surrounding area is already a huge problem considering the presence of VA Hospital, Children’s Care Hospital and School, Bethany Nursing Home and strip mall on 3 sides.

-The Spellerberg neighborhood does not have the infrastructure to handle heavier traffic.There are already traffic and parking problems.

There are many comments in the plan, so feel free to browse the rest of them at the link above.

Mayor Mike Huether has been encouraging residents to pitch in and help with clean-up efforts. Here’s a letter he sent to churches:

Dear Church Leader:

There may not be a better time than now to put stewardship in action in Sioux Falls. Sharing time and talent to help your neighbors clean up from last week’s ice storm is truly needed.

The faith-based community can make an unbelievable difference by recruiting volunteers, organizing cleanup efforts, and also identifying folks in need. The elderly, the disabled, and those with limited resources are especially worthy of your prayers and support.

Please rally those around you to make a difference now. When ready, please contact the Helpline Center at 211 or 605-339-4357 and they will ensure your time, talent, and treasure makes the greatest impact.

Thank you so much. Let’s tackle this together!

Sincerely,

Mike T. Huether

Mayor

Since the April 9 ice storm, the city has hired three companies to assist in cleanup efforts, focusing on three areas:

SAIC: Will be responsible for documenting the amount of tree debris the city is picking up in case of a federal disaster declaration.

T.F.R. Enterprises, Inc: Will be responsible for cutting down hazardous trees and limbs within the public right-of-way.

Ceres Environmental Inc.: Will be responsible for for hauling downed tree branches from neighborhoods to the drop-off sites.

If you’re curious about the cost and their contracts, I’ve included them below.

Combined Contracts

Beyond the 19 groups/persons who purchased the 18 available suites earlier this month in the future Denny Sanford Premier Center, between 12-15 other organizations or individuals expressed interest at some level in purchasing and did not buy one, Darrin Smith, director of Community Development, told me today.

The suites, which went on sale in February and range in price from $35,000 to $45,000, will bring in at least $750,000 a year. The receipts will be used for operational costs at the events center complex, not debt service.

Smith declined to give me a list of those organizations/business/people who expressed interest but did not purchase a suite, citing a lack of any signed agreement with the company handling the sale of the suites, and no formal relationship of the groups with the city.

Suite sales were first come, first served, Smith said, up for grabs after the city made the official announcement of the process being open during a press conference in February. After three days, the suites had all been purchased.

Smith reiterated several times that every person who expressed an interest in buying a suite, no matter when in the process they expressed interest, had an opportunity to purchase one before they sold out, saying some groups financially did not have the ability to buy one.

Loge boxes at the events center will be sold at a later date.

Suite box tenants:

Price

Term (years)

Alan Bowden

$ 45,000

10

Avera McKennan Hospital

$ 45,000

10

Brown & Saenger

$ 45,000

10

Byrne Cos.

$ 45,000

10

First Dakota National Bank

$ 45,000

10

Gunderson’s Cos.

$ 45,000

10

Hy-Vee

$ 45,000

10

Orthopedic Institute

$ 45,000

10

Carsforsale.com

$ 40,000

5

Gil Haugan Construction

$ 40,000

7

Grand Falls Casino Resort

$ 40,000

5

I-90 Fuel Services Inc.

$ 40,000

10

Metabank

$ 40,000

7

Raven Industries

$ 40,000

5

Waterbury Heating & Cooling/Johnstone Supply

$ 40,000

7

Young Broadcasting of Sioux Falls

$ 40,000

5

Midcontinent Communications

$ 35,000

5

Siouxland Fabricating

$ 35,000

7

Source: Sioux Falls Community Development

My name is Beth Wischmeyer, and I’ll writing about all things involving the City of Sioux Falls for Argus Leader Media, taking the reins from Cody Winchester, who recently accepted a job in Omaha.

I’ll be updating this blog often , as well as my Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Argus_BWisch

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beth-Wischmeyer-Argus-Leader-Reporter/205434019509466

And of course, nearly every single day on argusleader.com.

Have a story idea? News tip? Question? Don’t hesitate to call or text me: 370-8267. Or shoot me an email: bwisch@argusleader.com.

See you out there!

-Beth

Theresa Stehly wants to know what happens if a city councilor violates city ordinance.

For example, she says, what happens if a councilor got a letter from Project T.R.I.M., failed to trim his or her trees, so the city comes out and does it, charges $150, and said councilor never pays?

Stehly proposed this scenario during Thursday’s Charter Revision Commission meeting, and asked whether it would be grounds for an ethics violation.

City Attorney Dave Pfeifle told her city councilors are held to the same standards as other citizens, and failing to trim trees and not paying a fine would be similar to getting a speeding ticket or parking ticket.

“So there’s no recourse there?” Stehly asked.

“They’re treated the same as everyone else,” Pfeifle said.

“Shouldn’t they be held to a higher standard being they’re an elected official?” Stehly asked. “Could I file an ethics violation against someone for breaking city ordinance?”

Pfeifle said she could, but it’s doubtful that would be grounds for an ethics violation.

Stehly continued to give scenarios, including asking what happens if a city councilor assaults someone.

Pfeifle said an assault or a felony would be different, and that yes, that may result in an ethics violation.

Mayor Mike Huether introduced himself to a boyscout before Tuesday’s City Council meeting and told him that he was about to witness, “The shortest meeting we’ve ever had in the history of city government.”

No items were on the agenda for real business, and councilors had a roll call vote and a vote to approve a few minor items.

The meeting ended at 7:15, and the majority of time was spent on public input. Three citizens talked about subjects ranging from Project T.R.I.M., which deals with city tree trimming, the BNSF railyard negotiations and homeless numbers and lack of affordable housing.

Councilor Greg Jamison wonders whether some Sioux Falls small businesses would be willing to spend $3,000 for a machine that scans IDs and works to ensure cashiers cannot make underage sales.

Mike Wehrkamp of Munchies said it’s a small investment considering how much he’s paid in fines for underage sales in the past 12 years.

For example, he said he now has to pay a $2,000 fine because a cashier sold to someone with a red ID, and he estimates it’s going to cost $30,000 in beer sales to pay that fine.

The City Council on Wednesday approved various retail liquor, package liquor and retail line license renewals for city businesses.

Councilors are pushing for a statewide change to make stricter penalties for businesses busted for selling to minors, but for now, have little room to yank licenses if it happens.

So, as a policy, councilors require business owners that have failed compliance checks to come to the council meeting, explain what happened, whether the employee was fired and answer any other questions. In most cases, the business owners fire the employee who sold during the compliance check.

The business owners also have employees undergo extensive training, but said part of the struggle is when employees simply choose not to check an ID. Or they check an ID, and enter the wrong date in the computer, or hit an override button.

“This Connecticut shooting is the saddest thing. I’m sad about this, verge of tears, multiple times. They were just little innocent babes.”

That’s the text message I got from my 21-year-old sister today, who’s in the car alone driving home to Sioux Falls for Christmas break. She’s a student at the University of Kansas, and has almost six hours ahead of her.

Her text makes me want to cry. It’s so true. “Little innocent babes.”

Another woman walking down Phillips Avenue today heard the news while at lunch at Grille 26. She and her husband were celebrating her birthday, but the mood turned somber.

“It’s Christmas time,” Vicki White said, adding that no time is a good time for this. “But these families now have to bury their children instead of buying gifts and celebrating Christmas.”

I recently wrote a blog post about some young Cub Scouts attending City Council meetings. Well, two of those fifth graders are now partly responsible for an amendment that allows kids like them to fly remote-controlled airplanes in city parks.

And I have to say, it’s pretty cool to see them walk proudly up to the podium in Carnegie Town Hall, have some help bringing the microphone down to their level, and then read a few prepared comments. Vincent Bormann, 10, spoke Tuesday night. His friend Mason Helm spoke at a meeting last month.

They did an awesome job. Everyone knows getting up in front of people can be a scary thing, but these two didn’t seem fazed by it. Helm told me after the meeting he spent a few days preparing his speech, and those of us in the audience could tell.

Councilor Kermit Staggers has a grandson that’s pretty knowledgeable about city politics, too. He was there Tuesday night in the audience, diligently listening and taking notes. He’s also a Cub Scout whose group attended the meeting last month where councilors heard initial complaints regarding The Vault, and I’m guessing he wanted to see how it turned out.

Good for them. These kids are going to do big things when they grow up.

Some Sioux Falls City Councilors are planning to attend a sold-out Halestorm concert tonight at The Vault Nightclub to get a better view of how security handles crowds before Tuesday’s vote to renew the club’s liquor license.

Councilors have received a number of complaints about the club, ranging from noise to public urination and people vomiting in neighboring parking lots. Some businesses, including the Staybridge Suites, are urging councilors to reject the renewal.

Councilor Kenny Anderson Jr., plans to attend tonight’s event, watching from the inside, it sounds. Councilor Greg Jamison also plans to go, but said he wants to see what the outside scene is like, where people park and how the parking lot handles a crowd. The venue holds 640 people, and the parking lot has 103 spots, so people often park on the street and walk a block or two to get there.

Jamison and his wife also went to The Vault to see first-hand what it’s like from the inside on a recent Saturday. He said the parking lot was about half full at 10:30 p.m. when they arrived, and they stayed until about 1:30 a.m.

“I spent quit some time observing all the activity inside, and they do a good job of monitoring what’s happening on the inside of the building,” he said. “They checked our IDs when we came in the door.”

Jamison and Councilor Jim Entenman held a meeting with owners and neighboring businesses last week to talk about how to address problems outside. Plans will be discussed at Tuesday’s 7 p.m. council meeting.

“I think the discussion on Tuesday will be sort of a, this is your final written warning, make these changes and the council is looking for you to implement these changes,” Jamison said.

Sioux Falls Regional Airport recently remodeled its parking lot, adding new entrance and exit lanes, complete with electronic entrance and exit booths that accept credit and debit cards.

A fancy overhead sign signifying long and short-term parking was put up, too.

So why’s it missing now?

A major wind storm last month caused a structural failure to the sign. Security crews saw it before it fell completely, and it was removed by cranes without causing damage to vehicles or people.

It’s also covered by a warranty, said Mark Wiederrich, vice president of Goldsmith Heck Engineers, and the airport’s projects engineer.

Wiederrich said it will be about a month before a new sign is installed. Fabrication for a new one is underway.

He also said a temporary orange construction sign was up for a short period, and now a blue permanent sign is up to give people direction for where to park.

A sign in the window of the Prairie Green Golf Course clubhouse - as it is being moved across town to Kuehn Park Golf Course - reads “Not in use.”

So, just in case you wanted to swing in for a beer or some popcorn, you can’t because, clearly, it’s “not in use.” It’s, um, traveling down the city streets, the siding is removed and large beams are running through the middle so that it can sit on the trailer.

Some city officials and I, among other members of the media, stood outside in this morning in the freezing cold to watch the start of the move from Prairie Green to Kuehn. We got a kick out of the “Not in use” sign.

Check out Elisha Page’s photo gallery here, and read my story in tomorrow’s Argus Leader. Fascinating, actually, how the logistics of the whole thing work when it comes to moving the 2,000-square-foot, 50-foot-wide building a distance of six miles through Sioux Falls.

After three years of covering Black Friday, I’m beginning to agree with some of the haters.

These people are a little on the crazy side. Full disclosure here, I love shopping. In fact, I may be obsessed. Last year? I started working, talking to Black Friday shoppers at 10 p.m., and finished my story around 6:30 a.m. I hadn’t slept. But I couldn’t resist the urge to swing into the Shopko parking lot and see what I could find. I scored a bunch of great deals, including many Christmas presents for the family, and then headed home to curl up in my warm bed.

But this year the only urge I have is to steer clear of the 41st Street and Louise Avenue. Tempted, yes, to spend the $10 Macy’s coupon in yesterday’s paper. But then I think of crowds, trampled messes, grumpy workers and disorganized “sale” racks and shudder a little bit. 

The thing is, if I’m going to do Black Friday, the whole waited in line in the South Dakota wind and cold for hours on end, and then waiting in line even longer to buy the stuff I want … It better be a stellar deal. A deal I’ll remember forever. Plus, I bargain hunt all the time, and score great deals - all year long.

My sister said yesterday that if she waited in line for 13 hours to buy a TV at Best Buy, she’d be ticked every time she looked at the thing because she’d remember how much time she wasted to get it. Me too. Totally agree.

But these people are different. I think they do it for the sheer adrenaline rush of being amongst the crowds, standing in line and just taking it all in.

Still, what’s surprising to me is some of the people I talked to last night, who remember waiting in line for hours last year at Toys R Us, but couldn’t remember what they bought. Must not have been that cool then, huh?

Or, the people who say if they get something, that’s great, but if they don’t find anything, no biggie. Maybe I’m too competitive that way. If I’m waiting for it, I better get it.

The “freebies” may be the best part of Black Friday. And by that, I mean the best scam of all. These people wait in line for hours, to get some goodie bag that probably costs the manufacturer $2, but customers think it’s valued at $30. I heard Walgreens was giving away a free Redbox rental to the first few customers. Isn’t that worth like, $1.23?

Nope, not worth it. I’ll cuddle with my blanket and have another piece of dessert.

One guy told me he thinks Black Friday is ridiculous, and called it a scam. He said this while waiting in line at Toys R Us, holding his 11-month-old sleeping baby, a half hour before the doors open.

Another guy was wearing a T-shirt and sandals with no socks. At 8:30 p.m. yesterday. I was freezing, wearing boots, two coats, a scarf, hat and gloves. Enough said.

I saved the best for last. The best story I heard last night was this:

Toward the front of the line at Target on Louise Avenue, Tabi Penn of Beresford was wrapped in a blanket, eager to buy towels, gloves and pj’s. It was about 8:15 p.m. and she’d been in line since 5 p.m.

“Don’t forget towels,” she reminded her friends. “They’re only $2.50.”

Hostess Brands - the maker of Twinkies - announced today that it’s going out of business and laying off 18,500 workers.

That’s sad news for those workers who will soon be jobless. And probably sad news for Twinkie lovers. And lovers of HoHos. And apparently there’s an item called a snowball … lovers of those are probably sad today, too.

But me? I think this is a small sign that there’s still hope for the health of American society. We learned this week that the rate of diabetes doubled in South Dakota, and we’re constantly hearing about the obesity epidemic.

Just Google “Twinkie” today, and you’ll find some good - and crazy - stuff for your reading pleasure.

This Washington Post blog has some great links, including one to view a Twinkies cookbook on Amazon. It’s called “The Twinkies Cookbook,” seems to have been written by Hostess and includes recipes such as “Twinkie Sushi,” “Twinkie Burrito” and “Pigs in a Twinkie.”

But, my absolute favorite article so far, is about a Twinkie-Stuffed-Turkey. Any takers on this for Thanksgiving? It’s called “Twinkling Turkey,” and it comes from “The Twinkies Cookbook.”

Disturbing. I’ll pass, for sure. Some excerpts from the article from Chow:

“Dear God, what is that smell?” my husband remarked as the odor wafted from the kitchen.

“What does it smell like?” I asked.

He wrinkled his nose. “Cake. Bad cake. And meat.”

Indeed—the house smelled exactly how you would imagine a house with Twinkie-stuffed poultry in the oven would smell: like a turkey being roasted in a cupcake-scented Yankee Candle.

When the turkey was almost done, I mixed the reserved Twinkie crème with a quarter cup of honey, and used it to glaze the hot bird before popping it back in the oven for another 12 minutes. Suddenly, the smell coming out of the oven changed.

“Motor oil!” yelped my husband. “Will you open a window?”

That’s it. Now go read the whole thing. It’s worth it, I promise.

Happy Twinkie eating. Be careful if you go buy some this weekend. Someone might fight you for the box.

Winter Wonderland is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

So I asked Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, how it started.

Schmidt said she was simply sitting at home one night, and the idea came to her. She outlined it on a yellow legal pad and then drove to then-Mayor Dave Munson’s office the following day and said: What do you think of this?

He loved it, she said.

“He brought together the parks department with the CVB and the rest is history,” she said. “I just kept thinking, here’s the city’s namesake park in the heart of the city, downtown is already a spectacular holiday scene and we needed to do something with the falls. So that’s what I came up with.”

Here’s the holiday lights statistics the parks department puts up throughout Falls Park:

• 236,266 Total Lights & LEDs
• 212 Trees Decorated
• 229 Light Poles Decorated
• 13,250 ft. Extension Cords (or 2.51 miles)
• 3,000 ft. Rope Light (or .57 miles)

This was the picture up on the projector screen in Carnegie Town Hall at the start of Thursday’s Urban Agriculture Task Force meeting.

Seriously.

It’s from the South DaCola blog. And apparently it has been circulating through the e-mail inbox of Councilor Dean Karsky (That’s whose face is photoshopped in the picture, by the way).

Karsky asked the photo be put up for a few minutes to lighten the mood. He said he’s really enjoyed his time on the urban ag task force, and the past nine months the group has spent drafting an ordinance for animals and fowl.

“And my wife says she wishes I had a body like that,” he said.

It’s a funny group, the Urban Agriculture Task Force. And it sounds the the meetings are coming to an end. But there’s one more opportunity for you to get in on the fun during what’s expected to be the final public meeting, Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in Carnegie Town Hall.

Then there’s more time for public comment when City Council hears the ordinance next year.