Heard in the Hall

City Councilors check out The Vault

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.

Where’s the aiport parking?

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.

Prairie Green clubhouse: Not in use.

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.

Black Friday shoppers

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.”

Goodbye, Twinkies. (And Hostess).

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.

And it all started when …

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)

Karsky enjoys Urban Ag

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.

Cub scouts and City Council

Every so often, a group of boy scouts or cub scouts attends a Sioux Falls City Council meeting.

Last night, it was a group of young cub scouts, and they got extra special attention from Mayor Mike Huether during the meeting. It was a short meeting, with few agenda items.

And Huether made certain the cub scouts understood exactly what was going on, explaining to them the purpose of a vote to bring an item to a second reading (which includes a public hearing). Or asking a city official to further explain an agenda item, so that the cub scouts would understand.

Or telling the cub scouts to pay special attention to an item that seeks to add a permit process for remote-controlled planes in city parks. He also explained that if the cub scouts want to speak to this item, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. is the time to do it, because that’s when councilors will vote.

Pettigrew Heights crosswalk

The city has painted a cross walk at 10^th and 11^th Streets and Prairie Avenue near King’s Casino, but traffic counts do not yet warrant an electronic cross signal, city engineer Heath Hoftiezer said.

Instead, Hoftiezer said crosswalk signs – with the picture of a person crossing – and advanced signs – which are put up a few hundred feet ahead of the cross walk – will go up soon to make drivers aware of pedestrians crossing.

The area is considered a future signal location – for a stoplight or crosswalk signal, or both – but volumes aren’t high enough for that yet. The city does vehicle and pedestrian traffic counts every two to three years.

Typically, the city avoids putting crosswalks on arterial streets because officials don’t want to promote crossing at places without a signal. But technically, every curb ramp is considered a crosswalk and vehicles are supposed to yield for pedestrians.

The Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood Association has been pushing for the crosswalk for a few years.

So it’s $117 million now?

You’ll notice that the Denny Sanford Premier Center is being referred to as a $117 million facility, not the original $115 million that’s been reported in the past.

No, the extra $2 million is not additional public funding.

Rather, the city has added in the $2 million donation from Sanford Health to be used for electronic equipment including the center-hung scoreboard and exterior digital video board.

So from now on, stories will refer to it as a $117 million facility, because that’s how the finance department is tracking spending.