While I was doing my early morning reading in bed, I noticed a couple of interesting stories that seemed to intersect with each other. How do they relate? Think Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether, who recently changed his long-time Democrat Party affiliation to independent, as he is trying to shed the liberal Democrat label as he prepares to run for office.
First off, this story from KELO-AM back on February 15th:
Sioux Falls has made another top 10 list, however this one is nothing to be proud of.
The web site 24/7 Wall Street has named us the third fastest growing crime city in the nation in their annual ranking.
The ranking took into account a four year boom in violent crimes per 100,000 residents (from 215 to 364) and the city’s growing drug problem (meth seizures quadrupled from 2015 to 2016).
Let that sink in – Sioux Falls is the third-fastest growing crime city in the nation. Four-year boom in violent crimes. Growing Drug Problem.
Now, here’s another story, more recent, from National Review, on a governmental phenomena they’re terming “The Bloomberg Syndrome:”
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg used to offer all sorts of cosmic advice on the evils of smoking and the dangers of fatty foods and sugary soft drinks. Bloomberg also frequently pontificated on abortion and global warming, earning him a progressive audience that transcended the boroughs of New York.
But in the near-record December 2010 blizzard, Bloomberg proved utterly incompetent in the elemental tasks for which he was elected: ensuring that New Yorkers were not trapped in their homes by snowdrifts in their streets that went unplowed for days.
The Bloomberg syndrome is a characteristic of contemporary government officials. When they are unwilling or unable to address pre-modern problems in their jurisdictions — crime, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate transportation — they compensate by posing as philosopher kings who cheaply lecture on existential challenges over which they have no control.
What has Huether’s tenure been characterized by? Empire building, ego, and pontification.
Since early on, Huether ram-rodded through building projects, which often had the community sharply divided; The Denny Sanford Arena, a new indoor pool, and most recently, a new city administration building. But alongside that, we’ve been constantly reminded of Huether’s massive and unabated egomania through such things as his top ten lists, as well as his infamous municipal ad campaign and billboards featuring.. himself.
While Huether was glad to tout sales tax revenue as an accomplishment when times were good, he’s not talking about it so much anymore, especially because it’s a statewide economic trend under which he has little to no control. Same thing goes with employment. Those economic conditions are largely on autopilot, and not affected as much by city hall as the local citizens would care to think.
One factor that can effect quality of life, as well as whether businesses want to locate in an area is crime. And during Huether’s tenure, it’s been been growing by leaps and bounds while Huether has been writing his top ten lists over the course of his time in the mayoral office.
And it’s continuing to get worse.
Sure, Sioux Falls has a low unemployment rate, but you might get carjacked at McDonalds. And this has happened largely under Mayor Mike Huether’s watch.
Coming into the last year of his mayoral tenure, he’s gone from calling himself a hero for city workers clearing trees during “Operation Timber Strike” to finding out from the evening news and crime statistics that he’s Mayor Mike Huether of Crime City, U.S.A.
So, what do you think? Has Huether dickered over minutia and empire building, fiddling while Rome Sioux Falls burned under his watch? Is it going to affect his campaign for whatever office he’s going to run for?
The floor is yours.
Is the crime rate in Sioux Falls a result of the revision of the criminal code a few years ago? The fact we’re not locking some of these guys up in the first place? Or is it a rampant increase in meth? Or something else?
Any thoughts?
Poverty is the main cause.
Or SB 70 …thanks Governor and Attorney General!
I have been noticing this for the past several years, and the past 12-months have been eye-opening. While we’ve knocked it out of the park with quality of living projects (aquatic centers, event facilities, tennis, hockey, parks, etc.) the lack of focus on low-income housing and under-funding of police needs is catching up with the city. The next administration will have some challenges to correct, but we have great leadership in Sioux Falls that will band together to hopefully work with the city to address some of these issues.
Pat, thank you for this. In the years we have worked to strengthen accountability in Sioux Falls we have run into roadblocks everywhere we turn. The city of Sioux Falls under Mike Huether has organized policies to limit more and more of our access to real or correct information. We fight for open government in Sioux Falls because the effort toward open government has to start somewhere. Mike Huether proved recently how little disregard he has for transparency when he vetoed public access to already recorded audio of the Park & Recreation Board meetings.
We started asking for real certified audits of construction programs because we found problems in methods and materials used on the construction of the event center. Mike Huether has told many versions of stories to justify what he and his administration has done, most not based on any version of acceptable facts.
Mike Huether and his Finance Director Tracy Turbak consistently tell us positive event center impact stories. They tell us the EC is pumping money into the community when in fact it has likely caused a negative impact exceeding $50,000,000 or more. The city will not allow us to see real numbers only their pasteurized and homogenized versions.
The crime rate issues we have here are the result of Huether’s boom town mentality where his special people have been isolated from the problems. The mayor recently realized we might have an issue then complained about crime issues when his neighbor’s garage was broken into. All of a sudden there is crime.
We have years of videos and stories freely available to the public to see what we have had to put up with. We freely share the stories to help you and your readers find out how a Huether government works. We do not trust him to even be standing next to us. I carry cameras when I am in his presence and then post the video on YouTube at http://www.siouxfall.org.
Several of us have believed the real crime issues started after the 2010 vote. This is why we speak and organize. This is why there are many in city hall who fear us. Just think about it, if you have been arrested, physically assaulted, verbally threatened by this administration and are still standing, what is there to fear by speaking the truth to power?
Bruce would Huether get elected in Chicago? I could see that fella running and winning in Chicago or Jersey. South Dakota? Not so much.
We are such suckers Huether thinks he can where Chicago / Jersey politics would chew him up and spit him out. Put Huether in a real forum nd he will crap his pants. He finds ways to hide from my questions. He is a blowhard who can be blown over by a feather.
We are such suckers Huether thinks he can where Chicago / Jersey politics would chew him up and spit him out. Put Huether in a real forum nd he will crap his pants. He finds ways to hide from my questions. He is a blowhard who can be blown over by a feather.
How does Marty spin this one?
He rushed off to see Attorney General Sessions when Noem did a press release about the rising crime rates in South Dakota.
Maybe he will acknowledge that we do have a crime problem in Sioux Falls with more surveys and studies that come out.
This crime thing is tragic. Apparently everyone in Sioux Falls is suppose to buy their own security system, then turn it on, and then adventure off to the Events Center or the Aquatic Center to settle one’s nerves……
Paul,
You are exactly right. After we did the T. Denny, I thought we needed to take a step back and make sure we have all the basics right. Businesses do it after restructurings, acquisitions, etc. Families do it after buying a new house or having more kids. Why in the world would someone pretend government is exempt from real life?
The neglect to housing (subsidized and non-subsidized) and related issues (development infranstructure), police, existing infrastructure, etc. is basic malpractice. We fell in love with baubles and forgot to make sure we had food on the table.
Smart businesses do this… Just because one might want to “run government like a business” doesn’t mean that you are doing it the smart way…..
My question is whether the rising in crime is part of the statewide uptick in crime and it just shows more in SF because it’s our largest city? If that’s the case, who bears the majority of the blame: Huether or Jackley? Probably a combo of both and should make for interesting questions to ask them both as they run for office in 2018.
It would be a crime if we didn’t ask them….
Could it have something to do with the people who are actually breaking the law? Are they perhaps accountable. Could it have something to do with the liberal mindset that sees everything bad that happens to you as the fault of those who have what you want? Mmmmmm, could be.
What do they have and how do you know we want it?
Romney’s “53%” don’t all work 8 to 5 anymore nor necessarily on Fridays…