Friday, June 3, 2011

The Irony of the Ethics Board Decision

The Ethics Board has rendered its decision and it is time to put the issue of Entenman's conflict regarding his building at Burnside behind us. This has been a very heated debate in the public, sometimes not very civil.  However, this issue needed to be addressed by the proper governmental body and it was - so be it.

This is what an Ethics Board member stated:  "Whatever we've done in that area hasn't necessarily had a good financial outcome for area businesses," board member Bill O'Connor said.  The Argus Leader reported the board based its decision in part on the fact that land values didn't go up after the Sioux Falls Convention Center was built in the mid-1990s and after upgrades were made to Sioux Falls Stadium in 2000.
 
There is great irony in the Ethics Board decision.  Entenman is cleared of a conflict of interest so he can now vote with the mayor on putting the biggest economic engine this city will see in decades in a place that even the Ethics Board sees as having no land value potential.

Although Entenman argued that a new events center wouldn't do much for landowners in the area, he did maintain that it still would be good for the city. "That's where the power of having it there is going to be," he said.

The mayor and his team of 4 councilor followers are hell bent on not changing their position regarding the Arena/Convention Center site. I just don't get the mentality that once you make a decision, you can't change it. It's like they have adopted a stance of "don't confuse me with the facts."

The irony of it all. This would all be funny if it weren't so sad for the city.

6 comments:

  1. We will see. Does anyone know why the Kuehn Community Center is not open? Was it closed in the last round of Budget Cuts? Open only for scheduled classes. Also, blacktop improvements in Kuehn Park are falling apart. Why?

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  2. What's truly pathetic is this quote from a Board member:

    "Mr. Entenman has owned that property for many years and apparently has no plans to change its use," Paulson said.

    It's irrelevant if he's not selling or changing the use. The question is could he potentialy benefit in any way. Maybe he made so much money selling motorcycles that he needs a write off, he sells the building at a loss like many have done in that area and he can pay less taxes = benefit.

    Also, how about the new parking plan that has the City buying the Moose lodge? That will affect values as well since the Moose's will likely get enough $$ out of their crappy old building to relocate. How long a property sits on the market affect the neighborhood, anyone who's had real estate 101 know that.

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  3. This is a head scratcher...I don't really get it. Whether the property has any value or will or will not gain value is irrelevant. He owns property there period......conflict of interest. It is funny how the ethics board said there was no value to property out there. That's the biggest "gotcha" to the mayor and his cronies yet! Hilarious!

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  4. One other Fact might be that this thing can not get enough of the Public's vote at any location. Too much money.

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  5. Jen - I like how you pointed out that property values will likely not go up in the Arena area if an EC is built there, but it has been proven time and again they will go up if built DT.

    So why are you for the Arena location Jim?

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  6. Very amusing...although I prefer my ironic comedy to come without a $100 million-plus price tag

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