Rapid City City Council Votes Unanimously to Increase TIF for Presidential Plaza

Last night the Rapid City City Council voted 10-0 increase the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) from 5 million  dollars capped in 2009  to 23.4 million dollars (the amount approved in 2007) for the Presidential Plaza. The expansion of the TIF will help make the financing of the,41 million dollar to 48 million dollar, project possible.


The project will change the look, feel, and future planning of downtown. The building will have a 600 spot parking garage,seventeen story hotel condominium tower, and  80,000 square feet of retail space. A picture of the building posted with a Rapid City Journal article shows a similar style to the remodeled  building done by Main Street Square. The building would change the landscape of Downtown Rapid City. Compared to the tall buildings such as; Turnac Tower, the BHP building, the Radisson Hotel and the Historic Alex Johnson Hotel (which has been there since 1928). The proposed tower will dwarf them all. 


The project once finished should  bring  the city 800,000 dollars in tax revenue. Ward 4 city council member John Roberts quoted in the Rapid City Journal said, "We're taking a piece of property that hasn't had anything on it for 35 years, and we're going to put it back on the tax rolls."  Currently there is a city parking lot in the suggested location, and the revenue brought by the building through property taxes will dwarf revenue from the parking meters and parking fines that the city currently receives on the property.


If the building is completed, it would be a great addition to Downtown Rapid City, but there are possible problems if it is completed. One it will change the building style of downtown. Currently, many of the buildings are three stories or less. A higher building may seem out of place or destroy the "look" of downtown. Granted, changes of downtown could revitalize it, but the building would probably look out of place. 


Another problem is, will it be completed? This is the second time that this project has been attempted. The failure of the first time caused the TIF to be lowered to 5 million dollars. The city through the TIF is nearly putting up 50 percent of the building cost. Granted there are safeguards through the TIF process that will protect the tax payers, but it is a huge risk especially in a down economy.


Traffic will be another issue that the building will affect. The argument for this similar to the Main Street Square is that these buildings will do better with a slower traffic flow. Example of this would be Phillips Ave in Sioux Falls, SD.  Sioux Falls has made a nice downtown atmosphere. This is done by making the street pedestrian friendly. The problem with this is the roads downtown are major thoroughfares through the city. Without those roads,  might cause traffic more congestion in the city.  Granted it is a far out idea, but it could happen.


Overall, the building would be a great addition to downtown. It will probably help revive downtown by bringing  new businesses. Granted there are many questions that will need to be answered before full support should be given to the project. I am though optimistic that this project will revitalize downtown and help cut down the sprawl. Time will tell, and more post probably to come...

Representative Noem's E-Newsletter

Just sent was was a E-Newsletter from Representative Noem's Office. Here is the text of the E-Newsletter. The three topics that she brings up are her fight against President Obama's loan program, her fight against dust regulations that do not technically exist, and hiring Spring Interns. All except for the hiring of Interns the other stories, are  Don Quixote windmills (imagined beasts),  that show the lack of progress or the "Jobs Jobs Jobs" slogan that the Republican Party used back in last November. It is funny that Rep. Noem has more power than the President on the legislative side to create jobs and is not putting up a plan of her own. If complaining about student loan debt and saying that the President needs to do more to solve the problem. My question to her is what are you doing? Right now it shows you have not Sponsored or Co-Sponsored any bills pertaining to job creation. Most have been to repeal worker rights than to spur the economy. Remember it is not the business owners that drive the economy it is the consumer, and the consumer(most times) is the worker. Happy Reading!

Catching Up With KristiNovember 2011 e-newsletterJobs Are Best Student Loan Repayment ProgramI recently wrote about President Obama’s student loan reforms in my weekly column:  “President Obama is right to be concerned about how recent and future graduates will be able to pay off their education, but his plan fails to make the grade.  The best loan repayment plan we can provide college graduates is ensuring they have the ability to find a decent job.  Nibbling around the edges of loan programs is simply missing the forest for the trees.  We need a strong, vibrant private sector that isn’t worried about the threat of some new tax or regulation lurking around the corner.”  Read the full column here. Dust Bill UpdateIn an effort to limit overbearing government regulations, I have sponsored H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. This bill would prevent the EPA from regulating “nuisance dust,” which is the particulate matter generated during agricultural activity. Thanks in part to the pressure my bill has created, the EPA recently announced it will not revise its regulation on dust matter at this time.  This is welcome news but it does not give farmers and ranchers the certainty they need moving forward. I will continue pushing for full consideration of my bipartisan dust bill because farmers and ranchers deal with enough uncertainty as it is. We don’t need the EPA adding new regulatory uncertainties by further regulating dust and fining our ag producers.Noem Hiring InternsI am now accepting applications for college students interested in interning for the Spring 2012 semester. We have openings in my Washington, DC office, as well as in my state offices. The last day to submit a cover letter, resume and references to Dennis D'Aquila is November 18, 2011. You can reach Dennis by email, Dennis.Daquila@mail.house.gov, or by phone at            (202) 225-2801      .

Could Rounds Defeat Noem in a Republican Primary in 2012?

Now I know that this is a long shot that M. Rounds would primary Representative Noem for the Republican nomination House of Representatives in 2012, but lets play the idea out.

Noem is having a hard time convincing the conservative base of South Dakota Republicans that she is doing the  things that she promised them. Her voting record mirrors more of the mainstream Republican Party than her promises, which could make her weak against a well funded Democratic candidate. With the Argus Leader  showing skepticism to her dust regulation, Noem looks like to be in a weaken state policy wise.  This would be a time to put a more party friendly candidate in instead of Noem.

If M. Rounds would primary Noem, we would see and epic battle that would be interesting. This battle would be against the established Republican  against the one term newcomer( I know Kristi has been in the State House, but this is a reference is to statewide office.) who has not kept her promises.

For Rounds this would be a great time for him to enter because of his disdain towards the Corps of Engineers. For example if he would beat Noem, he would have an easier time facing a Varliek or Barth. Unlike Noem who will probably have a close race. If Rounds would win and the Republicans kept their majority, he could then be placed on a committee that did over site of the Corps. He could have more power regulate the Corps. With him doing something in 2012 would make the possible 2014 Republican  primary for Senate easier. Rumors in Republican circles see this coming, so why not test Noem in 2012 with petition of candidacy?

Warming up the Keyboard

Well, it has been a couple of months since post has been typed on this blog, and with fall approaching it is time to start working hard on the blog. I missed some fun stories; Kristi's lack of summer town halls (the free type), the receding of the Missouri River, redistricting of the political districts of the state to look more of the same, and TransCanada oil pipeline.

As a journalist/scholar I have been really lazy. We will see if we can change that. Game on!

News Flash Federal Judge in Sioux Falls, SD Grants Injunction

Today before the July 1st deadline for South Dakota new Abortion laws to go into affect a judge in Sioux Falls has granted an injunction. The judge made her ruling at 5 p.m. CST today. The brief is about 60 pages long. For more information go to the www.argusleader.com or www.keloland.com. More to come on this story.

Conservatives Blame that the Corps Intentionally Caused the Problem

It had been recently posted from the blog American Thinker that the Corps was warned about the high water levels and did nothing about it. The funny thing is the information was not sent ,to Corps, but to the American Water Works Association (AWWA) a non governmental organisation with no connection with the Corps. Brad Lawrence South Dakota WARN chair quoted in the Capital Journal,  said,

 "although he did not send that information to the Corps, he finds it "hard to believe that it wouldn’t have gotten passed on to the Corps." 

Meaning he did not send the information to the Corps.The Corps did not receive his information or concerns Which means it did not get sent to the District Office in Omaha for Corps planners follow up Lawrence's concerns. Did the Corps probably know that it was going to flood yes, but people have to remember that the Corps have to take care of the entire basin. This is why they did not have a Spring Pulse. A Spring Pulse is done to mimic Spring flooding to help jump start the wildlife to go through their Spring routine. The Corps did not have that this year due to the excess of water downstream and the threat of flooding. 



The key question of the argument is was the flooding in Dakota Dunes, Ft. Pierre, and Pierre preventable.  Yes, the flood was entirely preventable in South Dakota. The catch is that it would have taken out Eppley Field in Omaha, part of the Industrial district in Kansas City, parts of St. Louis, and would have flooded the already damaged city of New Orleans. Which would have had a greater impact on the national economy. What was done a cost benefit analysis. 


If you look at what the Conservative blogs cite as their source for their argument, comes from e-mails sent to the AWWA on February 3rd 2011. If my memory serves me correctly there was ice still on the main stem reservoirs. So the release of water then would have created ice jams, ice jams are dams created by ice when water pushes ice into a dam like structure example would be Vermillion 1881 flood. This would have caused flooding in South Dakota


Another point they forget is the Missouri flows into the Mississippi. Tributaries on the Mississippi usually flood before the snow pack on the Missouri River tributaries can melt. So in March lets say, when maybe ice was gone not to cause damage with the release of water we could have lowered the reservoirs. The problem with that is that they would have had to contend with the run off from the Ohio River and Tennessee River and it would have overloaded the system then. 


The dams did their jobs they held off the water so people could evacuate and build levees. There were no deaths due to the flooding, and farmers did not loose massive amounts of livestock. The Missouri River is not a easily controllable river and the Corps are doing the best they can. If any of you readers have ideas please please post them and let's discuss them.


P.S. Dr. Schneiders is blogging about this topic also. You and find his postings on http://ecointheknow.com/news/. If your in the Sioux City area on Sunday the 26th of June Dr. Schneiders will be giving a lecture hosted by the Betty Strong Encounter Center, the presentation is titled, “The Last Great Deluge: Siouxland, the Missouri River and the Epic Flood of 1952.

Summer Reading List for the People of the Missouri River

Summer is a time to catch up on reading that has been put off, and with the interest in the high water on the Missouri River I have some reading recommendations for people that are interested in the current flooding of the Missouri River. These books are long and comprehensive, but of a high academic quality.

Through my studying of the Pick-Sloan Plan two books I would recommend if you want a comprehensive history on the dams and the Corps are The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era. Chapter 6 (p235-292) in Large Federal dams covers the Missouri River the building of the structures and the Pick-Sloan Plan. Big Dam Era covers the Missouri River from the implementation of the Pick-Sloan Plan to the 1990s. This book is about 200 pages. Granted both are written by the Corps, but they good comprehensive background histories. Luckily, they are now online in PDF format and the full text can be accessed on-line which is better than writing the Corps for a copy or trying to find them in a library.

If political history is more of your thing then I would suggest; Dammed Indians Revisited by Michael Lawson, Unruly River by Robert Kelly Schneiders, Cadillac Desert by Mark Reisner(Chapter 6 p170-213), and River of Promise River of Peril by John Thorson. It is alot of reading, but they are interesting books to give a perpective of the Corps, Janklow, South Dakota, and politics surrounding the dams. Finally, if your interested in the legislation of the Pick-Sloan Plan I would recommend The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination by Marian E Ridgeway. In my opinion the best book that describes the legislative process of the Pick-Sloan Plan without reading thousands of pages of Congressional documents.

Summer reading List
 The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era.
Big Dam Era
Dammed Indians Revisited
Unruly River
Cadillac Desert
River of Promise River of Peril
The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination

I know these are huge books and more time is required then the average reader might want to put in, but these are the best. So these are my recommendations for summer reading. Please leave comments on what you think or other good books or articles on the topic. If you read or had read any of these works feel free to comment on them.

Test Post

Trying to get the blog on a data base sorry nothing important on this post. SXDFHBNR6FMG

Former Governor Rounds Tries to Blame the Corps for Mismanagement

Sunday Rapid City Journal reporter Kevin Woster interviewed former South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds about the flooding in Pierre. Rounds according to the Woster article Rounds put the blame of the flooding on the water mismanagement of the Corps of Engineers, and stated to Woster that he thought living by a flood preventing structure like the Oahe dam protected his property. With the high run off on the Mississippi and the Missouri it seems that flood waters will flood some areas of Pierre and Ft. Pierre. Rounds comments seems like political pandering instead of anger and frustration.  


The dams did their job by preventing the floods. They were never designed to protect land. No structure provides 100% protection. The Corps knew that they were going to have higher than normal precipitation in the basin, but not this high. The Blog the Interested Party had reported on this as early as January, and the Corps mentioned it in a article in Yankton Press and Dakotan February. 

 My sympathy does go out to the families who are hurting because of this flood, but the reality is preventative measures could have been taken by these residents or land owners. If people wanted to protect their investment from flooding, the mechanism available to them was Federal Flood Insurance. People like M. Rounds who now complains that the Corps had failed to do their job by not protecting his property on the flood plain need to look back less than sixty years ago at the 1952 flood. If they would have looked at what flooded back then they would have known that they had a possible risk of flooding. Blaming the Corps now because he did not take the correct precautions is not the Corps fault. Does Rounds have an alternative to the Corps?

Two popular alternatives to the Corps and the dams are the Missouri Valley Authority (MVA) or get rid of the dams. The MVA was supposed to mimic the Tennessee Valley Authority. During the creation of the Pick-Sloan Plan part of the Flood Control Act this idea was brought up by President Roosevelt other regional supporters like the Farmers Union. The MVA would work like the TVA. The MVA failed because the states did not want a bureaucratic body appointed by the Executive branch to regulate the water. The states through the Missouri River States Committee (MRSC), a group of the 10 basin governors and a state representatives, decided to side with the Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation. The MRSC believed that the plan would go through Congress with little changes, and the states at that time had a good working relationship with the Corps. 


The other option would be to get rid of the dams an idea posed by Dr. Robert Kelly Schienders and Stephen Ambrose. If this option happened people living along the river would have to move to higher ground or risk yearly flooding. The river would be less static and more difficult for barge transportation in the South and recreational purposes in the North. Both regions economies would be affected greatly by this decision.


 If people knew these options, we could have an honest discussion instead of the yearly blame the Corps. This flood is probably a once and a lifetime occurrence hopefully, but we need to have adult conversations for anything to be fixed. Rounds complaints sound like political positioning instead of anger or frustration.

Some Thoughts on the Flooding of the Missouri River

Disclaimer: I have been studying the damming of the Missouri River now for about four years. My M.A. thesis has primarily been about the  South Dakota's role in damming Missouri River from 1915 to 1950. That is the perspective that I bring to this article. 

 As I was reading Mount Blogmore blog posting today. It brought to mind some interesting points think about this situation such as; are where does the water go from the Missouri, why were the dams built in the first place, and would the flooding be even worse without the current infrastructure? I hope to answer these questions below.

Where does all the water go? All the water from the Missouri travels to the Mississippi River. Right now the Mississippi is at record stages any more water now or earlier would have increased the flooding on the Mississippi, and the Corps are using plans and safeguards developed after the 1927 to combat that flood. You can wish that they did something, but suffering was either going to be felt here or down river. I believe that the Corps were trying to ease pain down river, and did not intentionally do this.

This flood reminds me of the flood of 1943 and 1952. The prevailing wisdom at that time was to build high head dams to serve multiple purposes such as; flood control, irrigation, navigation, and  hydroelectric power. The damages caused by the 1943 and 1952 floods inundated the same area with about 4 feet of water before the dams. Corps of Engineers officials had testified in Congress and had made statements that flood of 1952 would have been prevented with the high head dams. The Oahe dam is a high head dam.

Which brings me to my final point. The Missouri is meandering river. It moves around and is fairly uncontrollable and the flooding would have been worse without the current infrastructure.  If you want to put the blame on Corps for the possible flooding of Pierre and Ft. Pierre, we also have to blame ourselves for some of the decisions we have made as South Dakotans.

To conclude the blog post my thoughts are with the people of Pierre and Ft. Pierre and wish them luck on their struggle.

Representative Noem has a Challenger for 2012 Three Months into Her First Term

A couple days ago Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth announced that he is considering a run against Representative Kristi Noem for South Dakota's lone Congressional Seat.  This announcement came on Monday and  was aired on KOTA 1380am. More information came on Tuesday in a Johnathan Ellis article in the Argus Leader. From the Ellis article we learn that Barth has not announced official candidacy, but has started the process for a possible run. This includes talking to Democratic party members in Washington D.C. and in South Dakota. Ben Nesselhuf, South Dakota Democratic Party Chairman, said that he is not discouraging anyone from looking at the possibility of running against Representative Noem. 

Barth stated  in the Argus article was that he would pull his name out of contention if former Rep. Herseth-Sandlin decides to run. Herseth-Sandlin at a speech at South Dakota State University this week did not rule out a possible run in 2012. The idea of Herseth-Sandlin running for her old seat would make an interesting rematch in 2012.

Now if Herseth-Sandlin decides to run in 2012 it is highly possible that she will not have a primary for the nomination, unless there is a fringe candidate. The logic behind this argument is that in 2010 when Rapid City Doctor Kevin Weiland did not primary Herseth-Sandlin after Weiland said he would after her vote on current Health Care Law. He received 3834 petition signatures to put his name on the ballot, but then decided not to run against Herseth-Sandlin. That move shows that Weiland would probably not primary Herseth-Sandlin in 2012 if she runs. With Barth saying that he will not primary Herseth-Sandlin, if she runs again, shows that if Herseth-Sandlin really wanted to challenge Rep. Noem it would be possible.

Now if Herseth-Sandlin decides not to run, the landscape in the South Dakota Democratic Congressional primary could be rather interesting. Now we know that Jeff Barth is hypothetically running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Noem, but will someone primary Barth? Will the Weiland Wildcats comeback again to convince Dr. Weiland to run for the congressional seat again? Could we see an East vs. West primary with Barth vs. Weiland  for the Democratic nomination? It will take more time, but one thing we do know is that Noem will not be running unopposed 2012. More to come with this story.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting Funding is Cut by 16 Percent

Yesterday the Associated Press reported that South Dakota Public Broadcasting will be cut 16 percent by July 1st. Executive Director Julie Andersen could not divulge anymore information because staff have not been fully informed on the cuts. This budget cut of (800,000 dollars)16 percent though, will cause the termination of 7 staff members. Andersen says that local television programming will be cut, the radio schedule will change, and that late night educational programming will be eliminated. When questioned about this 16 percent cut, Governor Dennis Daugaurd stated that, "the budget cut is middle ground between those who like public broadcasting and those who don't."

Now a 16 percent cut is a huge cut. This cut is six percent higher than the average 10 percent cuts for all other agencies except education. The governor though calls 16 percent cut is middle ground? Middle ground would be a 10 percent cut,the cut that most agencies reluctantly took. The state legislature took advantage of Republican party sentiment toward the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. This is not a budget matter, it is a way to attack media source that covers the entire state.  If you remember, that South Dakota Public Broadcasting is the only place that provides adequate coverage of the State Legislature in their reporting on television with Statehouse, and  radio reports on South Dakota Public Radio. No other media source covers state affairs like South Dakota Public Broadcasting. In defense of the legislature, Larry Tideman Senator from Brookings said that, Public Broadcasting did not fight to keep their funding. The problem with this type of argument is that everyone received a cut. For Public Broadcasting to fight for their budget, they would have to show that they were more important than Education and Medicare. It would be very difficult to for any state organization to deem themselves more important than Education. Even though their are more important items to fund than Public Broadcasting, but still a  cut their  in funding will hurt the overall operation of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Andersen made the comment that local television programming will be cut to compensate the budget reduction. Could it be possible that there would be less media over site of State Politicians due to the fact that South Dakota Public Broadcasting might not be adequately able to fact check, and provide comprehensive reporting on state events? Will the quality of the High school State Basketball Tournaments fall back to only airing one tournament instead of all three? Will shows like Dakota Focus, On Call, No Cover No Minimum, and Nature Adventures will they be able stay on television?  We do know that some of the late night educational programming meant for teachers to use in classrooms will no longer be shown for the benefit of South Dakota students. The problem with the cuts and possible cuts is that we as South Dakotans will suffer. Local programming that is available now will not be able to evolve into better programming, or  possibly have the ability to come back after being in absence. Cutting valuable programming is never good for a society.

 South Dakota Public Broadcasting is a very important part of South Dakota society and that  the impact of cuts to their budget should have been considered during the budget process. I hope that South Dakotans will help South Dakota Public Broadcasting close their funding gap, and help provide the funds necessary for quality programming for South Dakota.

Thune Will Not Run For President

Senator John Thune off of his website announced that he will not be running for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination.  On his website Senator Thune states that," I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate." Senator Thune is the first possible Republican presidential candidate to announce that he will not run for President.  Thune's showings in Presidential Straw Polls in New Hampshire and at CPAC were dismal. In the ABC New Hampshire straw poll Thune received zero percent of the votes, and at CPAC he only received two percent of the votes. The argument can be made that Thune's notoriety in the Republican Party is unknown to most conservatives. In comparison, conservative favorite Ron Paul won both polls  with about one-third of the vote. The  political climate shows that this is not the time for Senator Thune to run. For Senator Thune to have a chance at the nomination he needs to gain more exposure and needs to bring more ideas to the table.  Maybe Senator Thune will be ready next Presidential Cycle?

The Point of The Angry River Rat

The Angry River Rat  is a blog about South Dakota Politics from a liberal and youth prospective. We the youth of South Dakota, instead of leaving our lovely state, we are going to add to the commentary. We are going to fight for many items especially Education. We will bring up topics that range from national issues that affect South Dakotans especially the youth. It is our goal to bring ideas to the forefront and  help expand the conversation. We are going to call it how we see it, our goal is to inform and not create propaganda. We will base our posts on facts and evidence. Our evidence might not be South Dakota specific, but we will always show our train of thought. Our goal is not a change of power, but in a change discussion and bring broader ideas to the public.  I hope you enjoy this blog