Uncle Paul Wants You… to Put Workers First (and run an 8:21 mile amidst the appealing greenery of Sioux Falls)—photo from Paul TenHaken, Twitter, 2018.05.20.
Across South Dakota, many businesses are struggling to find enough employees.
In fact, workforce development was one of the main issues Sioux Falls’ new mayor, Paul TenHaken, ran on.
Now that he’s been elected, what is TenHaken going to do to drive more workers to the city?
…”The previous model used to be bring the business, and the workers will come. That’s shifted over the years to the workers need to be here in order for the business to relocate here,” TenHaken said.
TenHaken says getting those workers here is one of his top three priorities.
“It has the potential to make or break our economy in the next four to eight years if we don’t get ahead of this,” TenHaken said.
So what exactly is TenHaken’s plan? It’s a work in progress, but he wants to make sure the city is investing in the downtown area and other programs that promote culture and quality of life. Plus, TenHaken would like to see a statewide internship engine [Casey Wonneberg, “How TenHaken Plans to Attract Workers to Sioux Falls,” KELO-TV, 2018.05.21].
Keep studying, Mayor TenHaken—you’ll find many of the policies you want for your worker-first economic development policy right here on Dakota Free Press.
Perhaps it is the way in which Mr. TenHaken says these things that makes him more credible and likable and got him elected over others. He does not seem to be a screeching crier, squawking like the SDEA “give me more, give more just to me,” he seems to be a reasonable fellow. So far grudznick likes him.
Debbo
2018-05-23 20:55
The SDGOP plans for decades has been a huge failure, except for the grifter class. My guess is they won’t change because they enjoy getting their hands on the citizens’ tax money.
Study after business study continues to show that the younger generations (Boomer here) value the setting they work in. Create the environment Cory described in his post, plus Clean Up Government on all levels, and they’ll come.
Maybe TenHaken reads some of the first rate columns in the Star Tribune.
I joked recently with someone that maybe TenHaken played his donors and supporters with the old bait and switch, and soon he will announce he is really a liberal. Probably not. When you appoint a former Rounds staffer and Lloyd Companies Executive to your leadership team, I’m guessing not.
Jason
2018-05-23 21:42
Debbo,
Have you ever started a business and paid wages to an employee?
Maybe Cory does, but the majority of South Dakotans do not.
I’m talking about Democrats, not immigrants.
I have never seen a Republican do that to a woman.
Roger Cornelius
2018-05-23 22:26
If South Dakotans don’t want foreigners here they damn well better pass a law banning them or build a wall around the state.
Can a state that isolates itself survive economically?
Jason
2018-05-23 22:32
As usual Roger missed it.
My first statement referred to the video.
I am sorry for your 8th grade education.
John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.
2018-05-23 22:50
But how do TenHaken and others in the Sioux Falls establishment want to raise wages? If you listen to them closely, they are talking about bringing higher paying jobs to Sioux Falls, but they also acknowledge that in order to attract higher paying jobs to a city that you must first prove you have the available workforce in hand, but we don’t; and we will not until the current jobs in Sioux Falls see a significant increase in wages across the board, and that will only be accomplished by political leaders in Sioux Falls taking to the “Bully Pulpit” on this issue and passing a city ordinance requiring the wage scales for all job postings to be listed with jobs located in the city. Because such an ordinance would create a wage inflation, which would help all workers and not just those lucky to get a job with a new high paying firm that has moved to Sioux Falls and brings employees with them most likely, or encourages more to move to Sioux Falls just for those new but limited higher paying jobs….
Roger Cornelius
2018-05-23 22:51
Jason’s first statement was, “Debbo, have you ever started a business and paid wages to an employee”.
I missed nothing.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 06:14
Roger is 100% correct in what Jason said first, but, Jason does not exist in reality. He lives in alternative facts La La Land.
Jason
2018-05-24 06:34
No surprise Roger and Mike are defending the woman abuser.
Roger Cornelius
2018-05-24 08:29
Precisely what makes Debbo a “woman abuser”? Are there police reports or court documents available that show she has abused women?
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 08:32
Be thankful for small favors, Jason. You got caught by Roger telling another alternate fact about what you posted first. It is right there in black and white. Admit you goofed and move on. Don’t try moving the goal posts. You aren’t any good at that.
Richard Schriever
2018-05-24 09:11
Jason – you do realize that Laren is FROM SD – and that that video was of MN’s reaction to her being in THEIR state – right? So – how do those facts lead to your statement about what SD’ns want?
Hank
2018-05-24 09:35
IMO, Other issues keeping workers from South Dakota:
*State Government continually working to take away Women’s rights.
*Legislature promoting homophobia.
*Instilling Religion into State and Local Politics.
*Political Candidates promoting “just like us” ideals and promoting Xenophobia.
*Corruption in State Government (Our story is out there and people see it when they research where they want to live).
*State history of devaluing Education, even with the new 1/2 penny.
*Single Party Rule. Educated people know we can’t have good government with one party in charge of all branches of Government and Law Enforcement. There needs to be checks and balances here.
It is difficult to know when to stop listing things. The first thing South Dakota needs to fix is the one party rule and then some of the other fixes come along, otherwise we can expect much more of the same.
o
2018-05-24 10:42
Good wages. To me, it always circles back to good wages as the way to attract a strong workforce. North Dakota’s experience with oil field workers clearly showed us one thing: high wages draw workers. That work is hard, dirty, and there was very little infrastructure in place to greet those workers with high-quality-of-life amenities, but still those workers came.
A city can have great parks, wonderful shopping, and semi-safe waterfalls to admire, but if there is not a good paying job opening, I don’t see workers making the move – a move in hope that someday the good job will come. SD history more shows that not only the dream job will not come, but also the current good-paying jobs may well leave.
In these discussions, we too often frame jobs that pay $15.00 an hour ($30,000 a year) as if those are the extravagant wages of the 1%.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 10:53
Throwing a cup of water at a racist, wingnut hater is by far a larger crime than a Drumpfian ramming his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Jason? It figures coming from you.
Of course you didn’t personally see the crowd ramming, intentional homicide just like you never personally saw anyone throw water at Lahren.
Roger Cornelius
2018-05-24 11:09
Interesting that Trump rushed to the defense of Lahren within 24 hours while James Shaw the young black man that disarmed the Waffle House shooter waited for over 20 days for the president to call him. Mr. Shaw said Trump’s call was mediocre at best.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 11:27
Speaking of Drumpf, her sent Kim the Younger a cancellation notice of their upcoming summit because Kim is mean. Quite the deal maker. No Nobel for you, Drumpf.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 11:29
Good list, Hank. Yoo true, O.
Roger Cornelius
2018-05-24 11:34
mfi
Trump’s letter to Kim Jung Un read more like a ‘Dear John’, letter then a diplomatic effort.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-24 11:46
You are correct, again, Sir.
Drumpf saw the writing on the wall when his experts told Drumpf that Kim was well versed and knew and understood all about nukular weapons and power.
Drumpf’s aids begged him to brush up on issues and Drumpf refused to do.
o
2018-05-24 12:00
I almost, ALMOST have to give President Trump some credit — for seeing that he was on the verge of a very public, international broadcast of his deficient deal-making capabilities. Just as the snare was closing, he bolted (Bolton-ed?). But he is not out of the woods: I would expect North Korea to now remind its offer to dismantle its nuclear facilities and remind all other non-proliferation work recently promised BECAUSE the US took such a hostile, provocative, unilateral move to perpetuate the nuclear instability of the Korean peninsula and the region.
We elected a checkers player to represent us in chess tournaments.
Donald Pay
2018-05-24 12:04
I think quality of life is and always has been a draw in South Dakota. I lived in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City. All three places are great places to live. If you love outdoor activities, South Dakota is a paradise. Schools are generally good, but they can be improved greatly if there is more money pumped into programs. Yes, sometimes kids, especially teens and young adults find it boring, so there needs to be a way to break through that with entertainment and other things to do. But that is always true no matter where you are in that age group.
One thing I liked about living in Pierre, which a lot of folks despise, was that if something was going to happen, the people in the city would have to make it happen. No one was going to come there to help. So, we had a Food Buying Club, there was a community theatre group and a municipal band. And, of course, session provided a lot of activity. When Josh Davis was a middle school student in Pierre, he formed a punk rock/new wave group and they brought that alternative music scene to central South Dakota for the kids to enjoy. It was, I imagine, much like the Sioux Falls kids in my generation forming groups that mostly played in garages. That’s the part of South Dakota that I liked. The people who do things have no time to hate.
After years and years living in SD, though, I found the haters and the political corruption and the lack of money ground down the quality of life. It gets tiresome to see the patterns repeat over and over again, and rather than be underpaid and disrespected at work, people decide to leave, even though they love a lot about the place.
What hasn’t been a draw for anyone is the pay and benefits schedule, the lack of opportunity to progress in a career, and discrimination against minorities of all kinds. The failure of state leaders to engage in policies that would push wages up and treat people fairly is why no one wants to come to South Dakota to work. It’s why Liz and I left South Dakota.
o
2018-05-24 12:06
Roger, agreed; the only thing missing from that letter was for the President to ask for the mix tapes he made for Kim back (and maybe his Phish t-shirt if he finds that too).
o
2018-05-24 13:00
Is it too cynical of me to view these “worker incentives” as government bail-outs of the obligations of employers to pay fair wages (to increase profits)? It is feeling more and more that government – funded by increasingly tight tax revenue – is willing to dole those dollars out to business interests to allow those businesses to skimp on worker costs. Training costs are deflected to the pockets of workers or public education; low wages are supplemented by supplemental/welfare programs to keep the workers housed and fed (and on the job). New SNAP work requirements seem less about maintaining a dignity for the recipient and more about delivering a cheap workforce into the hands of the employers.
Then when it comes to condemnation of regulation and praise of unchecked market forces, government is quick to pass regulations to restrict/check worker rights to organize, again to keep wages low and profit high.
Debbo
2018-05-24 14:11
Roger, I appreciate your kind defense. I pay no attention to Jason because he’s just a troll. I ignore all trolls. They’re not worth my time. I skip over his posts and if he thinks I’m a terrible person I find that complimentary. 😊
Let’s not emphasize that Tomi Lahren came from South Dakota—that only makes it harder for TenHaken to get people to move here. Of course, he can always emphasize that she’s from Rapid City, not Sioux Falls, which produced January Jones.
O, you’re not too cynical at all in your suspicion of the wage-deadening effect of those government supports. South Dakota employers need to start paying full freight for the labor they exploit. Better wages are the single-biggest incentive to bring new workers to South Dakota. All of the other items I list will help—quality of life is more than the paycheck, but the paycheck is a big chunk of QoL.
mike fom iowa
2018-05-25 09:39
Did Soo Foo mayor elect ever renounce endorsement from anti LGBTQ alliance as he was so politely asked?
Perhaps it is the way in which Mr. TenHaken says these things that makes him more credible and likable and got him elected over others. He does not seem to be a screeching crier, squawking like the SDEA “give me more, give more just to me,” he seems to be a reasonable fellow. So far grudznick likes him.
The SDGOP plans for decades has been a huge failure, except for the grifter class. My guess is they won’t change because they enjoy getting their hands on the citizens’ tax money.
Study after business study continues to show that the younger generations (Boomer here) value the setting they work in. Create the environment Cory described in his post, plus Clean Up Government on all levels, and they’ll come.
Maybe TenHaken reads some of the first rate columns in the Star Tribune.
I joked recently with someone that maybe TenHaken played his donors and supporters with the old bait and switch, and soon he will announce he is really a liberal. Probably not. When you appoint a former Rounds staffer and Lloyd Companies Executive to your leadership team, I’m guessing not.
Debbo,
Have you ever started a business and paid wages to an employee?
Debbo
Don’t take the Jason bait.
South DaCola, I wish! But we should not doubt TenHaken’s insider GOP bona fides.
South Dakota doesn’t want people from anywhere in the US or World living here.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/05/the-strib-does-tomi-lahren.php
Maybe Cory does, but the majority of South Dakotans do not.
I’m talking about Democrats, not immigrants.
I have never seen a Republican do that to a woman.
If South Dakotans don’t want foreigners here they damn well better pass a law banning them or build a wall around the state.
Can a state that isolates itself survive economically?
As usual Roger missed it.
My first statement referred to the video.
I am sorry for your 8th grade education.
But how do TenHaken and others in the Sioux Falls establishment want to raise wages? If you listen to them closely, they are talking about bringing higher paying jobs to Sioux Falls, but they also acknowledge that in order to attract higher paying jobs to a city that you must first prove you have the available workforce in hand, but we don’t; and we will not until the current jobs in Sioux Falls see a significant increase in wages across the board, and that will only be accomplished by political leaders in Sioux Falls taking to the “Bully Pulpit” on this issue and passing a city ordinance requiring the wage scales for all job postings to be listed with jobs located in the city. Because such an ordinance would create a wage inflation, which would help all workers and not just those lucky to get a job with a new high paying firm that has moved to Sioux Falls and brings employees with them most likely, or encourages more to move to Sioux Falls just for those new but limited higher paying jobs….
Jason’s first statement was, “Debbo, have you ever started a business and paid wages to an employee”.
I missed nothing.
Roger is 100% correct in what Jason said first, but, Jason does not exist in reality. He lives in alternative facts La La Land.
No surprise Roger and Mike are defending the woman abuser.
Precisely what makes Debbo a “woman abuser”? Are there police reports or court documents available that show she has abused women?
Be thankful for small favors, Jason. You got caught by Roger telling another alternate fact about what you posted first. It is right there in black and white. Admit you goofed and move on. Don’t try moving the goal posts. You aren’t any good at that.
Jason – you do realize that Laren is FROM SD – and that that video was of MN’s reaction to her being in THEIR state – right? So – how do those facts lead to your statement about what SD’ns want?
IMO, Other issues keeping workers from South Dakota:
*State Government continually working to take away Women’s rights.
*Legislature promoting homophobia.
*Instilling Religion into State and Local Politics.
*Political Candidates promoting “just like us” ideals and promoting Xenophobia.
*Corruption in State Government (Our story is out there and people see it when they research where they want to live).
*State history of devaluing Education, even with the new 1/2 penny.
*Single Party Rule. Educated people know we can’t have good government with one party in charge of all branches of Government and Law Enforcement. There needs to be checks and balances here.
It is difficult to know when to stop listing things. The first thing South Dakota needs to fix is the one party rule and then some of the other fixes come along, otherwise we can expect much more of the same.
Good wages. To me, it always circles back to good wages as the way to attract a strong workforce. North Dakota’s experience with oil field workers clearly showed us one thing: high wages draw workers. That work is hard, dirty, and there was very little infrastructure in place to greet those workers with high-quality-of-life amenities, but still those workers came.
A city can have great parks, wonderful shopping, and semi-safe waterfalls to admire, but if there is not a good paying job opening, I don’t see workers making the move – a move in hope that someday the good job will come. SD history more shows that not only the dream job will not come, but also the current good-paying jobs may well leave.
In these discussions, we too often frame jobs that pay $15.00 an hour ($30,000 a year) as if those are the extravagant wages of the 1%.
Throwing a cup of water at a racist, wingnut hater is by far a larger crime than a Drumpfian ramming his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Jason? It figures coming from you.
Of course you didn’t personally see the crowd ramming, intentional homicide just like you never personally saw anyone throw water at Lahren.
Interesting that Trump rushed to the defense of Lahren within 24 hours while James Shaw the young black man that disarmed the Waffle House shooter waited for over 20 days for the president to call him. Mr. Shaw said Trump’s call was mediocre at best.
Speaking of Drumpf, her sent Kim the Younger a cancellation notice of their upcoming summit because Kim is mean. Quite the deal maker. No Nobel for you, Drumpf.
Good list, Hank. Yoo true, O.
mfi
Trump’s letter to Kim Jung Un read more like a ‘Dear John’, letter then a diplomatic effort.
You are correct, again, Sir.
Drumpf saw the writing on the wall when his experts told Drumpf that Kim was well versed and knew and understood all about nukular weapons and power.
Drumpf’s aids begged him to brush up on issues and Drumpf refused to do.
I almost, ALMOST have to give President Trump some credit — for seeing that he was on the verge of a very public, international broadcast of his deficient deal-making capabilities. Just as the snare was closing, he bolted (Bolton-ed?). But he is not out of the woods: I would expect North Korea to now remind its offer to dismantle its nuclear facilities and remind all other non-proliferation work recently promised BECAUSE the US took such a hostile, provocative, unilateral move to perpetuate the nuclear instability of the Korean peninsula and the region.
We elected a checkers player to represent us in chess tournaments.
I think quality of life is and always has been a draw in South Dakota. I lived in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City. All three places are great places to live. If you love outdoor activities, South Dakota is a paradise. Schools are generally good, but they can be improved greatly if there is more money pumped into programs. Yes, sometimes kids, especially teens and young adults find it boring, so there needs to be a way to break through that with entertainment and other things to do. But that is always true no matter where you are in that age group.
One thing I liked about living in Pierre, which a lot of folks despise, was that if something was going to happen, the people in the city would have to make it happen. No one was going to come there to help. So, we had a Food Buying Club, there was a community theatre group and a municipal band. And, of course, session provided a lot of activity. When Josh Davis was a middle school student in Pierre, he formed a punk rock/new wave group and they brought that alternative music scene to central South Dakota for the kids to enjoy. It was, I imagine, much like the Sioux Falls kids in my generation forming groups that mostly played in garages. That’s the part of South Dakota that I liked. The people who do things have no time to hate.
After years and years living in SD, though, I found the haters and the political corruption and the lack of money ground down the quality of life. It gets tiresome to see the patterns repeat over and over again, and rather than be underpaid and disrespected at work, people decide to leave, even though they love a lot about the place.
What hasn’t been a draw for anyone is the pay and benefits schedule, the lack of opportunity to progress in a career, and discrimination against minorities of all kinds. The failure of state leaders to engage in policies that would push wages up and treat people fairly is why no one wants to come to South Dakota to work. It’s why Liz and I left South Dakota.
Roger, agreed; the only thing missing from that letter was for the President to ask for the mix tapes he made for Kim back (and maybe his Phish t-shirt if he finds that too).
Is it too cynical of me to view these “worker incentives” as government bail-outs of the obligations of employers to pay fair wages (to increase profits)? It is feeling more and more that government – funded by increasingly tight tax revenue – is willing to dole those dollars out to business interests to allow those businesses to skimp on worker costs. Training costs are deflected to the pockets of workers or public education; low wages are supplemented by supplemental/welfare programs to keep the workers housed and fed (and on the job). New SNAP work requirements seem less about maintaining a dignity for the recipient and more about delivering a cheap workforce into the hands of the employers.
Then when it comes to condemnation of regulation and praise of unchecked market forces, government is quick to pass regulations to restrict/check worker rights to organize, again to keep wages low and profit high.
Roger, I appreciate your kind defense. I pay no attention to Jason because he’s just a troll. I ignore all trolls. They’re not worth my time. I skip over his posts and if he thinks I’m a terrible person I find that complimentary. 😊
Let’s not emphasize that Tomi Lahren came from South Dakota—that only makes it harder for TenHaken to get people to move here. Of course, he can always emphasize that she’s from Rapid City, not Sioux Falls, which produced January Jones.
O, you’re not too cynical at all in your suspicion of the wage-deadening effect of those government supports. South Dakota employers need to start paying full freight for the labor they exploit. Better wages are the single-biggest incentive to bring new workers to South Dakota. All of the other items I list will help—quality of life is more than the paycheck, but the paycheck is a big chunk of QoL.
Did Soo Foo mayor elect ever renounce endorsement from anti LGBTQ alliance as he was so politely asked?