Brookings mayor proud of fattening town, polluting Big Sioux, screwing taxpayers

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Brookings.

“So far, we are on track,” project director Francine Moudry says with a broad smile.

Wtf?

According to Tim Reed, it’s important for the leader of city government to be a team player. “When you’re a mayor, in this form of government, you have to get out and work with people and get to the solution and figure out how to get things done,” said Reed, 49. Reed, who is running for his third term as mayor, said working with a wide array of people from various interests was instrumental in the city being able to attract Bel Brands. “We had to work together as a team to figure out how we could get Bel to come here,” Reed said. [Brookings Register]

Okay: it's the home of far too many old, fat, white people already; so, why would any business locate in The Peoples' Republic of Brookings anyway? Councilor Jael Thorpe wonders whether the town even has a future.

“I like the direction you’re heading,” Thorpe told Jay Bender and Dwaine Chapel, “but when does the subsidy stop?” Bender, who heads the Growth Partnership, parent organization for the Research Park at SDSU, gave an equally straightforward answer: “We’re projecting seven to 10 years, at which time there should be enough rental income to reduce our requests. The short and the long answer, Jael, is that at this moment we need your help.”--Ken Curley, Brookings Register.

Let's see: the town owns a research park, the liquor store, the water, the phone company, the power company, an entertainment venue, the golf course....

South Dakota's lack of environmental oversight has everything to do with offshore and out of state investors in economic development initiatives: little wonder the Big Sioux River is a sewer of biblical proportions.

Richard Benda died for Brookings' EB-5 sins.

Reed and his GOP cronies have made the Big Sioux River waterway the 13th most polluted river in the United States.