5/16/15

Kirby: 66 counties ridiculous

How South Dakota Republicans can argue that 66 county seats and 6+ 4-year regental universities are either conservative or sustainable remains a mystery.

Hmmmm: where have I heard this before?
The population of several South Dakota counties is evaporating. Forty-two of the state’s 66 counties are losing residents, most at a rapid rate. In 2010, 11 South Dakota counties met the traditional U.S. Census Bureau designation of “unsettled” or frontier territory, having two or fewer persons per square mile. Five more have fewer than three and the population in each is declining. A consolidated form of city/county government works in many metropolitan areas. There are 40 in the United States, including Butte, Mont.; Denver; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; Philadelphia and San Francisco. [excerpt, LTE, Joe Kirby]
It ain't easy being green.

I remember having a conversation with none other than Bill Janklow on SDPB when Dakota Midday was still called South Dakota Forum back in the '90s about consolidating counties and making two regental universities community colleges. He said he carried a "bloody shirt" for bringing a similar suggestion to the legislature and regents.

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