’Tis the season for new beginnings when hope fills the air.
It’s the best time of year for those of us who are dreamers, of sorts. We envision all types of carpe diem adventures that will lead us boldly through an exciting, prosperous and purpose-filled new year.
Still, beyond the perennial promises to set right all that appears wrong, there are some rather within-reach-of-reality hopes and desires that are floating around in my head for 2008.
• First of all, I wish Godspeed to those business and civic leaders pushing to build an events center. The Coliseum Exploratory Group is creating a business plan to build and operate a self-sustaining facility, which could go up at the existing site of Howard Wood Field.
Work on the proposal is nearing completion, but there’s still much discussion to be had about the fate of Howard Wood and the Sioux Falls Arena.
So, here’s a toast to avoiding the muck and mire that could further stymie an already much-delayed but much-needed development.
• And speaking of muck and mire, here’s also to a nonbotched baton-passing from the exploratory group to the mayor’s and City Council’s leadership. No matter how well the exploratory group crafts a business plan for an events center, our elected leaders eventually will have to take charge in seeing the plan through to completion. Maybe this time they’ll be up for the task.
• I also hope that 2008 will be kind to ongoing development on Sioux Falls’ east side.
PariPassu Cos. is moving forward with its Arbor’s Edge residential development, and developers of Dawley Farm should have another round of retail tenants to announce soon.
The anticipated retail news will be especially good for consumers and area motorists chomping at the bit to alleviate travel pressure along the retail-dominated west side.
• And speaking of travel, I hope that visible signs of the long-anticipated four-lane freeway around eastern and southern Sioux Falls will begin to sprout soon. Preliminary work such as right-of-way acquisition is going on, and the freeway – named South Dakota 100 – is expected to help fill the void in the absence of a central east-west corridor through Sioux Falls.
Completion of S.D. 100 really would make life a whole lot easier for many folks. So, here’s to this project getting off to a good start.
• I also hope that 2008 will be the year that South Dakotans gain the ability to lighten up a little bit. Maybe it’s the terrain. Or the cold. Or that feeling that Midwesterners are overlooked, but we certainly can be a stodgy group of people. So, let’s laugh and let go. Lawsuits and billboards are so 2007.
• Dreams also fill my head for continued redevelopment in and around downtown. I recently took my grandmother, mom and nephew to visit the Winter Wonderland light display at Falls Park. For a bunch of native Omahans, they were impressed. To quote the words of my 13-year-old nephew: “Cool.”
So, here’s to Uptown and the East Bank’s plans to help make downtown thrive even more.
• Finally, here’s to Sioux Falls remaining a great place to live.
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