Month: November 2021

Sioux Falls started taking applications to open a medical marijuana dispensary on October 29th. And so far not one person has turned in the forms. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

So the good news? There’s still time to get yours in to claim one of the five (five! yes, five!) spots! The bad news? Getting your store up-and-running is going to be a real hassle.

With unsettled court challenges lingering and Noem’s icy stare looming, it’s still not a sure thing that the MJ industry (medical or otherwise) will get off the ground.

And then there’s the onerous zoning laws that have boxed in (or out, if you will) most of the good spots. Take a look at the map below and just try to find a cool location to make your herbal dreams come true. Between state-level foot-dragging and the passive-aggressive legislation coming from city council, you’d have to be high to submit a THC-based business plan at the moment.

The green’s where you could make some green selling some green. Dark is a go, light is currently up for (endless) debate.

If you haven’t found yourself waylaid by a Gilli’s burrito in the wee-hours of the night, you haven’t partied in Sioux Falls. That’s facts. And Gilliberto’s always seemed like a safespace too, where everyone could show up, united by the basic human compulsion to revel in adobado, cabeza, lengua, and a side of guac.

Until this weekend when shots rang out.

Seriously guys, what you gotta do this? There were ten shots fired at our local Walgreen’s this summer. My kid spotted a drug deal in the parking lot of HyVee. We watched the mobile crime unit investigating a sketched-out minivan at a south-side Burger King a few weeks ago.

Sioux Falls is definitely experiencing some growing pains. Not that we’re special. Per-capita crime isn’t much different here than any similarly-sliced chunk of America. (Last year we watched the cops amass at a tidy suburban California shopping center, between a Marshall’s and a boba-tea joint. Why? Some wanna-be gangbangers had a throw-down there the day before and social media was indicating they were going to do it again.)

Chill out, y’all. Everyone’s begging for workers. We’ve got plenty of entertainment. Local bands would love to have a few new fans. Don’t you have something better to do than strut your stuff over a little baggy of ditchweed? Let’s figure this out before a stray bullet puts a tragic end to some burrito-lovin’ kid’s life. Seriously.

On landing in Sioux Falls a decade ago, we signed up for some stuff: Trash pickup, MidCo bundled services, and the Argus Leader.

At the time, we were already a little south of the paper-gettin’ demographic. (When propositioned for a subscription at Walgreen’s we were met with incredulous smiles when we told the guy we already subscribed. “But you don’t look retired…?”)

It’s moral requirement to know your town. Any responsible citizen should be able to get around without GPS, should know who’s representing them in Pierre and Washington, should have a feel for what’s poppin’ up, and also when the good-old-boy network is getting down. It’s your civic duty, kids.

The Argus did a decent job back then. There was a Thursday section on music, food, and fun; a thick ad-filled Sunday edition; veteran journalists armed with bursting rolodexes; and enthusiastic new reporters ready to get on the beat.

And then it started to slide. Not-so-old guys started announcing their “retirement.” Sections were cut. New faces came and went. We went digital for a few a bucks a month to get around the internet paywall and never looked back.

The last time we saw a physical copy (at the doctor’s office) we felt sorry for it. Lying there on the table, so small and fragile, like a bird with a broken wing, we were afraid we’d hurt the poor thing if we picked it up.

And now that’s coming to an end too. The roaring presses are soon to be up-for-sale as the Argus moves printing duties to a shared facility in Des Moines.

Print media is in a bind. Has been for years. Breaking news hits Twitter and TV far faster than ink can mark paper. But print still has its place: Sitting down with some in-depth reporting, the kind worth committing indelibly to the page, delivers ruminative insights you’ll miss on a screen.

Will the Argus transition its print edition to think-pieces of regional importance? We doubt it. As news director Cory Meyers puts it, “we have tens of thousands of readers that depend on the print product and love that printed newspaper. And we’re going to continue to deliver that to them as best we can””

“As best we can.” That doesn’t sound hopeful. We’re guessing what hits your driveway will just be stale stuff, enough to keep the habitual advertisers and subscribers appeased for a few years longer.

Mayber Silverstar can convert the old digs into a carwash. Ah, progress.