Local Conversations about Arts and Everything Else

A couple of local conversation starters:

The Madison Area Arts Council somehow finagles space on the Lake Area Improvement Corporation website to talk about the arts as economic development. Is this a sign the LAIC is ready to open its ears to creative economic development? Or is this just more window dressing from an economic development corporation determined to maintain the status quo and tell artists (as the moneyed powers behind the ill-designed Dakota Prairie Playhouse did) that "We don't need your kind"?

Of course, the LAIC article, part of its all-new all-digital communications, doesn't include a comment section for the public. The LAIC should take a cue from the South Dakota State Extension Service, which is hosting community conversations in 80 towns around North and South Dakota throughout November.

The nearest Projects and Possibilities session will take place the Howard 4-H Building on Wednesday, November 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Three hours is a hefty conversation... and a tough block of time to schedule. Middle of the day is a tough time to catch working folks; the crowd will likely skew older. Let's hope Howard High School lets students out to participate in this conversation as a civics field trip.

Community participants will upload their notes on their meetings to the Citizing website for more public discussion. Notes from the Aberdeen and Redfield meetings are already online. If you can't make a meeting in your town, you can take the project survey online... but just as you would if you went to a meeting, you have to put your name to your words and sign in via a valid Facebook account. The Extension Service agrees with me: nymity promotes better civil discourse.

Green Notes: Dump Coal, Cap Carbon, Create Jobs...

All sorts of green notes!

1. A new report from the Civil Society Institute and Synapse Energy Economics maps a feasible path to meeting all of America's energy needs and use zero coal and nuclear power by 2050. The "Beyond Business as Usual" plan also saves money.
2. Badlands Blue notes that a majority of Republicans and conservatives "would back a comprehensive energy policy that both boosts domestic energy production and caps carbon emissions." Such a policy even has more Teabaggers for it than agin' it. Of course, the poll was conducted by a bunch of Republicans....
3. Don't let those temporary Knight & Carver layoffs get you down; Howard is still working to be a leader in green jobs. Howard's Rural Learning Center is getting a $99K grant from the state Department of Labor to train wind turbine technicians. MDL reports that, thanks to this grant, traning can start in September and reach 325 workers.
4. And how about some more green jobs... green bean jobs. Mike Knutson cites evidence that local food production—the novel concept of farmers growing real food for their neighbors to eat—"could produce $882 million in sales and add 9,300 jobs in the Midwest." Of course, Rebecca Terk and the South Dakota Legislature already know we should buy fresh and buy local. Dennis Daugaard, are you listening?
   

Maybe Knight and Carver Can Bank on Offshore Wind Power

Knight and Carver's announcement of layoffs and possible temporary closure is depressing for more than the folks in Howard. The three-year-old facility has been hit by a "lull" in the wind power industry.

The action at tonight's Madison City Commission meeting could bring Knight and Carver's blade production crews a little work: one of K&C's products, the LS56-100 8.3-meter blade, fits 100-kilowatt turbines, which would meet the 150-kW maximum our new wind turbine ordinances would allow. Now if only an enterprising wind power enthusiast can find someplace to erect a turbine that will satisfy the setbacks....

Maybe better news for the wind industry comes from Cape Cod, where the feds have finally approved America's first offshore wind farm. Cape Wind will start producing electricity in time for Barack Obama's reinauguration, with a planned capacity of 468 megawatts. Given that this offshore energy source won't explode or leak 5000 gallons of oil a day, Cape Wind is probably on the right track.

Besides, when one of the only externalities is that the turbines will disrupt the view from the mansions of rich liberal East Coast elites, my conservative readers should be all about more wind power.

-------------------------
By the way, the Washington Post notes that the wind industry is taking a hit from the recession and from uncertainty over the energy security and climate change bill. Wow, if the Senate would have gotten in gear and passed that bill last year, we might have avoided those layoffs in Howard and the death of Big Stone II. Think about that, Senators Thune and Johnson!

Climate Change Legislation: Green Jobs for SD, or Attack on (Corporate) Agriculture?

SDPB's Charles Michael Ray posts a Dakota Digest report on how wind power is boosting the Howard economy. Randy Perry of the forward-thinking Rural Learning Center says that green jobs and green energy have brought more than 230 jobs to Howard this decade. Unfortunately, Miner County as a whole has seen a decline in its workforce from 1500 to 1245 over this decade.

Perry believes, as I do, that climate change legislation would bring even more high-tech, high-pay jobs to Howard and all of South Dakota. But out stomps hog farmer, Clearwater Township chairman Larry Haak to tell us climate change legislation will raise farm input costs and give the EPA power to regulate large farms.

More EPA regulation? Haak evidently missed the point that the American Clean Energy and Security Act is actually a market-based solution that would forestall EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. Haak also evidently missed the point that climate change legislation will do less harm to farmers than unmitigated climate change itself.

But missing the point is to be expected of a vice-chair of the Miner County Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureau, a big corporate lobby founded by the New York Chamber of Commerce and Rockefeller money, is well known for its opposition to climate change legislation or anything else that might force the corporate ag-industrial complex to behave responsibly.

You'd think the average farmer, paragon of patriotism and self-sufficiency, would see the case business leaders and even a South Carolina conservative and former Marine can make for how climate change legislation is good for America's economy, energy independence, and national security (good work, Badlands Blue!). I guess the Farm Bureau is all about flying the flag... until we ask them to support environmental action and innovation that might actually bring small farmers and rural communities new income streams and greater independence from the big ag processors.

Marching in Madison: South Dakota Bands at DSU Homecoming Parade

It's a busy band day in South Dakota! Area bands, led by the mighty Spirit of Madison Marching Band, kicked off a big day of music by marching up Madison's Main Street in the Dakota State University Trojan Days homecoming parade.

Madison Bulldogs


Chester Flyers


Arlington Cardinals


Flandreau Public Fliers (thanks, Matt!)


Deuel Cardinals


Madison Middle School

Director Luke Sursely has these kids whipped into shape!

Montrose Irish

Director Justin Whitcomb is a Madison band alumnus. Looking sharp!

Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinals

The Dell Rapids corps was marching right behind the Dennis Daugaard for Governor campaign vehicle, the only political entrant in today's parade. The Munsterman campaign must have been too busy making up better ad hominem attacks. Isn't there some old campaign saw about catching more votes throwing candy than throwing mud?

Oldham-Ramona-Rutland Raiders

We've been waiting for some cowbell! (Sorry about the battery, kids!)

Howard Tigers

Oil in Elk Point or Wind in Howard: Pick Your Energy Future

Bob Ellis probably wants these environmentalist extremists in Howard to "take a hike", too:

Most of the talk about green job development has focused on urban areas, especially depressed, inner cities. But yesterday the conversation turned towards Rural America, and what’s already been accomplished there.

The conversation was initiated by Repower America, who held a press conference in Howard, SD to show their support for The American Clean Energy and Security Act. The organization believes the legislation could help bring 5,000 new jobs to South Dakota.

Because it is home to two wind energy companies, Howard (pop. 1071) was the perfect community to showcase this potential. Those two companies, Knight & Carver Wind Group and Energy Maintenance Service, offer good paying jobs that have helped diversify the town’s economy [Mike Knutson, "Green Jobs in Rural America," Reimagine Rural, 2009.08.21].

Conservatives like Bob Ellis cheer the potential construction of an oil refinery that will pollute the air, water, and land around Elk Point. I'm glad that Ellis can enjoy a little state affirmation of his worldview this morning, but that doesn't free us from the tarpit old-energy thinking that will only perpetuate our addiction to a dwindling resource.

Fortunately, some rural visionaries are looking for ways to change how we produce and use energy in hopes of creating real energy independence. The folks in Howard have been able to draw two energy businesses to town that have made actual progress toward producing domestic energy and jobs without big environmental impacts. Asking such visionaries to "take a hike" is the epitome of short-sightedness.

------------------------
p.s.: Have you noticed how the KELO graphic of the proposed Hyperion refinery is all smoky and brown? Think about it. (I wonder if Perry Groten chose that image....)

pp.s.: Another Hyperion, Hyperion Power Generation, and some other companies are looking at a possibly greener energy solution that oil refineries: micro-nukes! Hmm... would small nuclear reactors give us greener power... or just a nice green glow?

ppp.s.: Hat tip to eager reader Tony Amert: If we really want to break oil addiction, maybe we could fire up some nuclear reactors next to the ocean and make jet fuel out of seawater.

Brookings and Howard Referenda: Votes Swing on Transparency

The results of this month's referenda in Brookings and Howard offer a lesson for all politicians and organizations on the value of transparency. Last week Brookings voters reversed by a 3-to-1 margin a Brookings County Commission decision to buy and raze two houses in the city's historic district and blight the area with a parking lot. This week Howard voters approved by a nearly identical margin the city's decision to vacate parts of Farmers Avenue and an alley to make way for the Rural Learning Center's new conference facility.

The difference in outcomes is due in part to the difference in the projects. The Maroney Center will actually improve the community, bringing Howard 18 more jobs, increased visitor traffic, positive publicity, and increased economic and cultural activity. Another parking lot in Brookings would only facilitate more driving, increase the urban heat island, and trigger runaway global warming.

But fears of planetary extinction probably figured less in voters' minds than the way in which each project was sold to the local electorates. The Brookings County Commission caught heck for making its decision about the proporety purchase and the parking plan without much public discussion. Howard's Rural Learning Center has made great efforts from the beginning not just to inform but to involve Miner County residents in their plans for improving Howard, including a four-month design process with numerous day-long public listening and design sessions.

The takeaway for community leaders: Operate behind closed doors, and the public likely will vote you down. Open the doors, let everyone participate, and your project will fly.

Howard Street Closings Lengthen Walk to Post Office -- What's So Bad About That?

Elisa Sand gave the upcoming referendum in Howard a little press in last week's MDL (print only). The referendum concerns the vacation and closure of portions of Farmer Avenue and two alleys in Howard to make room for the Rural Learning Center to build a hotel and conference center that would bring all sorts of business to Howard.

Sand noted that among the reasons cited for opposition to the plan is the concern that folks would have a harder time getting to the post office.

Really? Let's look at the map:


View Larger Map

The Howard post office is at 100 North Main, near the Farmer Avenue intersection. The street vacations approved by the Howard City Commission and referred to a public vote would close West Farmer Avenue from Main west, about two thirds of the way down the block. (See this blueprint of the RLC's proposed new facility.) So as far as I can tell, that argument wouldn't apply to anyone coming from the north, east, or south, or anyone coming from out of town on 34 or the Section Line road. The only people who would have to drive further to get to the post office would be folks coming from in-town locations within a half block of either side of the four-block stretch of West Farmer Avenue. And the maximum detour length for anyone in that narrow zone would be two blocks: an extra block north, east as usual, then an extra block south. In the extreme, closing the specified strip of Farmer Avenue will turn an eight-block round trip into a twelve-block rounr trip.

Hmm... sounds like a good excuse for putting another four hundred strides on the pedometer. Howard gets economic development and one narrow neighborhood gets more exercise. I love a win-win situation!

Neverendum Referendum: South Dakota, Brookings, Howard Vote!

My neighbors on Lake Herman may have no desire for an election, but the rest of South Dakota is vote-happy.

1. All of us South Dakotans will get to vote next year on the bar-restaurant smoking ban. Secretary Nelson's 5% random sample indicates that 18,320 of the 25,000 signatures gathered are probably valid, and that's plenty for a vote. Lobbyist and petition drive coordinator Larry Mann says he's [Steve Young's words] "disappointed that the number of valid signatures wasn't higher." 73% is a surprisingly low success rate, but Larry, you had bar and casino owners gathering signatures: should we be surprised that one out of four signers were too drunk to scribble the right address or recall that they aren't registered to vote?
   
2. Brookings County residents will have the pleasure of voting on August 11 on the county's plan to buy and demolish a couple houses in the Brookings Historic District.
3. Our neighbors in Howard have rustled up a vote for themselves on August 18. The matter at hand: two city resolutions vacating portions of Farmers Avenue and an alley. Back on June 8, 50 people attended a Howard City Commission meeting to discuss the actions, which would allow the Rural Learning Center to move forward with its plans for the big downtown learning and demonstration center. Howard's elected leaders approved the vacations. 33 signatures would have been enough to refer the matter; 75 Howardians signed to say, "Hold on, let's vote!" Obviously I hope Howard will vote a big yes for the vacations (wait, do the petitioners want a staycation?) and let this visionary project go forward. But whichever way the vote goes, I'm pleased to see the community have the chance to buy in or boot it out.
   

Howard Rural Learning Center Building Bustling Downtown

KJAM has been giving good press to the Rural Learning Center's plan to expand its Howard facility. The new main street facility, slated to open next year, will include a hotel, restaurant, and conference center and will add 18 employees to Howard's job rolls. They'll also do some cool green stuff, which means conservative retro-snobs like Fastidious will never visit.

Hey, wait a minute: hotel and conference center, downtown... where have I heard that idea before? And why is Howard able to capitalize on it while Madison's economic development are content with flowers for Main Street?

LAIC Housing Study Coming Up -- Will We Learn from Our Neighbors?

The Lake Area Improvement Corporation, that fine embodiment of government intervention in the free market, releases its long-awaited housing study this week (Wednesday Feb 20, as announced by new LAC president Mike McDowell at the LAIC's annual meeting last month). We'll find out what sort of Five-Year Plan our economic development Politburo has come up with to help more folks call Madison Home Sweet Home.

Does Madison have a housing shortage? The city commission thinks so, at least enough to take on over $200K in debt and lock up increased tax revenues for 15 years to subsidize the development of maybe a dozen housing units in the new TIF district in southeast Madison. Our man Hunter has expressed the opinion that we might solve our housing shortage by focusing on renovating existing units first rather than building new. Get everyone up to code, revamp all those narrow 1900 staircases, and rewire those old houses to handle all of today's modern electronics. (I'll be Jon is advocating electrical upgrades just so more people can get online, read the Madville Times, and boost the number of referrals to his own website. ;-) ) Hunter's argument fits with my previous statements that we have lots of prime residential spots, especially in our bustling downtown, that just need some work to make them real draws.

Some of our neighbors are taking different approaches to their housing situations. The economic development folks in Plankinton are offering free land to workers willing to move in and build instead of commuting from Mitchell or elsewhere. (30 lots offered, 11 taken already!) That's a good community building strategy: it's nice to have workers drive to town to put in their hours in your factories and other facilities, but folks who live in town send their kids to your school, serve in community organizations, and are around on Saturday to help their neighbors. Plankinton recognizes that it's not enough to throw money at big corporations to build your community: instead of playing the Toyota lottery to draw one big employer, you might get as much bang for your buck by investing in housing to draw a few dozen workers and their families to become your neighbors.

Over in Howard, the Miner County Community Revitalization group has taken out a $250K loan to renovate an underused apartment complex. The Howard folks appear to be following a philosophy laid out by Aberdeen City Commissioner Clint Rux, who argued that Aberdeen's focus on TIFs for new housing skews toward the professional class and ignores the needs of the general workforce. Rux holds that folks who are moving to town for a new job aren't looking to buy a new house right off the bat. They want to get to know the town first, make sure they like the new job and milieu, and bank some cash before they tie themselves down with a mortgage. Given that it takes a month or two to close on a house, even the folks who know from Day 1 they're ready to settle will still need temporary digs.

Which route will the LAIC prescribe in its housing study? Which way will the LAIC throw its money: toward big developers and new houses on the edge of town, working families and affordable apartments and houses, or something Unexpected™?

Reason #197 to Live in the Country: Relatives with Firearms

The Mitchell Daily Republic offers gripping coverage of citizens protecting themselves, their livestock, and their dogs from a marauding mountain lion in the Howard area Monday:

As he lay on his stomach and aimed his gun at the mountain lion beneath the granary, Barry Callies considered what might happen if he missed.

Callies’ relative, David Callies, was nearby with another gun trained on the agitated 70-pound cat. Both men were aiming for the animal’s head.

“I was a little bit concerned about not hitting it,” Barry Callies, 26, said. “That’s why both of us shot at the same time. We were worried it might come after us if we just grazed it or something.”

The aim of both men was true, and the mountain lion was killed instantly. It happened about 3:30 p.m. Monday on a farm near Howard and was declared by a state Game, Fish and Parks Department investigator to be a justified shooting [Seth Tupper, "'I Was a Little Concerned About Not Hitting It': Howard Man Talks About Mountain Lion Encounter," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2007.12.05; photo by SD GF&P].

The story tells us that the first guy who found the big cat hiding under the granary didn't have a firearm handy, so he called relatives who did. Dave and Barry Callies came over with a rifle and a pistol and took care of the problem. Thank goodness for relatives who have guns and know how to use them!

Serious About Affordable Housing? Try This...

Tonight after our man Hunter gets done with his 'splainin' to the City Commission, the LAIC will offer a little update on its doings. I see nothing good in the agenda packet for tonight's meeting detailing what the LAIC will present -- nuts! I always enjoy analyzing Mr. Chapel's writing.

Perhaps the LAIC will update the commission on its involvement with Randy Schaefer's new Tax Increment Finance District, which has stirred a bit of a buzz, at least among some of my readers and neighbors. The idea of taking some new development off the tax rolls too help ease a private developer's debt burden has certainly raised eyebrows among the patrons of the school district. Superintendent Vince Schaefer was down at the courthouse last week Friday looking for answers on the TID and how it will impact the school's finances.

The LAIC prepared a presentation advocating the TID at the commission meeting two weeks ago that approved the effort. The LAIC also has evidently used its money to acquire some of the land in the TID. Such involvement fits with the LAIC's stated concern about supporting economic development with affordable housing for workers.

However, if there is a proper role for government (city tax dollars pay Dwaine Chapel and fund LAIC operations) in providing affordable housing, maybe there's a slightly better model than declaring a tax increment district for $110K-150K homes. To the folks in suits, $110K may sound small, but for workers making $27K a year, or maybe a family of four just cracking $40K, even that may be too much. Perhaps we should look at putting up even cheaper houses where typical workers can do more than just scrape together enough to make the payments each month. Let's look at some genuine starter housing that lets young working families get ahead, build equity and savings, and work up to a bigger purchase when they are ready.

Let's talk numbers, provided by an eager reader:

Suppose the LAIC concentrated on affordable housing for the blue-collar workers their manufacturing plants bring in. The LAIC could apply for a TID on undeveloped land out by Baughman Park or even up around the new elementary (young families right next to parks and schools -- perfect!). The city runs the infrastructure out there, then parcels up the land into modest lots just right for Governor's Houses. LAIC could even just buy and install some Governor's Houses themselves, like MCCR over in Howard has done. (Those forward thinkers over in Howard will outdo us yet!) $33K for a house, LAIC absorbs what costs it can for basement and other work... we could crank out a lot of decent housing for $60K a pop.

The city could arrange special low-interest/no-interest loans with the buyers, Maybe giving owners an introductory period during which they could just pay principal (there's an incentive for cutting down interest payment that might kick in later!). They could do something like Habitat for Humanity, where owners could pay down their debt up front with a little sweat equity. Maybe we could even arrange for something with TID money where instead of paying off some private developer, that TID money helps each individual homeowner cover the monthly payments, or even the utilities.

You want to involve the government (LAIC, city, county, whoever) in housing? Remember your Adam Smith: the proper role of government is to do those things that the free market can't or won't do on its own. The free market will build houses in the $110K-$150K range -- maybe not on Randy Schaefer's preferred plot of ground, but those houses are going up. It's the really affordable housing that the free market won't touch. Custom Touch Homes won't show you a standard house design that costs less than $60K (and that's the house alone; expect the total cost to shoot right on up to $100K). The local banks hesitate to float loans for houses much smaller than that -- to banks, a house is only worth its value as a fungible asset, not its status as someone's home.

If the free market won't provide enough affordable houses for workers at the wages the free market is willing to pay in this community, then the government of this community has every right to step in and do what it can to make such housing a reality. $110K-$150K? A little work by LAIC and the city can cut that cost in half and turn the TID money away from boosting private developer profits and toward more direct assistance to the actual homeowners who would love some genuinely affordable options.

Madison Has Pull -- Retail Pull!

Hat tip to the Huron Plainsman for today's surprise dose of heavy-duty local statistical analysis:
The Plainsman's Roger Larsen does some heavy reading to report on the condition of Huron's retail sector [Roger Larsen, "Study: Much of Huron’s Out-of-Town Business Is Coming Here for Groceries," Huron Plainsman, 2007.10.11]. Data from a June 2007 USD report indicates that the Fair City has higher than average retail sales at its food stores but lower than average retail sales in the other measured sectors of building materials and garden supplies, general merchandise, automotive and service, apparel and accessories, furniture and home furnishings, eating and drinking places, and miscellaneous retail. Huron's overall "retail pull" is 82% of the average.

The USD report Larsen cites -- Ralph J. Brown and Bethany Sorenson, "A Study of Retail Trade Patterns in South Dakota," South Dakota Business Review 65(4), June 2007, pp. 1, 4-15 -- focuses on retail performance in South Dakota's 11 biggest cities (conspiracy theory -- I think they picked 11 deliberately just to leave #12 Madison out!). But the study calculated retail pull factors for 201 South Dakota municipalities and published the complete data separately. A look at that chart finds Madison performing better than average, with a pull factor of 1.17.

The finding surprised Mrs. Madville Times and me. We are not alone in our view that Madison sorely lacks retail stores and that too much business leaves town by choice and by necessity (you can't get a potty chair or new toddler shoes in Madison). Yet Madison still comes out doing better than average in terms of retail sales (and sales tax revenue, note our city fathers with gleams in their eyes) per capita.

Unfortunately, as the case with our touted agricultural success, Madison's relative prosperity comes at the expense of other towns. Brown and Sorenson find some of our neighbors have lower than average retail pull rates:

Town	Retail Pull Index (Brown and Sorenson)	Median Income (wikipedia!)
Canova	1.01	$24,500
Chester	not avail!	na
Colman	0.77	$32,143
Colton	0.60	$42,054
Howard	0.81	$26,544
Madison	1.17	$30,434
Oldham	na	na
Ramona	0.17	na
Rutland	na	na
Wentworth	1.49	$33,438

Notice the numbers aren't quite what one might expect. Howard and Colman have less retail pull, in part because of Madison, but also surely because of Mitchell and Sioux Falls (and maybe Brookings). Wentworth manages to clean up, producing 49% more retail activity per capita than the state average, perhaps because of the thriving Wentworth Bar, perhaps because of the ethanol plant. (Hey, do sales at Ricky Roy's, Pelican Landing, and the Hillside count toward Wentworth's tally?) Ramona is in the bottom ten for the state, yet Canova manages to hold its own on this measure. (And why Brown and Sorenson didn't get numbers for Oldham, Ramona, and Chester remains a mystery.)

Now I wondered if the differences might come simply from higher incomes in the towns with higher averages. If the residents have more money, they'll buy more stuff. But local incomes and retail pull don't appear to correlate. Canova's median income is way below average, but their retail pull is right on target. Colman's median income is higher than Madison's, but their retail pull is low. It appear that retail pull is more a matter of pulling out-of-town dollars, which means there will be winners and losers.

Obviously retail pull is just one statistic in the broader picture of business health. Prostrollo's may be selling enough cars to out-of-towners to make up for other lacking retail in the final dollar count, but that doesn't help out the moms and dads who just want some good baby clothes or affordable diapers.

Brown and Sorenson's data is worth reading and studying. An interesting project might be to create a map that represents the retail pull data as colors or isolines (maybe isobars, for retail pressure? please forward me a copy if you make this map!). It may hold some useful lessons for where to focus economic development efforts... or where to encourage folks to throw in the towel and move to Mitchell. But to come up with solutions, we need to see the retail pull data in context. Is it really an indication of economic health? Is that economic health based on building local knowledge and resources or on unsustainable imports?

One thing's for sure -- the Madville Times will be bookmarking USD's Business Research Bureau. Fascinating reading!

Howard Gives Love to Real Campers...

...well, if you call camping in town camping...

The ever-progressive Howard City Council has granted a great boon to the myriad tenting roadtrippers crossing the Great Plains along rustic and rowdy Highway 34. At its August 13 meeting, the Council lowered camping fees at the city campground for tenters not using the electrical hookups in the city campground from $14 to $10 ["Camping Fees Go Down in Howard for No Electricity," KJAM, 2007.08.16]. Yes, you read that right: a city council has actually lowered fees, and fees on tourists, no less! Standard operating procedure is to gouge the tourists for every penny we can get out of them (bed and booze taxes, non-resident hunting license fees, anything purchased West River within a week of the Sturgis rally). But Howard, home of wind turbines, organic beef, and other really good ideas, has recognized that folks in tents deserve some love.

Howard's move also reminds us of something Madison is lacking: a good city campground. Sure, we have camping at the lakes and Prairie Village, but why not some in-town camping space as well? If it works in Howard and in Brookings, why not here? For a minimal investment in infrastructure -- add a few plug-ins and an extra outhouse to an existing park, like Frisbee Park, or even to some of the vacant floodplain land along the creek -- we get some extra revenue for the City Parks and Recreation Department. We draw some more campers and business to town. Maybe we even get some of the tax-frugal RV crowd establishing their residency here through MyDakotaAddress.com to actually spend some time and money here!

Let's get to it Madison! Howard's beating us out, and we can't have that!

Howard Has High Hopes -- and Real Results!

As Mrs. Madville Times and I huddle together over the warm glow of the Internet, she directs my attention to some good news about Miner County, posted by Bernie Hunhoff at South Dakota Magazine ["Howard: Opportunity Lives Here," 2007.07.26]. Between the Knight Carver windmill plant, organic beef, and the Rural Learning Center (not to mention hiring our friend Joe Bartmann!), the Miner County Community Revitalization project is doing something right. According to stats Hunhoff cites from the latest MCCR newsletter,

the county’s annual gross sales have grown forty-two percent in the last four years. The Howard school has gained 35 students and the poverty rate has dropped from 14.3 percent to 8.4 percent. Wages have increased twenty-five percent in the last five years.

That's data no economic development specialist can ignore! Maybe every South Dakota county with license plates starting with two digits (and maybe some of the single-digit crowd, too!) should send a delegation to Howard, Fedora, Canova, and Carthage (don't forget Straw Bale Days!) and find out what lessons Miner County has for other rural areas looking to reverse their declining economic fortunes.

As is so often the case, a change of mindset could be making the biggest difference. In a pleasingly profound closing comment, Hunhoff says,

The best news is that the city and county citizens now realizes that as civilizations go they are actually in their infancy — not their declining years as previously feared. What a difference that makes in a man’s outlook … or a town’s.

Our better days always lie ahead....

Green Activity Surges in Eastern SD

Hippie Communes Sure to Follow

Progressives, take heart! As spring begins to bring forth green on the ground and in the trees, it also appears to be eliciting more green behavior from residents of our fair domain.

• Monday's Madison Daily Leader showed a photo of the installation of Madison welder Craig Van Hove's homemade wind turbine on the roof of his shop. Rather than the typical tall tower with three long blades spinning in a verticalcircle, Van Hove has designed a windmill shaped more like an anemometer inside a broad, flat can, which funnels the wind to blades that spin in a circle parallel to the roof.
• The Knight and Carver wind-blade manufacturing company has officially opened over in Howard, promising as many as 50 good green jobs in the next couple of years.
• The Interlakes Water Quality Committee won from the City Commission Monday a resolution supporting the use of zero-phosphorus lawn fertilizer throughout the city. Phosphorus is one of the major causes of the pungent algae blooms our local lakes experience in the summer, and fertilizer is the major source of that phosphorus.

So, potential progressive entrepreneurs and relocaters: don't be fooled by our all-Republican state government or the Fox News feed on our local city-promotion website (yup, it's still there). Lake and Miner County may not be a hippie haven (yet), but there are plenty of folks working to do good things for the earth.