sioux falls,bad things ? (Rapid City, Dallas: loans, new home, unemployment rate)

[klindshill]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Klindshill, do you feel that things will improve in time? They often say it takes up to two years to readjust to a move. I wouldn't know specifics, but I'm sure a move from TX to SD does take a lot of adjustment.

Well being a military spouse I move so much. I do however, hope that things here do improve.

[SD snowbird]

Born in Iowa, but raised in SD since the age of 3, first in the Huron area until age 15, then Aberdeen until 5 years ago, now Sioux Falls. Don't really know any different, and haven't had a lot of opportunity to travel, in fact I've only been to North Dakota twice.

Sioux Falls has the most in the way of things to do, except maybe out in the hills. The thing I have the most problem with is that most of the "things to do", the cost of these things keep them out of reach of the average person on a regular basis. Like, we've been here 5 years and the only time our son has been to the Washington Pavillion is with his school classes.
Mind you we live on the north end of town, near the prison. Now, we could move to a "nicer" neighborhood, we could probably afford it now that I'm not a student anymore but I really like my neighbors. The day we moved in, one of the ladies on the block (she works less than 1/2 a block from her house in a neighborhood store) put out the word that we had a 8 year old and there were kids here to make friends within the hour.
People around town look at me in pity, like I'm white trash, when I tell them where I live. I really could care less.
My thing is that I went to school and got degrees in Horticulture and Landscape Design -- now what the hell am I going to do with that here?? Work seasonally with no benefits and low wages, or I can do what I'm doing now, work in the kitchen in a retirement home where I have 40 hours a week, year round, benefits, all the good stuff and not real happy. I chose my degrees because it's what I love -- now I'm looking to get out. Most of my posting and surfing on this site is done on the Louisiana boards. Planning a move in March 09.

My points here are: South Dakota is a great place to raise kids, live and work. All depends on what you want to spend your life doing. Cost of living isn't bad, crime isn't either if you compare to other states (note that the south end of town gets a lot more crime than where I live, and people look at me funny for living on the north end), people are mostly friendly and helpful, traffic can be stressful but that depends on your opinion. I come from a much smaller town so it makes me crazy, coming from a much larger city it's probably gonna be a cake walk. Schools are mostlly good -- I have one massive complaint -- my son has been in this school district since 2nd grade and he CANNOT read or write in cursive -- can't sign his own name -- and the school district is not one bit concerned.
There are things to do, we get some pretty cool concerts, been to quite a few recently. Employment isn't hard to find, just depends on what you want to do and what you're willing to do for a while until you find what you want.
I say, the place is what you make of it. If you're looking for a slower pace, Sioux Falls has that compared to big cities, but we are growing. Schools here range from the Very Good to the Bad, just be selective.

As for me, I'm leaving, and it's not because I don't particularly like it here, it's just because I can't do what I love here. Need to be somewhere warmer.

[Jammie]

Snowbird, ditto on the wanting a warmer place.

What made you chose La., if I may ask? What's your favorite area there?

[SD snowbird]

Jammie-
I was looking at Texas, but don't really want to compete for my job in that market, would like to make a living wage. I say this because we were looking along the coast. I chose La because watching all the coverage of the hurricanes and the damage down there, I wanted to cry for those people. Makes me think that it would be a good place to teach my son about volunteering, about helping others who really need it and appreciate it.
Since I have the education I do, I think that b/w New Orleans and Baton Rouge would be about perfect. Along the river road somewhere, lots of plantations where I might be able to work as a groundskeeper or gardener.

[TheTransientTranny]

This is a wonderful resource of information, for those that are looking to move to other cities or states! Having said that .... I created an account here SPECIFICALLY to put in my two cents about the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Folks, this city ain't 'all that'. Jobs in Sioux Falls, if you aren't educated above the bachelor's degree level, in a word.....SUCK. I went to the overrated, WAY overpriced private university Colorado Technical University, and I have never received such a poor education in any of the colleges I've been to. I've been to colleges in Massachusetts and Kentucky, and those schools were nowhere near as bad as what I experienced (and heard first-hand from those that went to them) in Sioux Falls. It may not be the greatest example in the world, but the music programs at the high schools in Sioux Falls stink. The most successful marching band in the state of South Dakota, at the time I lived in the state, was Roosevelt High School and that program couldn't TOUCH any of the good-to-great programs in Kentucky. It's funny, because I ran into a drum instructor for the Roosevelt program, and he happened to have worked with programs in Kentucky, and he said the same thing. I went to see some state-wide (maybe it was a regional contest? can't remember) championship contest, and the calibre of competition was horrible. Of course Roosevelt won the grand championship, but their performance, again, was nothing like what I've seen from programs in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and so on. Of course they *thought* they were all that, but anyway......

I want to get back to the jobs in that city. It seemed at the time I lived there (1997-2000) that most of the jobs were call-center type jobs. I was never interested in such jobs. There were some factory jobs, and I worked them, but the pay there was bad, too. The people seemed alright, though. Not really that nice, but tolerable. At the time, though, there was a lot of talk about how fast-growing and aggressive a city Sioux Falls, was, but there sure wasn't much in the way of growth.

If you are looking for things to do, I can not imagine that Sioux Falls has grown all that much since I left. When I was there, there was NOTHING to do except travel down 41st Street and hang around Best Buy. The mall there was NOTHING like Fayette mall (Lexington, KY) and even that mall is small.

I happen to love snow and severe thunderstorms. When I arrived there in 2007, I think it was in February, they had just had a big snowstorm, and it was bitterly cold. I had just gotten off the Greyhound bus and thought my nose was going to turn into a piece of ice and fall off. I was ill-prepared for the cold temperatures, that's for sure. When I left Lexington, it was 53 degrees and sprinkling. That much I remember. Anyway.....I was under the impression that Sioux Falls gets a lot of snow. They don't. It's just that the snows they get tend to stick around because it stays so cold for so many months. In the four years I was there the biggest snows we got were from 'thundersnows', where the moisture from the western shores of the great lakes wraps back around and combines to with the artic front over the northern plains states. Other than that, I can't tell you how many snowstorms seeemd to die just before they got to Sioux Falls, then after they left the city would pick up again as they got into Minnesota. That really sucked. The same thing for severe thunderstorms. There would be tornado warnings just west of Sioux Falls, and the freaking storms would break up as they went over the river in Sioux Falls, and get stronger after they passed the city. At the time I lived there, there had NEVER been a documented tornado IN Sioux Falls. Yet, I will never forget one day that there was a tornado warning, and the people of Sioux Falls were acting like the world was going to end. My neighbor from the upstairs apartment was taking most of her valuables down into the basement. People were running for their lives. I just laughed at their ability to over-react to anything. It reminded me a lot of people in the south who freak out and empty store shelves when there is a forecast of "an inch or two of snow". I mean, Jesus.

In a nutshell, I think that unless you are retired and want to live in a city in the middle of nowhere, and don't care to really do anything with your time, Sioux Falls is not the place to go.

[Chris19]

The TransientTranny, there are things that I do not care for Sioux Falls, but it is better than a number of other cities and does not have the extent of crime and social ills that are prevelent in larger cities or those in other parts of the country. It does not have the economic stagnation and problems prevelent in pockets around the country. The city is within four hours of the Twin Cities and two and a half from Omaha. If you want middle of nowhere, move to the central part of South Dakota. I do not care much for the drivers: poky and having no concept of traffic flow. I wonder if you came across the poky and clueless drivers in Sioux Falls? Yes, I can be nitpicky when I drive but some drivers in Sioux Falls need to go back to driver's ed.

[TheTransientTranny]

Originally Posted by SonicsFan93

Nothing to do?!?!?! Are you sure?Moderator cut: Word changed

Sioux Falls has 4 Minor League Professional Sports Teams (Canaries Baseball, Storm Football, Skyforce Basketball, Stampede Hockey), and there is always one of them in season, with various major leaguers like Roy Tarpley and Pat Mahomes

There are various festivals throughout the year like JazzFest and RibFest (Loverboy appeared this year).

Concerts are somewhat lacking, but there always seems to be someone at the Arena (Remember Elton John), or the Ramkota Exhibit Hall (They've had Rob Zombie, and Puddle of Mudd), The Birdcage (Three Dog Night in September) or Nutty's North. Then you have Nitwits Comedy Club (Who's had Bobcat Goldthwait, and Tommy Chong makes a yearly appearance).

You've also got the various conventions that come through town like the Boat Show, the Sport Show, the SME Convention (Mary Lou Retton was there this year), and the Farm Show. And Paralympian Cheri Blauwet was at the B'nai B'rith Banquet this year.

Overall, there's ALWAYS something to do in Sioux Falls. Always! And I kind of like the fact that Sioux Falls is the biggest city within 400 miles.

Have you lived anywhere else in the US? If not, you should 'get out more', really. I think the best attraction I saw in Sioux Falls was "Red Green" coming to town for an autograph session (still have it stashed away somewhere). I think that was in 1999. When you have celebrities making appearances year in and year out, and THAT seems to be the talk of the town, then Houston....... we have a problem.

[TheTransientTranny]

Originally Posted by Chris19

The TransientTranny, there are things that I do not care for Sioux Falls, but it is better than a number of other cities and does not have the extent of crime and social ills that are prevelent in larger cities or those in other parts of the country. It does not have the economic stagnation and problems prevelent in pockets around the country. The city is within four hours of the Twin Cities and two and a half from Omaha. If you want middle of nowhere, move to the central part of South Dakota. I do not care much for the drivers: poky and having no concept of traffic flow. I wonder if you came across the poky and clueless drivers in Sioux Falls? Yes, I can be nitpicky when I drive but some drivers in Sioux Falls need to go back to driver's ed.

The traffic and drivers was of least concern to me. I have to think that most could care less about that kind of data, unless you're from NYC or California or some place like that. There are crazy drivers everywhere you go. Also, your definition of "middle of nowhere" is quite different from mine. Where I come from, if you have to travel more than an hour (maybe two hours) you're in the boondocks.

I'm sorry to say this, but that part of your post that I quoted is really quite meaningless. There is economic strife EVERYWHERE in this country right now. The difference is whether you have the funds that allow you to 'oversee' that fact. If it weren't for credit card companies and banks in Sioux Falls, you guys would have little to offer newcomers except a glorified ghost town.

I don't mean to offend you, but I can't help but wonder if you're the mayor of Sioux Falls, because you seem to bend to just about any stretch to defend your city. Have you lived anywhere else in the country? How about the east coast?

[Chris19]

Originally Posted by TheTransientTranny

The traffic and drivers was of least concern to me. I have to think that most could care less about that kind of data, unless you're from NYC or California or some place like that. There are crazy drivers everywhere you go. Also, your definition of "middle of nowhere" is quite different from mine. Where I come from, if you have to travel more than an hour (maybe two hours) you're in the boondocks.

I'm sorry to say this, but that part of your post that I quoted is really quite meaningless. There is economic strife EVERYWHERE in this country right now. The difference is whether you have the funds that allow you to 'oversee' that fact. If it weren't for credit card companies and banks in Sioux Falls, you guys would have little to offer newcomers except a glorified ghost town.

I don't mean to offend you, but I can't help but wonder if you're the mayor of Sioux Falls, because you seem to bend to just about any stretch to defend your city. Have you lived anywhere else in the country? How about the east coast?

Hell no, I am not the mayor of Sioux Falls. If you hated Sioux Falls that much and talk down on the people who like Sioux Falls and live there or in South Dakota, then it was good for you to move where you are more comfortable and do fine and we can deal with one less person with the snobbish attitudes.

Yes, I have been to the east coast and people are psycho drivers who can be morons and there is more of the haves and have nots there too. Too much of a caste-like system out east. Yes, the east coast is a nice place to visit and to live in certain areas. I have no desire moving there. Too expensive and there is too much of stupid snobbery attitude of the rich and a class system there that is too complicated.

People who choose to live in Sioux Falls and rural areas choose to live there for the simpler life and things much more than the culture, classy stuff, etc., etc., etc. Yes, I may come off as defensive, but I do not care for you insulting my post. Thanks and have a good day. May God bless you in your future endeavors.

[Chris19]

Sioux Falls has a strong medical community and is a regional business center for a good chunk of eastern SD, NW IA, and SW MN. It is at the crossroads of two major interstates, which makes it favorable for companies to locate operations there. Yes, some of these operations are not as big as the car plants or huge distribution centers, but Sioux Falls holds its own. Sanford is building a new research park in SW Sioux Falls that will employ many people. Sioux Falls is working to attract technology and biotech companies. Little by little, the momentum is gaining for Sioux Falls to grow and diversifiy.

No, Sioux Falls is not perfect and it is not for everyone. My brother moved to a different city, because he did not care for the Sioux Falls area and wanted to try something different. I can understand why he made that decision. Sioux Falls was not his place, but Sioux Falls is a good place for many. If Sioux Falls is not a good place, then why are people moving to the area? Why are a lot of college graduates in the area choosing to move to Sioux Falls? But there are many who live in Sioux Falls who love the city and take great pride in the city and its neighborhoods. It is a good place to raise a family and get a good start. For one who likes the overrated big city yuppie night life stuff or shop at Nordstroms or Bloomingdales, then Sioux Falls is not a good city. I like Sioux Falls for what it is and see faults in it but see a lot of promise and potential. At least we do not have gang and crime problem as the some of the hellhole ghettos in other parts of the country.

I may be passionate about Sioux Falls, but if I should be if I lived in the area and care about it deeply. The problem with many communities is that people are not passionate about their homes, neigborhoods, etc. If there were more people passionate about their neighborhoods, we would not have near the crime or social ills that we have now. I grew up in a nearby small town where everyone knew everyone else and their business. Yes, it was annoying from time to time, but we all banded together in times of trouble and disaster. The noseyness helps deter crime. That must be why crime is relatively low in many small towns in SD along with the Upper Midwest.