Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We are thinking of moving from San Antonio to one of these areas (to be closer to family)…..Des Moines, Sioux Falls, Omaha or Lincoln. You can always find out the best things about a city, but what is the worst? What do you dislike about living in Sioux Falls(besides the weather)?
I like the area overall but will note somethings I do not like about the city.
1. Traffic. Yes, it is a city of 155,000 and yes it has been growing at a good clip for the past 25 years. Traffic does not flow the best in spots and the drivers' sense of traffic flow is not the best. I have driven in larger cities and find it easier to drive in than Sioux Falls for that reason. It seem as people are driving as though they are in a small town a fraction of its size and it is not a small town anymore (when it comes to traffic and roads wise).
2. Roads in town, some of the roads have too many potholes and others should be widened. I-29 between the 26th St. exit and Tea exit is a posterchild example (even though it depends on Federal and State funding). Another is 41st St. The past few wet/snowy years have not done any favors to the roads. The current mayor is working to address this.
3. Diversity of Employment. Yes, Sioux Falls has a strong economy and good business climate, but it needs to diversify its employment base to have continued sustainable growth in the future and allow more young people to stay and advance and others to move up the food chain.
4. Lack of full-fledged state university. The city has University Center whcih fills a need for non-traditional students but does not have a full fledged state university. It was a mistake for the city to go with the state pennitentary instead of a state univeristy. If Sioux Falls had a state university, it would have more research-based jobs and knowledge jobs that pay better and would have a very lively downtown (and attract tourists for additional jobs and revenue).
5. Concentration of Shopping. This can be interpreted in a couple of ways. Sioux Falls has good shopping options but have traditionally been concentrated in the Empire Mall area and lack of a second major shopping area. It is getting better with the development of the Dawley Farm area. The other way of looking is limited grocery store choices. Hy-Vee vs. Wal-Mart, which Hy-Vee is good but would like another choice or two. Sunshine has the downtown store and Franklin Food Mart on north Cliff, but both serve the neighborhoods and are not major competitors to Wal-Mart and Hy-Vee. Target has limited groceries.
Sioux Falls is overall a nice place, but these four are my dislikes about Sioux Falls.
compared to any large city such as milwaukee or chicago, traffic is still a breeze. The potholes are bad but honestly traveling to Wisconsin a few weeks back they are bad everywhere. What I don't like are the dips some towns have in their residential roads for water drainage. No town in WI has these, first I saw them was out here in south dakota in Madison and Brookings. And brookings has some roads set up where the intersections with no dips have the stop sign, and the ones with the dip get to go.. kind of strange. Seems like a very ghettoish way to handle water drainage rather then adding more storm drains.
University would be a nice addition, but Brookings has one and the two towns can sort of complement each other and help to develop the I-29 corridor between them.
It would be good for Sioux Falls to partner up with Brookings, Vermillion, and even Sioux City as a broader region to stregthen the economy and other aspects of the region overall. Sioux Falls may start with Brookings and the cooperation would benefit both in the long run. Stockwiz, the complementing of Brookings and Sioux Falls is a good idea.
With me noting my dislike of not being more diversification in the job market for Sioux Falls in the prior post, the cooperation between the communities will help combat the issue and lift all or most boats in a figurative sense.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
