SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Sioux Falls City Councilor Christine Erickson says she’ll vote for more funding for the controversial downtown parking ramp, and her fellow councilors will probably vote alongside her.
City administration asked the council for $1.5 million in extra funding for the ramp at Tuesday night’s meeting. The ramp was originally slated to have a hotel and other commercial development on top of it as part of the Village on the River project.
That part of the development has since fallen through, leaving the city with extra costs to make the site a stand-alone ramp.
Some councilors bristled at the proposal on Tuesday, claiming they hadn’t been given enough time to consider the details of the project. They pushed back the vote to the following week’s meeting.
Erickson acknowledged the ramp is an “emotional and sensitive topic,” but said most of the council feels they need to spend the additional money to make the structure useable.
“We want to protect that investment,” Erickson said. “We need to be able to use it. We need to get the parking in our system and start generating some income.”
Erickson said she sat down with Mayor TenHaken on Wednesday to get on the same page about the project, and some councilors are working on taking a tour of the site.
“At the end of the day, I think everyone wants to see the development take place,” Erickson said. “This is going to be an awesome project someday.”
Erickson appeared on The Greg Belfrage Show Thursday morning. Listen to the full interview here.
(KELO.com’s Mark Russo contributed to this report.)
