I am Bruce Danielson, I live out in the west side of town. I’m not in part of any one of the neighborhoods that have any of these questions….
As members of four current Sioux Falls citizen petition efforts, we ask the following:
The city of Sioux Falls, as of the September 2013 voter purge, had approximately 50,000 active registered voters or voters who actively go to the polls since 2008.
We meet here today as a group of active citizens to file a petition on behalf of the 25,000+ petition signers who have decided to help guide the city into the future. Our petition signers asked us to help them with issues close to their hearts. These issues have been raised because we have a city administration and bureaucracy not responding to the citizen requests for a place in the decision process.
Our signers have felt excluded in all of these issues brought forward since 2012.
On Tuesday, at the February 4, 2014 City Council Informational meeting, we witnessed members of the administration admitting to exclusion of the public in their decision to push forward, on a swimming pool concept the petition signers have not placed on the April 2014 city ballot. Sioux Falls city Director Kearney let it be known he has ‘cleared’ his schedule to persuade, educate or lead the public in the administration’s pro-pool debate.
We saw this action when the snowgate petition gatherers were told by city employees and contractors how their superiors were interfering in their process. The citizens watched as city leaders worked data for the results they needed. The snowgaters only asked for a citizen debate on a benefit to be utilized by all.
The Shape Places debate and zoning issues had to fight the building, zoning and police departments plus the mayor’s office to get the petitions done in the 20 days set by law.
In the end, each of these efforts was successful in reaching the ballot. Now we are joining together in submitting a new petition. This petition drive will commence because we have found our city charter and state law do not stop government officials from interfering in the citizen’s right to openly debate the issues.
Now we present the citizens of Sioux Falls a question. Do you want the elective representatives and employees of the City of Sioux Falls to use tax dollars collected from them, to be used to interfere in our open citizen dialog?
Why shouldn’t the citizens of Sioux Falls, once an issue is placed for open consideration, have the public discussion and debate without government interference? This is what we ask for, the American way.
UPDATE: Bruce responds to the quote city attorney Fiddle-Faddle recited in the Argus today:
‘The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate’: – Jefferson
In answer to City Attorney Pfeifle, we are not educated voting adults who can’t discern fact from fiction, or truth from lies?
We have government employees using the power of their positions trying to tell us what to think and then to do. A bureaucrat with an edifice building agenda gets to tell us the owners of the society what debate we are to have on any issue. Are to be led by the nose like livestock, to the slaughter also? We have asked for a real chance to be part of the decision process.
We ask only for true debate on these four issues and any others future generations bring to the forefront. We do not wish debates clouded by government employees using our tax money fighting our messages.
So yes, let’s have a spirited debate Mr. Pfeifle. You as a private citizen, not using the power and money of your office. We are just average Americans of Sioux Falls, SD who wish to form opinions based on the facts debated in open forums. Once the people put forth their petitions for public acceptance, debate and then legal votes recorded, the government is the impartial observer with no voice in the debate.
Referendums and initiatives are designed to be the people’s equilibrium to entrenched power. Fellow citizens of Sioux Falls have placed four issues before their neighbors and we now start a fifth. We would not have considered this latest effort had city officials not spent so much money, time and power to shut down our Constitutional right for a fair and open debate.
So quote our founding fathers to cloud the debates. For every cute, out of context quote, another could be added. Let’s have a real discussion.