Several people have been asking about upcoming forums. I do know that there is a planned one for sure with the Chamber. I encourage everyone to reach out to the local media and see if they will sponsor debates also the neighborhood associations, and League of Women Voters! The Argus is also publishing soon a questionaire.
By l3wis
4 thoughts on “Sioux Falls City Council Homebuilders Candidate Forum”
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I would love to sit down with Munson, Huether, and ThuneHaken ask them all the following question:
“Did you ever sit down with the developers in our fair city and ask them why they were not building affordable (accessible?), middle class, tract homes?”….
And if so:
“Did you ever demand that they do that, else planning and zoning might become a problem for their other projects?”…
It seems to me that what we missing at city hall is a leader, but instead we have been getting nothing but enablers and spokesmen for the establishment and their development dreams. Because everything in this city seems to be about downtown or else Taupeville, but where are the tract housing developments for our fair city? And I am not talking about slab home (no basement) developments either for a city that had three simultaneous tornadoes in one night.
When will we actually have a mayoral debate?
When will we see a real debate between council candidates instead of introduce yourself for five minutes?
Disappointed New Resident,
Welcome to Sioux Falls and South Dakota, where we treat our elections much like middle school student council popularity contests.
It is more important for you to know if, or not a candidate sits at the same table as the cool kids.
We don’t need no stinkin’ debates about actual issues.
Our campaigns place priority on “same table as the cool kids” photo opps and campaign tactics.
Pics of candidates with prospective incumbent colleagues connote, “hey, the cool kids will let us sit at their table.”
Pics of candidates for different positions on the same governing body gathered together at joint fundraising events, the same fundraising events for which the cool kids list and publish their names as a means of communicating a message of approval.
‘Cuz it is more important that, as a constituent, you know that the candidate(s) will be allowed to sit with the cool kids.
Governing processes by elected officials have often been compared to making sausage (“you really don’t want to watch the sausage being made; you really don’t want to know how the sausage is made”).
In proper function of a governing body, there should be some debate and disagreement.
The cool kids will describe as “rancor” and “descention”, the debate and disagreement which is part of a normal functioning governing body. The people who don’t agree in lock step with the cool kids are described as “road blocks to progress”.
The “cool kids photo opps” and campaign tactics are important because the candidates want you to know that they will not engage in the ugliness and discomfort which accompanies disagreement with the agenda of the cool kids.
In a sense, they are inviting you, “come see us make the sausage. We even sing kumbya … together … at the table of the cool kids … as we make our sausage.”
In fact, however, these candidates (and the cool kids who are endorsing them) aren’t really inviting you to see the sausage making.
They are only inviting you to come see them hang the sausages in the meat case. (See also: Transparency, Lack thereof, also a hallmark of Sioux Falls and South Dakota governance).
Disappointed New Resident,
I did see that AL Media snd Dakota News Now will sponsor a mayoral debate on Monday, April 4, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., Washington Pavilion.