SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- It's not easy being on the outside looking in at Sioux Falls City Hall and the Council chamber for some community activists.
At yesterday's City Council meeting, Mayor Mike Huether gaveled down activist Bruce Danielson after Danielson made remarks critical of the City's inspection program and last December's Copper Lounge building collapse.
In the public forum part of City Council meetings, citizens are supposed to get five minutes to speak their minds. Danielson got a minute and a half before being "gonged" by the mayor. Danielson is a frequent public input commenter and has an often adversarial relationship with Huether.
Still, he keeps up with the issues, attends lots of public meetings, and as an informed citizen, thinks he has something to add to the public discourse on important city matters.
"I know that people (on the Council) don't understand what public input is all about," Danielson said. "They think we're just a bunch of unruly radicals."
Another frequent speaker to the Council during public input is David Zokaites, who is running for mayor in 2018. He considers himself a grassroots candidate.
He also realizes that he has a difficult process ahead of him if he wants to replace Huether, who is term limited, as Sioux Falls' next mayor.
"Having a run-off favors wealth in the campaign," Zokaities said. "Because if you don't have enough votes in the first go around, it's hard to campaign for three weeks as a grassroots guy. How many doors can you knock on in three weeks?"
What you might hear at public input can vary.
Past meetings have featured citizens dressed as Norse gods who addressed the Council with their Norse names. Danielson has brought a bag of goods he's collected from various city projects and reflected--and joked--on how they could still be useful. And yesterday, one resident just wanted to thank the city for sending the street sweeper down his street.
