The Soul of the City
Eight months of knocking doors, sitting at kitchen tables, and listening. Here is what I believe Sioux Falls is, and what we have the chance to become together.
I want to ask you something I've been sitting with for a long time.
"What kind of Sioux Falls do we want to build?"
Not the brochure version. Not the talking points. The real version. The one you feel when you walk through your neighborhood, when you sit across from a neighbor, when you look at a kid and wonder what kind of city they're going to inherit.
That question has a real answer. And I think we know it.
We want a city where everyone feels heard. Not just the people who already know how to work the room. Not just the ones who've been around long enough to know which meetings matter. Everyone.
We want a city where the good of the many carries more weight than the interests of the few. Where transparency is not a press release. It's a standard practice. Where you don't need a connection or a consultant to understand what your city government is doing and why.
We want a city that takes care of its neighborhoods, all of them. Where your neighbor's struggle is not just their problem. It's ours. Because that's what community actually means. Your issues are not personal burdens. They are community ventures. And we solve them together.
Why Local Government Is Different
City council shapes your commute, your street safety, your permit process, and whether affordable housing gets built, and for whom. It decides who gets heard before a vote and who finds out after. And in a world that can feel completely out of our hands, this is the place where your participation is structural, not symbolic.
Where It Started
Eight months ago, my dad opened our restaurant on an ordinary Tuesday and put up the first yard sign. No cameras. No ceremony. Just him, a sign, and a quiet belief that his son could do something for this city.
He came here in 1993. A refugee. He worked the lines at Morrell's. He and my mom opened the first Vietnamese restaurant in Sioux Falls, raised three boys, and after years of hard work, they own the building. They built something real here because this city gave them a chance.
That chance had a price they could meet.
Not every family can meet today's price. And that is why I am running.
What THE CAMPAIGN Taught Me
I have sat at a lot of kitchen tables this campaign. I have knocked a lot of doors. I have stood at the Saturday Market and talked with vendors who love this city and worry about what it's becoming. I walked a Pride Parade for the first time. I visited African church communities across Sioux Falls with my friend David Matadi. I sat down with union members who built the physical Sioux Falls we walk through every single day.
Different rooms. Different communities. The same thing in all of them.
We want to be part of the conversation before the decision is already made.
That is not a complicated ask. It is just fair.
What I heard at those tables is not frustration with Sioux Falls. People love this city. They are proud of it. They brag about it the way you brag about something you helped build.
What they feel is a gap. Between growth and the people growth is supposed to serve. Between City Hall and the neighborhoods it was built to protect. Between the Sioux Falls that gets announced at press conferences and the one their family actually lives in.
That gap is real. And it is the whole reason I am in this race.
The Moment That Stays With Me
On January 6th, I was at City Hall. I was the only candidate in this race who showed up that night.
Hundreds of neighbors filled the chamber. Parents. Renters. Retirees. Young people stepping into civic life for the first time. They did everything right. They showed up, testified, and trusted the process.
The council heard them. Then voted to approve the zoning for a data center anyway.
I have thought about that night a lot. Not because of the outcome. Because of what it costs.
The hardest people to lose are the ones who just found a reason to show up.
A city that wants to keep people engaged has to earn that engagement. Communicate early. Listen before the decision is made. Treat public comment as a real part of the process, not a box to check.
That is what a city that actually listens looks like.
What Makes This City Extraordinary
Sioux Falls is not one thing. It is the accumulation of everyone who chose it.
It is the grandparents who came here with nothing and built something. Their children raising families here. Their grandchildren who know these streets as well as anyone born here three generations back.
It is Jordan Taylor, who grew up here, left to learn, and came back, because he believed this city deserved what he'd become. It is my brother Tony cooking the recipes our family carried for decades, the two of them making something at a shared table neither had made before.
It is the woman who painted a hopscotch on a sidewalk and got twenty minutes of real conversation from a candidate who stopped to try it.
It is the union worker who poured the concrete and wired the building and never asked for a parade.
It is my dad, quietly swapping a small yard sign for a four-by-eight, right out front. Same spot. Same man. The belief just a little louder.
That is the soul of Sioux Falls. Not any one story. All of them, woven into the same city.
The City We Are Fighting For
When I think about what kind of Sioux Falls I want to build, I think about specific people.
The young person who graduated from a Sioux Falls high school and wonders whether to come back or leave for somewhere that feels more possible.
The neighbor who showed up to city hall, testified, and left wondering if it mattered.
I am running for all of them. Closing the gap between people and systems that were not built for them is not a skill I found. It is who I am.
Vote JUNE 23rd
The world is loud right now. Divisive. It can feel like the decisions that matter most are made somewhere far away, by people who are not thinking about you.
But that is not true at the local level.
Here, your participation is not symbolic. It shapes what actually happens. It decides who sits at the table. It determines whether your street, your neighborhood, your family's shot at this city gets considered.
There is no reason not to vote tomorrow. And every reason to.
Because defining the soul of Sioux Falls is not something I can do alone. It takes all of us. The neighbors who show up. The families who believe the process is worth trusting. The people who refuse to let someone else write the story of our city without them.
So go vote. Bring someone with you.
It's always been our city. And now is our moment.
Let's rise together. ☀️
Vince Danh
Candidate, Sioux Falls City Council At-Large | Runoff June 23, 2026