The decisions that shape your daily life — your safety, your neighborhood, your opportunity — aren't decided hundreds of miles away. They're decided right here at City Hall. And that's where your voice matters most.

In 2016, bridge construction near my parents' restaurant nearly put them out of business. Nobody really talked to them about it — decisions were made about them, without them. I heard that same fear from neighbors this week at the data center vote. Same fear. Different project.

The arts aren't optional. They're how neighborhoods come alive. They're how we connect across difference. They're how a kid from an immigrant family finds their place in a city. Sioux Falls is building a 10-year arts and culture plan — and your voice belongs in it.

Walking the Parade of Lights route, I kept coming back to one question: what does this city look like for the kids watching from the sidewalk tonight? Do they grow up and stay? Do they feel like Sioux Falls has room for them? That's not abstract to me.