from the Argus:
RAPID CITY — Rapid City residents have rejected a proposed $180 million expansion of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.
Unofficial returns from Tuesday’s election show 61 percent of the 12,902 voters were against the idea.
Was it a civic center too big to chew on? Or did supporters fail to make the sale?
And does it affect the mayor’s so far unopposed re-election at all?
Allender will be announcing on Monday or Tuesday.
Apparently this had the potential to tie up all the city’s available monies for infrastructure for the next several years and was a much larger and more expensive project than needed. Four previous mayors and a previous financial director for the city were against it and presented good arguments. There is a difference between needs and a wish list of items when dealing with ADA compliance issues and the questionable need for a bigger facility. Parking was going to be a huge issue also. Now maybe the powers that be can come up with a more sensible approach to this.
I don’t think Mayor Kooiker can be defeated. He played this situation perfectly.
I was surprised at the win margin. Thought it would be closer to 50/50. It won’t surprise me if the thing still gets built, just funded a different way.
How can anyone in RC justify having a bigger (and more expensive) events center than Sioux Falls? I know there’s a little jealousy/rivalry at play but SF has over twice the population. I see wanting to update the facility (and fixing the ADA issues) but this seemed a little excessive.
It’s a ploy! They always come with some huge plan, then they will come back with a more common sense approach.
More political games.
A snip from the Argus heralding another Rapid City drubbing: priceless.