Join us on April 26 at The Journey Museum. Download the flyer here. Crompton Lecture/Forum Flyer.
Be a Friend of Rapid City Parks
Dear Friend,
I was riding my bike on the path that runs through the city last week, my mind reflecting on the wonderful revitalization of our downtown area and the preservation of our green spaces we have worked so hard to prioritize. I think you will agree with me that there is no place like Rapid City, and our outstanding parks are part of the reason.
Forty years ago, however, that very space was covered with water… and was the site of more than 200 deaths in 1972 as the tiny creek bed that runs through our great city became an unexpected, rushing, rapid river. From that point forward, Rapid City and its leaders and citizens have worked diligently to ensure that building development along Rapid Creek would never, ever happen again.
“People must be vigilant,” former Rapid City Mayor Don Barnett said in the Rapid City Journal a few years ago. “Whenever it has been tried, it has failed. The only thing that will preserve it is if people remain attentive. [We] have to beat it back every time.”
This is our mission—and the need for vigilance has never been greater. Today, we once again turn to you for your support. As the 40th anniversary of the tragic 1972 flood approaches in June, please add your voice to the hundreds of citizens within our community committed to our green spaces by making a commemorative gift of $19.72—an amount that calls us to remember those who perished in the flood. A generous matching gift of up to $5,000 to Friends of Rapid City Parks means $19.72 becomes $37.44, and $100 becomes $200, and so on. This will help us to reach our $10,000 goal by June.
Your tax deductible gift and membership will help Friends of Rapid City Parks surpass our goals this year:
- Acquire at least one of the parcels designated by the Floodplain Development Committee as “park”
- Press for adoption of an ordinance that adds parkland to the municipal system
- Urge the removal of the tennis court at Eighth Street, restoring green space along that section of Rapid Creek
- Support the Vision 2012 Project, which calls for completion of the storm water, trail and beautification project at West Boulevard and Omaha Street
- Champion increases to the park and recreation budget to support their increasing responsibilities
- Encourage engagement and increase visibility for park-related educational programs
As I look back on 2011, I am so proud of what we have accomplished together. We averted development in Braeburn Park and engaged hundreds of citizens in civic conversation about the greenway that runs through our city. We signed petitions, wrote alderman and spoke out at city council meetings.
But we’ve done more than just “opposed” development. We’ve thrown our support, time and talent to the creation of new parks, fielded volunteers for park clean-up days and helped to plan the Urban Orchard Project and Fat Tire Festival. We’ve shown—through action—what being “in and of a community” really means.
Our green “ribbon” in Rapid City distinguishes us from all other cities in the country. Let’s keep it that way! With your active membership and financial support, we will—together—we will honor those who lost their lives 40 years ago, continue our good work and preserve this legacy for future generations.
Steve McCarthy
Why do Friends care about billboards?
Fully one third of our municipal parks lie in the towering shadow or flickering lights of a billboard.
From swings and sliding boards, from gazebos and flower gardens, the view exhorts us to eat, drink, buy, sell, visit and vote.
Friends of Rapid City Parks thinks the view within a municipal park should be framed by trees, clouds and the angles of the swings and slides. Our parks are a legacy for future generations. That means protecting the visual appeal and serenity of this green space in the midst of our busy and growing community.
On June 7, we hope you will join us in supporting consistent new rules that keep Rapid City scenic, and keep the beer bottles and bikini bottoms out of the view from first base, a comfy bench or the sandbox.
You can learn more about the two proposals that will be on the ballot, as well as what citizens are doing to clean up the view of our town, at Scenic Rapid City.
How many excuses can we find to pave Sacred Ground?
A proposed $7 million field house that fits between the swim center and the ice rink, provides gym and recreation space for adults and kids, and was envisioned in the original plans for the swim center got a preliminary nod of approval for $3.4 million in 2012 Vision Funds from the city council last week.
Friends of Rapid City Parks opposed the original building in Roosevelt Park in 2002, the ice rink in 2003, and objects to use of 2012 Vision Funds for the third component—the field house. All three projects stand on sacred ground: the memorial greenway designated after the 1972 flood.
The Rapid City Park system is a wonderful ribbon of green running through our city. This legacy created as a result of the tragic 1972 flood has been called the “jewel of Rapid City.” It is a refuge from the noise of the city, a place to picnic, jog, walk our dogs, bike, and for our families to participate in a variety of outdoor recreational activities. It would be hard for any of us to think of Rapid City without it.
But this jewel needs to be protected, polished and cherished. In the nearly 40 years since the Flood more than 60 buildings have been erected in the park, the most recent a new gymnasium at the expanded Central High School. If we continue at this pace our wonderful parkland will be nothing but buildings and parking lots.
Friends of Rapid City Parks do not oppose recreational facilities. What we object to is the assumption that because land is in the greenway it comes without a cost. The cost was paid dearly in lives and property in 1972. The community made a commitment to honor that loss with a memorial park, not with shoulder-to-shoulder sports facilities.
We cannot afford to use this narrow green ribbon to stack building after building, pave acre after acre, install one facility after another to accommodate recreational demands.
We need to expand our park system with acquisition of green space and land for recreational facilities away from the center of town. Rapid Creek and the greenway along it cannot continue to bear the brunt of every demand for parking, buildings, tracks, pools, and other amenities related to our amusement.
Contact your city council members to let them know you don’t want another building desecrating sacred ground. The link will take you to the city council page where you can email members.
Pitch In on Rapid City Clean-up Day
Earth Day isn’t just one day a year. Help Rapid City clean up this spring during a week long “city pride” event that includes recycling, parks clean-ups, and other events. You can read more about it here.
“Pave Paradise, Put up a Parking Lot”
In the immortal words of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” song, FRCP has some concerns about paving more of Rapid City’s green ribbon to accommodate parking. When the greenway is so popular that we have to cover it with parking spaces in order to enjoy it, we are in danger of loving our town’s most precious feature to death.
Friends of Rapid City Parks has been following the Founders Park improvements project since spring. We applaud the Parks Department for improvements to trails, but we have concerns that the “improvements” include a huge swath of paving from Founders Park all the way to Cross Street in order to add parking spaces.
We have met with Parks Department officials and designers of the project to express our ideas about avoiding the addition of hard surface in the greenway.
If you attend the Open House, ask about permeable surface, how many parking spaces are really needed (considering that neither the Farmers Market nor the proposed Whitewater Park will be at Founders in the future). You can read about the project here and download a copy of our comments.
Speak up for Rapid City Parks
You can make a difference in how your tax dollars are spent in our city parks. Citizen comments on proposals to spend 2012 Vision funds are encouraged, as is your attendance at public meetings. Click here to fill out a comment form. Or see a schedule of public meetings. Read more about how Friends of Rapid City Parks views these proposals and why: