RAPID CITY—Friends of Rapid City Parks is asking the city council to reconsider giving the nod to construction of yet another building in the memorial greenway, an act the organization describes as “desecration of sacred ground.”
“We don’t object to another field house; we want the city to find another location that would serve the recreational needs of our community” said Steve McCarthy, president of Friends of Rapid City Parks. The organization was founded to protect, preserve and promote Rapid City parks and has fought development in the greenway, set aside as a memorial to those who died in the 1972 flood.
“In the years since then,” McCarthy said, “more than 60 structures have been erected in the park. If we don’t stop encroaching on this sacred ground, our park land will be nothing but a strip of bricks and pavement through the heart of the community.”
McCarthy pointed out that the city has community gyms at South and West middle schools, and justified construction of a new Central High School gym on park land because it will serve as a community recreational facility.
Friends objected to construction of the swim center and ice arena in the park in 2002, and has spoken against expanded parking lots that have paved over acres of greenway land along Rapid Creek.
“We understand the rationale of building the new field house in a central location on land the city already owns, connecting to existing buildings,” McCarthy said. “But that land is not ‘free.’ It came at a very high price. We are asking the city to keep its commitment to the memory of those who paid for it with their lives.”