After nine months of documentation, background research, public meetings, drafts and revisions, the final product of the Rapid City Comprehensive Plan update is on its way to decision makers. An important guiding tool such as this would usually be kept up to date every five to 10 years, but aside from some subsections, our city’s plan has not been refreshed … Read More
Rapid City’s Ribbon of Green: the Million Dollar View
The value of Nature works not just for tree huggers. In this recent post on Houzz, Mitchell Parker explains why green space enhances our health, well-being, and our pocketbooks. Those who attended talks by parks and economic development expert John Crompton in Rapid City in 2012 and 2013 may recall hearing about many of the same studies. We enjoyed reading … Read More
Parks to Parking Lots, Don’t it always seem to go?
The mission statement of Friends of Rapid City Parks is “To ensure that Rapid City area parks are managed in a way that preserves, protects and promotes this legacy for future generations.” Future generations won’t thank us for a legacy of striped asphalt. And Friends has been opposing turning sacred ground into parking spaces since its founding in 2005. We … Read More
Candidates praise parks, criticize how opponents manage them
In a sometimes intense and acrimonious exchange of views over issues as varied as low income housing, government accountability, and city infrastructure, candidates for mayor and city council took the opportunity to talk about Rapid City’s parks, including the potential for including requirements for park land and open space in a new comprehensive plan that will guide the city’s growth. … Read More
Questions Submitted to Candidates by Friends of Rapid City Parks
Studies have shown that parkland increases values for adjacent property by 20 percent. Even more studies have shown that people will trade off income for quality of life, and that open space is the number one consideration for small, hi-tech companies looking to relocate. At a public forum last year, a panel of local and national experts on parks and … Read More
What value, green space?
Studies have shown that parks and open space increase values for adjacent property by 20 percent. Open space is the number one consideration for small, hi-tech companies looking to relocate, because their highly educated work force is willing to sacrifice high income for high quality of life. Can Rapid City tap the economic growth potential of its parks and open … Read More
Friends presses for park and trail connections in land trade
The Hon. Sam Kooiker Mayor City of Rapid City 300 Sixth Street Rapid City, SD 57702 2 November 2012 Dear Mayor Kooiker, Thank you for asking Friends of Rapid City Parks to comment on the proposed land trade between the city and Dream Design International, Inc. to exchange acreage in the Wally Byam Property for acreage near the airport. We … Read More
Assigning value to the priceless legacy of 1972
An internationally recognized expert on the economic value that parks bring to communities will speak at a public forum in Rapid City Thursday, April 26. The lecture begins at 7 p.m. in The Journey Museum Auditorium and is one of many public events leading up to the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 Flood in June. Friends of … Read More