Just a little here, a little there. It’s for a good cause, you know. And that is how Rapid City will destroy the Memorial Greenway. The latest incursion on the park that was designated to honor those who died in the 1972 Black Hils Flood, and to create green, natural boundaries along Rapid Creek that serve as flood prevention, public … Read More
2014 Memory Walk
More than 35 walkers and bicyclers traversed the Leonard Swanson Memorial Bike Path Saturday in remembrance of the 1972 Black Hills flood, converging at Old Storybook Island for a picnic. We hope you enjoy the photos. More photos appeared in Sunday’s Rapid City Journal. Bike riders started from the interpretive sign at the Fairgrounds.
Be a Friend and Join Us for the 2014 Memory Walk
Nice, easy walk from west to east with plenty of stops to talk about what happened in 1972? Or a brisk ride from east to west? You choose! This year’s Memory Walk to commemorate the legacy of parks created by the 1972 Black Hills Flood will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 7, and conclude with a free picnic … Read More
Friends convenes ninth annual city candidate forum
Friends of Rapid City Parks will host a public forum with city council candidates seeking office in the June 3 municipal election. The event, set for 7 p.m. May 29 in the Cyclorama of The Dahl Arts Center, will focus on issues and proposals affecting Rapid City parks, particularly the memorial greenway along Rapid Creek. The format will emphasize questions … Read More
What’s the flap about the tennis courts?
The problem is that this “solution” cuts out a public process called for by state law: namely a vote of the people to decide whether stewards of public land can give it away to private interests who can afford to throw considerable money on the table.
Friends Documents Promise to Return Eighth Street Tennis Court to Greenway
8 April 2014 Terry Wolterstorff, P.E. Director Department of Public Works City of Rapid City By E-mail (with 5 attachments) Dear Mr. Wolterstorff: Please accept our apology for the delay in providing you the attached background information on prior events and circumstances related to the tennis courts at Eighth Street. We incorrectly assumed that the notion of using the Memorial … Read More
Comprehensive Plan Draft Features Value and Contribution of Parks
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
Omaha Street Reconstruction Planned for 2016
The Rapid Creek greenway and the creek itself may gain some benefits from planned improvements to Omaha Street from Mountain View Road to 12th Street. The main purpose of the project, outlined Monday night at a public meeting in city hall, is to upgrade the road surface, which according to project engineers, “is at the end of its useful life.” … 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