Tag: Community
-
Rapid City Council Elects Tamang as President, Meyer as Vice President
RAPID CITY SD — The Rapid City Council entered a new leadership era Monday evening, electing Ward 1 Council Member Stephen Tamang as Council President and Ward 5 Council Member Callie Meyer as Council Vice President. Tamang was nominated by Bill Evans and Callie Meyer. Kevin Maher was also nominated, by Lindsey Seachris and John…
-
Rapid City: Your Scouting Report for the July 6th City Council Meeting
Rapid City S.D. City council doesn’t get a pre-game show. It doesn’t get a hype video. But Monday’s agenda has more moving parts than a playoff game—a roster reset, a final buzzer on a months-long investigation, a brand-new zoning playbook opening up, and 40-some routine items running underneath it all. Think of this as your…
-
From Daily Enjoyment to Data Centers: SD’s New Laws Hit the Books July 1st- Stay Informed
Rapid City S.D. – July 1 brought a massive wave of new legislation from Pierre that directly impacts the daily lives, wallets, and constitutional rights of local residents. Whether it’s navigating new municipal realities, understanding shifting infrastructure regulations, or avoiding unexpected criminal penalties, staying informed is the best defense against overreach. Here is the ultimate…
-
Three Things Worth Noting on the July 1st Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee Agenda
The Legal & Finance Committee meets Wednesday, July 1st at 12:30 PM in Council Chambers — the day before Rapid City’s Fourth of July parade and drone show. The agenda is fourteen items long. Most are routine. Three are not. A “Clerical Error” in the Division That Manages TIF Item 14 is Ordinance 6733, described…
-
Navigating the Real America Birthday Bash: Rapid City Closures, Parking, and What you Need to Know
Rapid City is hosting the “Real America Birthday Bash,” a multi-day downtown festival celebrating America’s 250th anniversary from July 1 through July 5, 2026. With 10,000 to 20,000 people expected downtown at any given time, knowing where to park — and where not to leave your car — could be the difference between a good…
-
A Developer, A TIF, and A Landowner – A Rapid City Zoning Tale
Paul E. Evans didn’t mince words.On June 18, one week before the Rapid City Planning Commission was scheduled to consider five simultaneous rezoning requests covering 127.95 acres of undeveloped land north of Mall Drive, Evans — president of McMahon Investment Inc. — filed a formal written protest with the City’s Department of Community Development. It…
-
Before You Count Your Eggs: What Rapid City Hen Owners Need to Know About Ordinance 6723
The April Victory In April, the Rapid City City Council voted to allow urban hen keeping, and the Sentinel was there to walk you through what that meant — six hens, no roosters, backyard only, coop 25 feet from neighboring homes. A win for residents who fought hard for it. What most people don’t know…
-
The Opaqueness of Transparency – Editorial Cartoon
Rapid City’s Ordinance 6717 folds an existing Code of Conduct into municipal law, but complaints against elected officials stay sealed in executive session by default, with no guarantee the public ever learns the outcome.
-
Smoke and Mirrors: An Award-Winning Performance at City Hall: An Editorial
There is a dangerous kind of alchemy that happens at City Hall when the cameras are rolling but the microphones go quiet. On Monday night, navigating a grueling 34-item agenda, the Rapid City Council pulled off a masterclass in municipal sleight-of-hand, demonstrating exactly how to shift liability and bury history in plain sight. The tone…
-
What is Burning Next to Rapid City’s Neighborhoods? Inside the GCC Zoning Void
The Collateral Damage of Small Town USA Growing up, the shadow of the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant was a constant, quiet hum in the background of my childhood. You learn early on what it feels like to live next to an environmental wild card—a facility where the true cost of “production” isn’t always something…