Mayoral candidate Allender's view on Civic Center expansion

http://chiefsview.com/2015/04/16/lets-talk-about-the-civic-center-expansion/

"I believe that if the Civic Center expansion would have passed the public vote, it would have been a successful endeavor. I also believe that there were many errors made during the planning process, public information process and marketing campaign. Overall, no one in their right mind could have expected a majority of Rapid City residents to accept the expansion plan after being kept in the dark for over three years. Plus, $180 million is too much money.
While the $180 million Civic Center expansion project was the most expensive purchase proposal in the history of Rapid City, Mayor Kooiker sought to shield himself throughout the entire process. There are people in Rapid City who voted for Sam Kooiker because he promised to protect them from big government. There are also people who voted for him because he promised economic development. Ironically, when you try to play both sides of the coin, you can’t win.
Unfortunately, during this massive failure, the City spent $700,000 for studies and design and we are no further ahead on this issue than we were three years ago. In fact, the City has taking a giant step backward, if the original intent was to merely bring the Civic Center Arena into ADA compliance.  One thing is for certain: we now have a legal, binding agreement with the federal government to bring the Don Barnett Arena into compliance with ADA codes. Tens of millions of dollars will be spent doing so, and in the end, we will have the same Civic Center arena we have today. Is this progress?"

Facts about the civic center expansion vote

http://rapidcityjournal.com/now/today/rcj/facts-on-the-failed-million-civic-center-expansion/collection_eaee458e-d492-11e4-b164-b3e858f99242.html

1. Almost 13,000 voters
2. costliest proposed project ever
3. "last stand-alone special election"
4. 1 of 14 districts voted in favor
5. only 1 voter in Seeger district voted in favor.

Sasso; time for a survey

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/opinion/sasso-what-s-next-for-city-s-civic-center/article_1e3e0f35-d771-5840-974a-bc91af691ef0.html

"How do we get more people involved? I believe Rapid City should invest in an online survey. A popular service such as Survey Monkey would likely cost less than $2,000 to implement.
An online survey would be much cheaper than mailing surveys that wouldn’t be returned. It would make sense to have both short and longer surveys with the key questions up front.
The survey could include general questions about infrastructure and the Vision Fund dollars. What do people think about those? I know some people voted “no” because they don’t like the location, the parking or that teachers aren’t being paid enough (which is a completely separate pot of money).
Most people have access to a computer. If not, computers are always available at the library."

A survey sounds like a great idea.  But I think both sides want the ADA problems fixed, and at least some tweaking of the center.   How much to spend?  That's tricky.

Ed Randazzo opinion; let's get moving

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/opinion/mailbag/march-letters/article_400b183d-03e3-5df6-8b95-ca2d9851de27.html

"We still have a problem to solve and the citizens told you what they want, a state-of-the-art facility that increases square footage, allows for the proper access for the handicapped, provides for adequate parking and traffic management, and that is affordable without increasing taxes or placing infrastructure funds at risk. We are capable of accomplishing that goal and there is no reason to delay doing so. We were told by the stakeholders of the urgency of approving their plan but now that their plan was rejected, we are told to lower our expectations of progress in tackling this issue."

Nice article. By the way, I post snippets of opinions here. You need to see the original site to read the whole post.

Meeting; what now?

 http://www.kotatv.com/news/south-dakota-news/City-taking-new-look-at-what-to-do-with-Civic-Center/32016244

"More than 60 people turned up to offer their input on how to move forward.

Former city council member Malcolm Chapman led the group -- that included both opponents and proponents -- of the expansion plan in a wide ranging discussion about what to do with the nearly 40-year-old complex."

 also see:

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/finding-new-plan-for-civic-center-may-take-a-long/article_9704221e-5198-54d6-9f19-a6864aa6c4fa.html

http://www.newscenter1.tv/news/local/After-Action-for-the-Civic-Center-Whats-Next--297560721.html

Let's change back the vision fund process, says alderman

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/alderman-calls-for-rollback-to-old-vision-fund-process-mayor/article_8b626a26-53f1-5182-85d5-f9040cef281b.html

"Rapid City's drainage and streets need repairs, Alderman Ron Weifenbach says, so the city should revert to its former policy of directly devoting city sales tax money to them.
Not so fast, Mayor Sam Kooiker says. By shifting back to the old ordinance dictating use of the sales tax, he says, the city will miss new opportunities to issue bonds for ambitious projects.
Just as they did in the recent voter-rejected referendum on spending $180 million for an expansion of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Kooiker and Weifenbach have opposing views on what the city should do with the proceeds from a 1-cent sales tax.
By a previous city ordinance, half of proceeds of that tax went to the Vision Fund, which has paid for Main Street Square, among dozens of other amenities scattered throughout the city, and half went to the Capital Improvements Project, which funds such citywide public-improvement projects as street and drainage repairs.
Weifenbach, whose top priority is spending on roads, infrastructure and drainage, wants the city to revert to that split.
As part of the expansion project, however, the city council passed a new ordinance combining the proceeds from the Vision Fund and CIP. That combination, expansion proponents argued, would secure a low interest rate on the $180 million in bonds that would have financed the expansion."

This article brings up a question for me. What other huge spending project is Mayor Kooiker thinking we'll need this new fund method for?

Letter to Editor; Thanks Fix the Plan committee!

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/opinion/mailbag/march-letters/article_e41b8cc9-dc6c-57fe-abcf-92c0b37ca0f2.html

"I just wanted to shout out a big thank you to all of the Fix the Plan committee members: Richard Wahlstrom, Steve McCarthy, Ed McLaughlin, Keith Carlyle, Jim Shaw, Alan Hanks, Jerry Munson and everybody else who worked so hard to defeat this idiotic scheme. I, of course, am referring to the civic center expansion. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by 60 percent of us.
— John Kammerer, Rapid City"

Amen.