Even with all of Rapid City’s goofy municipal shananigans they spend $1,000 less per year on their residents then Sioux Falls and still maintain a beautiful city.
Rapid City – Pop 65,000 – 2009 budget $113 million – $1,738 per resident
Sioux Falls – Pop 154,000 – 2009 budget $416 million – $2,701 per resident
You would think a smaller city would actually be spending more to promote growth, but Sioux Falls is whipping their ass.
Well, it helps to have a lot of tourist dollars coming in. That tends to drive businesses to make the town look pretty without gov’t help.
They subsidize a lot of stuff for a city of that size.
I have to sya, though, their downtown is pretty nice. They have more than one street with busy places and cool shops. The tobacco/liquor/hookah shop is awesome.
They also have a great Hockey facility and Arts Center. You have to remember, they are a third the size of us and have some things we don’t have. In SF defense, I will admit, there is more things nature wise to do in RC. I do think you are right, they have figured out how to have more private sponsorship of the WANTS, which is a good thing. I have a friend who used to be an interior designer here in SF but moved to RC because the money was better. He also told me that wealthy clients in SF were cheapskates and in RC they never complain about trivial shit – he said it was one of the main reasons he left the SF market. The rich in SF want city hall to foot the bill for their activities and entertainment and in RC they pay for it themselves.
good points, l3wis. i’m right there with ya. but i gotta correct your grammar. it’s “than,” not “then.”
THAN.
Rapid City might be more fiscally phat THAN Sioux Falls.
Wat da @#%^&*!@ da madda wit chew, take this post down before somebody from Rapid city government sees it !!!!!! hahaha
Fuck grammar.
Thank you AG, I have never figured that word out, oh well, hopefully the grammar police won’t take down my website.
Fuck the Police!
Grud-
Kind of my point, I wonder if it has to do with the private industry in RC ponying up more than in SF? In SF when the developers don’t want to pay for roads on their own developments they go crying to Munson.
Private industry in RC – Local businesses
Private industry in SF – Backwater operations of major F 500 companies.
Who is more likely to care about the community?
Gee, GoD, that’s a tough one . . .
It doesn’t help that our mayor used to be a cog in Citi’s machine. It seems that he (as well as a lot of young job seekers) believe that Citi, Wells, HSBC, and 1st Prem, are the only companies in town with any money.