Well, I hope they don’t hire Mortenson to handle the project, besides we have them tied up fixing our siding, on site and probably in a court room.

It looks like it will still probably go to a public vote though;

Rapid City officials have approved spending $180 million to build a new civic center arena.

The city council voted 7-3 on Monday in favor of the project after more than three hours of testimony and debate. Local sales tax money would repay the $180 million the city would seek in bonds for the arena, which could seat up to 19,000 people.

A resident started distributing a petition for a binding public vote on the expansion just moments after the council’s vote. The campaign needs roughly 2,000 signatures to force a referendum on the council’s decision.

I know that the mayor of RC said yesterday he would like to see it go to a vote. I hope they are successful in their referendum in getting it on the ballot. If that happens it will be interesting to see how the vote comes down.

9 Thoughts on “Rapid City council votes to build new Arena without a vote of the people

  1. SF Resident on December 2, 2014 at 2:25 pm said:

    Why would a city with a population of 70,812 (2013) need an arena seating 19,000?

    Sounds like a recipe for disaster Rapid City Taxpayers!

    Better make sure that petition is well written and legally vetted!!

  2. Yeah, did you read the article in the AL today about the consultants report? They would have to get 10% of the population to attend 14 concerts a year. Yeah right. I can see why the council tried to pass this without voter approval, because if it does get on the ballot it will FAIL!

  3. Dan Daily on December 2, 2014 at 5:35 pm said:

    Rapid is not unconstitutional Home Rule Charter. I’m confident citizens will get to vote in a proper election. Given the tourism there, an Arena may be justified. They have little debt, their Arena would be competitive bid process, and there would be professional design/construction processes. The Sioux Falls Events Center was thrown together bypassing usual steps. We’re stuck with major debt and inferior construction.

  4. Mortensen is partnered with local RC firm Scull Const. to build this. They’re also in on USD’s new arena.

  5. About that argus article. What you read right now on the new and improved digital argus, and what you read in the tree killer edition are two completely different things. The digital condensed version leaves out some every important numbers that apply right here in sanford falls and the sanford premier EC.

    Would my spouse and I spend $123 apiece to see Paul McCartney? In a heartbeat. Prolly one of about 2 or 3 acts I’d pay over a c-note to see in that dump. But think about it. When Paul sings “Band On Run”…..he means it. He gets gets 85% of gross ticket sales and a huge percentage of concession sale profits. So him and his band run out of town with a over couple million. No big deal….right? Wrong. That’s about $300 we won’t be spending at the argus ribfest, or hot harley beer fest, or any of the other hundreds of beer fests this town throws at us.

    So tell me. Where the hell is the economic impact in that?

  6. Poly, about everything you buy in the place is local, except of course the T-shirts and other swag the bands bring along. Of course, if you don’t want a $7 beer inside you can have a $6 beer at BW3 or you could walk a mere 26 blocks and have a tasty $6 local brew at Monks, on me of course 🙂

    @ L3wis, what specifically is your beef with Mortensen? They didn’t do anything wrong.

  7. I found out yesterday there is several pending litigations against Mortenson from Thompson Hine. Maybe that is why the city chose them.

  8. Sy. My point is every time a real entertainment act comes to town about 3 million in economic impact leaves with the “band on the run”. Now that’s a lot of impact leaving the state.

    Been in the place once. Compliments of free tickets to a hockey game. Free tickets like a lot of people got. Just wanted to check the place out. They said there were 5300 paid at that game. I’m here to tell you there’s a huge difference between “paid” attendance and actual souls in the seats. The lower bowl, about a third full is not 5300 hockey fans standing on their feet screaming for more blood on the ice. And the concession prices? Too steep for amateur sports. If I’m gonna pay those kinda prices I’ll head on down to Lincoln and watch the Gophers lay a whooping on the Cornhuskers. 🙂

    Hey, you’re right. You do still owe me one. We do have to finally meet. One condition. No politics. Yer a good kid, but just a little too far right of center to handle for too long in the same sitting:)

  9. One more thing Sy. You say everything you buy in the place is local. Well, I think a real entertainment act, like McCartney, gets 85% of the gross ticket sales, and a huge chunk of concessions. So what exactly do you mean by local?

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