Capital Journal, Pierre, March 22
A look on the bright side of the J.C. Penney closure
Pierre is about to be short another major retailer.
It’s through no fault of our own that the J.C. Penney store at Northridge Plaza is slated to close its doors this summer. Indeed, the closure owes more to demographics and shifts in shopping patterns than to a wholesale abandonment of the Pierre store by area residents.
Department stores have suffered mightily in this new age of internet shopping. When a person can sign up for a web-based service that sends new clothes to you each month so you can decide to keep them or send them back depending on your own preferences, going to the local Penney’s for wardrobe additions or a new pair of jeans just isn’t necessary anymore.
To be sure, not everyone uses these services and they certainly can’t save the day if you need a new shirt for a job interview. Without a department store, it’s going to be a bit tougher to find the things we want or need without having to leave town.
This, of course, will make recruiting new people to work here that much more difficult. It’s already hard. We know that because we’ve had our own struggles with recruiting, just like every other employer in our community. Lack of amenities such as shopping often is a concern for potential hires.
We can be justifiably frustrated at the J.C. Penney company’s decision, but we must also recognize that the company’s mandate isn’t to provide us with a place to shop, it is to make its shareholders money. Which is part of the problem when it comes to large, national department stores these days.
But that’s enough of the doom and gloom. We are firm believers that every end has the potential to be a new beginning. In this case, perhaps the time has come to focus as a community not on finding a new big-box store to replace J.C. Penney with, but rather to look for ways to encourage local entrepreneurs to plug the gaps left by the big store.
There has been much discussion in our community about the loss of the store over the last few days. But very little has been said about all the open retail space on Pierre Street, which should be just as, if not more, frustrating to our community than the loss of a big box store owned by some corporation based in Texas.
City officials and developers spend a lot of time at conferences trying to recruit national and regional chains to Pierre. That’s great. But what about recruiting small businesses? What about helping small businesses identify community needs and target customers? What about giving small businesses the some tax breaks like the ones Wal-Mart and Menards got? What about finding ways to encourage Pierre Street property owners to improve and/or rehabilitate some of the historic buildings there?
It’s not just a problem for city officials either. We as a community are going to need to commit to buying local. We’re not going to have much choice at least for a while.
The retail marketplace, perhaps more than any other, is changing. Online retailers are taking over but there are some things they’ll never be able to do such as properly fitting a suit or saving your bacon with a last-minute new blouse. Losing J.C. Penney could very well open the door for local entrepreneurs to move in and fill the gaps the store leaves.
We hope it does.
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The Daily Republic, Mitchell, March 20
Sunshine Week is over, but work remains
Slowly but surely, government transparency continues its march forward in South Dakota.
In the wake of Sunshine Week, a week set aside each year to encourage public access to information, we looked back at the 2017 South Dakota legislative session and saw two bills that caught our eyes: Senate bills 25 and 116.
Both measures became law and had powerful backers in Attorney General Marty Jackley and Gov. Dennis Daugaard, respectively, and we’re proud to see two of our state’s elected officials promoting transparency.
Through SB 25, South Dakota joins a list of 48 other states to publicly release mug shot photographs when a criminal suspect is booked. Along with Jackley, South Dakota Newspaper Association General Manager Dave Bordewyk supported the bill, which he said could serve as a useful public safety tool.
Daugaard also hopped on the transparency train with SB 116, a measure requiring state boards and committees to provide public notice and agendas for public meetings.
These are small, but necessary steps toward improved government transparency efforts, and we hope local boards and commissions follow suit.
While 2017 has been a fantastic year for openness from the state’s perspective, it’s a tale of two wildly different approaches to transparency at home in Mitchell. We’ve seen the city of Mitchell produce robust agenda packets giving residents a great early look at what will be discussed at Mitchell City Council meetings, while the Davison County Commission agendas continue to provide a cursory and nonspecific agenda that leaves citizens with more questions than answers.
We commend both the city and county, along with various local school districts and other committees, for improving access to agendas via the internet, but more work could be done.
The area with the most work left to do is in law enforcement.
As the state’s top law enforcement official helped push for access to mug shots, local authorities often delay the release of information in a way that could slow the apprehension of suspects or could be perceived as hiding information from the public.
Take last week’s press release from the Mitchell Area Crime Stoppers asking for the public’s help locating suspects in five burglaries that occurred one to two weeks prior. Had the Davison County Sheriff’s Office released this information sooner, perhaps when The Daily Republic calls each weekday afternoon, possible criminals wouldn’t be on the prowl for so long. We understand some information must be kept confidential due to ongoing investigations, but why not release as much information as possible?
Both government and law enforcement work best when they have the public’s trust, and initiatives like Jackley’s and Daugaard’s are great examples to follow. We only hope local governmental organizations and law enforcement agencies take note. And maybe by Sunshine Week 2018, South Dakota will see even more improvements in transparency and openness.
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Rapid City Journal, Rapid City, March 12
Barnett Arena deserves our attention
It’s been four years since Rapid City was notified that the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center was riddled with Americans with Disabilities Act violations and more than six years since then-Mayor Sam Kooiker formed a Brainstorming Committee to examine Barnett Arena, which was built in 1977.
A Civic Center Futures Committee was formed in November 2012, three months after the city was informed that a Department of Justice inspection revealed the ADA violations that the city said would cost an estimated $73 million to address and five months after plans were announced to spend $125 to $150 million to expand and improve the facility.
The primary pitch was that a more modern and larger Barnett Arena would attract top-notch bands and performers who would attract concert-goers from neighboring states who would stay at our hotels and eat and drink at our bars and restaurants.
“I would like to go after Lady Gaga. I would like to go after U2. I would like to go after that level of act,” Brian Maliske, the civic center general manager said in July 2012. “They will not come into a 9,400-seat arena. … The reality of it is pure economics.”
At that time, the city was proposing an arena that could seat from 15,000 to 18,000 people and two elevated parking garages. The project’s price tag would grow to $180 million by the time the City Council voted 9-0 in 2014 to dedicate Vision Funds for the next 30 years to pay off the bonds to finance the project - for a total expenditure of $420 million, the most expensive project in the city’s history.
The council’s action was referred to a public vote and overwhelmingly rejected in 2015. Kooiker would lose his bid for re-election a few months later to Steve Allender, who would form a 17-member advisory committee to re-examine the ADA issues at the civic center. Allender then formed a task force in December 2015 to look more specifically at Barnett Arena.
Recently, the mayor dismissed the task force but no findings were released to the public, which raised questions from Civic Center Board member Donna Winkler, who said no plan has been articulated even though the deadline for addressing the ADA issues is fast approaching.
“I think that we’re definitely at a point where we need the city to step up and at last give us an idea of what the intention is going to be with Barnett Arena,” she said at a recent meeting. “We don’t have a plan. We don’t have any idea.”
On the other hand, the current executive director of the civic center, Craig Baltzer, expressed a vision that has a familiar ring to it.
“Do we spend a lot of money on fixing ADA and life safety but do nothing about the building in order to do the traveling shows,” he said. “Or do we spend more money and build or renovate building, expand the floor, expand the seating … and start attracting bigger shows and really make it work for the next 40 or 50 years.”
In other words, it seems the city has adopted the same position that served as the foundation for the proposal voters rejected in January 2015.
The city, however, says the process is far from over. In April, Mayor Allender plans to make public presentations that look at the pros and cons of two options for the Barnett Arena. After that, he plans to conduct a poll where city residents can weigh in. According to Baltzer, the only ADA issues that now exist at the civic center are in the Barnett Arena.
The city now has invested around six years and thousands of dollars on determining the best course of action for the Barnett Arena and judging by Baltzer’s statement it still favors the big-band theory.
But the city also is giving residents a chance to weigh in before the City Council debates the future of the Barnett Arena. We urge everyone to pay close attention to the mayor’s presentations and participate in the poll.
The Barnett Arena is clearly an important part of the community and a vital source of revenue and economic activity. It requires our full attention until the matter is resolved.
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