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Public commenters urge city to study homelessness costs and address downtown safety
Summary
During general public comment at the Rapid City Common Council meeting, two residents urged the city to examine the fiscal impact of homelessness and said downtown safety has deteriorated following a recent daytime homicide. No council action was taken during public comment.
Two members of the public used the general comment period to urge city action on homelessness and downtown safety.
Ben Sherman said Rapid City is experiencing a growing unhoused population and urged the council to compute how much the city is spending on related responses. "We're already spending money on the unhoused crisis whether we like it or not," Sherman said, listing police responses, emergency medical care, funeral costs and business impacts as examples. He asked the council to produce a cost analysis and consider investing in emergency housing and rehabilitation programs; he did not provide a dollar estimate and said precise data are not readily available.
Dane Sensor, speaking next, said downtown conditions have deteriorated and referenced a recent midday murder, adding, "The streets of downtown Rapid City have turned into a war zone." Sensor said he no longer goes downtown at night and criticized the council's performance on public safety. He also expressed frustration that police presence downtown was, in his view, insufficient until after the homicide.
The council closed the public comment period after the two speakers. No formal actions or staff directions were recorded on those matters during the meeting; council members did not take immediate action in response to the speakers' requests during the session.
