Community continues to unite at Rapid City Council meetings; expressing concerns over HOPE Center’s closure

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Over a hundred people showed up to the Rapid City Council meeting Monday night, most of them to show their support against the HOPE Center’s closure.

About 32 people signed up to speak during public comment at the council meeting, with 31 able to get their thoughts out on the situation continuing to unfold as the date of the HOPE Center’s closure is December 8.

From community leaders speaking on the issue of homelessness to possible solutions being presented to the council.

“Now is not the time for law enforcement to replace services like healthcare, like social services, we have over a thousand non-profits registered in Rapid City and what are they doing for the community, what are they doing for the city, what are they doing for those of us who don’t often come to these city council meetings,” expressed a concerned Rapid City resident.

“There’s safe beds, a detox shelter run by cops that requires folks to be under the influence to stay. There’s the Cornerstone Mission, an overpopulated space which requires people to be sober, and there’s One Heart, a high-barrier service run by an executive director who co-authored it with her husband, a well-recognized lieutenant on the Rapid City police force. Who wrote a book called Political Prostitution, which advocates for bailed eugenics and governmental forms of population control, its racist nonsense. And these are the people that Rapid City has put in charge of finding solutions for our unsheltered relatives,” expressed another concerned Rapid City resident.

Comments like these throughout the last hour and a half of the meeting gave city officials plenty of food for thought.

”Well, I think the city needs to evaluate the services that are available in our community. That is the next step, and when I talk about the stakeholders, you know, myself, the sheriff, chief are getting some of those folks who are doing the work right now. People like the Care Campus, Cornerstone, and Volunteers of America entities like that to assess the services that currently exist and then go from there,” expressed Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun.

With the center’s closure at hand, the overarching issue the city faces is not just trying to find resources to fill the void left behind by the “day center.” Rather, what is the city going to do about the homeless and/or houseless issues in the city?

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