Native Sun News Today: City hasn't always been kind to Native residents

Friday, April 5, 2019  

RAPID CITY – Just days after another Native American man lost his life to the cold, just a block away from the Pennington County Care Campus, Mayor Steve Allender called a press conference to field criticism of the council’s move to allocate another $1 million to fund OneHeart, which over the next three years will receive a total of $5 million in Vision Funds.

In a city that hasn’t always been kind to its homeless population, news of Rapid City Common Council’s vote to allocate another $1 million of Vision Fund monies to help make the OneHeart Campus a reality, was encouraging to many Native Americans.

A large majority of those who call the streets of Rapid City home, are Native American and many homeless living in Rapid City aren’t always visible, some living in motel rooms and others doubling up with relatives.

However Native Americans that hang-out downtown have business owners and community leaders worried that tourists may see them as the face of Rapid City, rather than the statues of Presidents that grace street corners. Citizens also voice concerns about downtown panhandling which recently prompted City Council to pass an ordinance penalizing those who threaten downtown shoppers.

So it isn’t surprising that not everyone in this city is as excited about the news that OneHeart is closer to reality as those who will benefit the most from the one-stop one-shop care campus.

“There seems to be a lot of concern that we shouldn’t spend tax payer money on human service issues,” Allender said. “Government should not be used to support the drunk or lazy, seems to be the common criticism, especially the anonymous criticism.” (See Rapid City Journal’s Your Two Cents)

However it should be noted that money for the Vision Fund is generated through a half penny city sales tax and not through property taxes. And who helps generate those funds?

Every week hundreds of Native Americans visit Rapid City from surrounding reservations, stay at local hotels and motels, and dine at fast food restaurants, purchase gasoline, clothing, groceries, household items, cars and furniture. Numerous tribes and tribal organizations schedule conferences in Rapid City on a weekly basis citing proximity to airlines and other amenities. Thousands also hold jobs in Rapid City, pay taxes and participate in city activities.

Thousands of Native Americans attend Lakota Nation Invitational Basketball Tournaments and the Black Hills Powwow annually and which also contributes to the Vision Fund.

Rapid City’s population of more than 77, 000 is made up of 11 percent Native Americans and according to Indian Health Service’s patient count, there may be as many as 22,000 Native Americans living in the Black Hills area who also contribute to the Vision Fund.

Allender pointed out that the city is already spending more than "13 million dollars every single year just to tamp down the symptoms of poverty and homelessness,” and called it ineffective spending.

In 2013, the American Community Survey on poverty reported that more than 50 percent of the Native American population living in Rapid City lives at or below the poverty level.

"We are watching the cycle of poverty chip away at our community's families, chip away at our government budgets and the overall economy," Allender said and that funding OneHeart would be a more effective strategy in breaking the “cycle of poverty,” with its proposed access to education, substance abuse and mental health treatment, housing and work force development.

Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today