May: Republicans are ruining the Black Hills

This interested party left the Black Hills because Republicans ruined the area.

Republican Liz May represents District 27 in the South Dakota Statehouse. What follows is posted at her open source Faceberg page.

This Isn’t Growth—It’s a Slow Displacement

Every time I drive into Rapid City or head out to Spearfish, Box Elder, or Summerset, I feel like I’ve taken a wrong turn.

The hills are still there—but the open sky, the sense of peace, the small‑town rhythm—it’s being swallowed by endless housing tracts, towering apartments, and polished master‑planned developments. Downtown feels more engineered than earned. Communities like Spearfish—once anchored in tight‑knit culture—are now overrun by developers chasing future profits.

What are our cities, counties, and state agencies thinking as they fuel this with taxpayer dollars, federal COVID grants, and public subsidies like TIFs—diverting property taxes from schools, roads, and first responders for 20 years just to deliver. Who owns the risk here? Not the developers. Developers love to claim that without tax breaks, they won’t build—but let’s be honest: that’s more bluff than truth. If a project is truly viable, it doesn’t need a handout. What they really mean is: “We won’t build unless taxpayers help us maximize our profit and minimize our risk.” That’s not economic development—that’s exploitation. Real growth stands on its own two feet. If it only works by offloading the costs onto existing homeowners and small businesses, maybe it’s not the right project—or they’re not the right developer.

I own a small grocery store in one of the poorest areas in the country. No handouts. No favors. I scraped by, invested everything—and it took five years to finally break even.

That’s what real small business looks like. That’s what freedom looks like.

Meanwhile, developers walk in with Elevate Rapid City—the merged Chamber of Commerce and economic development arm—and secure public land and grants to outbid anyone in their way.

Take the case of the South Dakota Stock Growers Association (SDSGA). After 100 years in their downtown building, they tried to buy the adjacent vacant parking lot. They negotiated. They showed up. But, as their executive director put it—it was like the city's mind was already made up. In 2023, the city transferred the lot to Elevate, who then flipped it to 11 Main LLC ($900,000 real estate agreement) to develop a tech campus and retail project—effectively sidelining the long‑time local organization.

It’s not just about convenience—it’s about who gets a seat at the table. Elevate uses public financing and grants to reshape downtown, often pushing aside long‑standing local voices—like the state's largest ag‑industry group.

As Milton Friedman said: “Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.” Yet here, taxpayer dollars are used to elevate those with power—and silence those without.

This isn’t sustainable. If it continues, Rapid City won’t feel like Rapid City. Spearfish won’t feel like Spearfish. And the Black Hills will no longer feel like the Black Hills—it’ll feel like Denver feels to Colorado.

It’s time to face the truth: this isn’t growth—it’s displacement. And it’s time for South Dakota to restore accountability, respect property rights, and reclaim community before it disappears under someone else’s blueprint.