Guest post: Sturgis in decline

The following is posted at the Black Hills Action Faceberg page,

Sturgis, a city in decline.

According to the latest US Census Bureau estimate, Sturgis currently has around 6,922 people. Down 2.4% between 2020 and 2025 while surrounding cities are showing growth.

What this means is that Sturgis needs a hard long look at itself. This is on par with the decline in sales tax revenue for Sturgis the last few years when you strip away the Rally effect and inflation.

If this trend continues then living in Sturgis is going to get a whole lot more expensive as the city tries to recoup revenue then it will be looking at those living there to help do it. The city doesn't appear to have come up with a long term plan to address this.

The city will continue to struggle if it keeps trying to play the rebel. If it refuses to acknowledge the Black Hills world outside of Sturgis and its wants and needs.

The city made its bed now it has to sleep in it. It got what it wanted.

This was largely preventable. But when you have people running the city that think they know what's best, but when what's best is what benefits them and their buddies and not the community, this is what you get.

Some in Sturgis have tried to help it. But it's corruption has been so blatant some didn't care because they thought it benefited them, when it didn't.

What about the new housing developments like on Avalanche? They might get some houses. But they aren't signs of growth. If you have 4 people leave and 2 move in, that isn't growth.

Sturgis has offered no plan, no real solution, no direction for the city or community. Just cut corners and throw money at the wall hoping something sticks. I would be surprised if that changed.

So its decline is happening while those around it keep growing and some in the city keep trying to flaunt that it's doing well, when anyone with 2 working eyes and simple math skills know it's not.

So for those that say if you don't like it then leave, if they keep listening to you then living in Sturgis is about to become even more unaffordable for you too. It's not a victimless thing.

Sturgis needs help. It needs a backbone. But for years Sturgis has had a city government that was at odds with its own community wants and needs.

Is Sturgis getting what it deserves? Well, it's allowed this stuff to happen. At times it's almost encouraged it when others even in the community were strongly against it.

Which is a shame. Sturgis has had more in its favor than most cities its size and it's squandered it all with nothing to show for it.

Sturgis can make whatever empty excuse it wants. But the fact remains, at the end of the day the city leadership has driven the city off the tracks with no real plan or direction to get it back on the tracks that it's actually enacting.

What can be done? A lot of things can be done or even attempted. But if Sturgis is happy with what it has, then so be it. It is getting what it wants. And the people that wanted it shouldn't be complaining about having to pay more for everything because you are literally getting what you wanted too.

As for the map image below, why don't you count the businesses that have closed for the winter and how much empty space that leaves. It might surprise you. Because that's also a large chunk of potential tax revenue the city could be using to better itself too.

Sturgis is a victim of its own creation.