RAPID CITY - Belching black puffs of exhaust, the earth movers preparing the land near Interstate 90 for the new multi-million-dollar Rushmore Crossing retail development are a visible sign of Rapid City's ongoing growth.

Most of the candidates running for Rapid City mayor believe that retail growth has been good but say the city should do a better job in attracting higher-paying industrial or technical employers, while not losing sight of existing small businesses and the downtown business core.

Statistics during the past five years indicate that the city's population has increased 8.9 percent, or 5,506, and that the city's area has grown 7.4 square miles, or 17.4 percent.

During that period, 15,383 building permits have been issued, including 2,777 residential units, creating $744 million in new construction value.

Tom Johnson

Overall, Alderman Tom Johnson said, the city's strong retail and housing development shows the city has prepared well for growth and made great strides through good planning and policies to make the city developer-friendly.

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"The kind of retail growth you're seeing didn't just happen. The council over a number of years put things in place that really readied us for this," he said.

But Johnson said one of the things he hears from the public as he goes door to door is a desire for the city to work harder at bringing in industry, not just retail and call centers. To do that, Johnson proposes creating a new position - community and economic development director - to work closely with the city's economic development partnership group.

"Currently, one of the reasons we get stuck at city hall is we don't have anybody that can handle certain things that are outside the expertise of the public works or growth management directors. Now, the city's only approach is to form another committee," he said.

The community and economic development director would create a stronger connection between city hall and the economic development partnership and would focus on creating higher-paying jobs.

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Johnson says the proposed downtown 15-story multipurpose building will create excitement and energy downtown that will benefit all merchants. It also is an example of how the public and private sector can work together to benefit all.

"I think any time you can benefit both the public and the private sector, you ought to take a look at it. The best way to grow a community is to think outside the box and try new things. You shouldn't close your eyes to opportunities to create new wealth," he said.

Sam Kooiker

Alderman Sam Kooiker said the city's current growth has been by "osmosis" rather than by having a progressive plan.

Five years ago, Kooiker wanted to do a smart growth study, but the city didn't start talking about smart growth until the debate over Wal-Mart's second store in 2005.

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"My goal was actually a water and sewer master plan, which I felt was the most important for us at the time," Kooiker said. "My view is that water and sewer master planning are a subset, but the key component of smart growth."

During the past year, the city has worked with a consultant to develop a utility system master plan. Kooiker said it will help the city answer questions faster from prospective businesses about fire flow and water pressure.

"This is one of the key components to managing future growth and determining how new growth impacts existing infrastructure, and to also determine what new infrastructure needs there are," he said.

Regarding jobs, Kooiker said, the city needs an energetic economic-development effort focused particularly on the industrial, medical and technical sectors. He said as mayor, he would be heavily involved in talking to businesses, making sure they understand the city's processes and procedures.

"I'm not opposed to retail jobs. I think retail jobs are good, but I think we need to continue to set our sights higher," he said. "We should be focused on bringing in all jobs. Government cannot make economic development happen. They can facilitate it, or they can stop it. My goal is to facilitate vibrant economic development."

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Kooiker called downtown revitalization efforts exciting, although he said the city needs to do a better job "multi-tasking" so it doesn't end up growing the outer fringes at the expense of the middle.

Jerry Knispel

Jerry Knispel said services need to grow with the city.

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"You don't want it to grow too fast; then you don't have the entities to make it run. Then too slow, it's going to stagnate," he said. "You have to have some manufacturing; otherwise it's not going to grow very good. Just retail sales is not going to make your city grow."

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Knispel is skeptical of the downtown project and wants to see the blueprints. He also questions whether the city's existing parking ramp is being used very much.

"I'd like to see the blueprints on that just to see if they're going to put pilings or what they're going to do with that," he said.

Gary Hargens

Gary Hargens supports going after more industrial type businesses and higher paying jobs to create a balance with the city's retail growth.

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"I want to continue current growth but add to it and also take care of businesses and industries already here," Hargens said. "Growth is great. You're not going to stop it."

However, he said, development may be moving too fast, at times, for the average citizen to keep up.

"I think residents have questions sometimes, but the process moves so fast they have a tough time getting answers," he said. "I don't think the current administration is trying to hold stuff back or keep secrets, but the process moves so fast that people don't get answers as fast as the building that goes on."

Hargens believes the mayor should be part of a team effort including economic development groups, all working on growing the economy and attracting businesses. The mayor needs to be an effective communicator and needs to better answer questions from the public when they arise, he said.

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Hargens is a strong supporter of downtown revitalization efforts and believes downtown has tremendous potential to become a destination point for residents and tourists alike to experience unique shopping and dining.

"There are businesses downtown that you don't find anywhere else," he said. "I think we need to concentrate on making downtown Rapid City a destination, not just a pass-through point."

Patrick Dowling

Patrick Dowling said Rapid City was a very quiet, laidback city when he moved here from Illinois 16 years ago, yet people enjoy many bigger city amenities such as restaurants and good entertainment events.

Although growth is definitely a good thing, Dowling said, the city should make sure it benefits everyone, not just special interests.

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"Money plays a big role in politics. Money talks, and some people are influenced by money," he said. "Money pushes forward progress in a community, which isn't a bad thing, but you have to look at the overall picture of what's beneficial to everyone, not just the upper echelon of people."

Dowling said he wants to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to make good wages so they can survive without working two or three jobs. To attract higher paying jobs, Dowling believes the city could do more to promote training and education opportunities.

"The entertainment aspect in Rapid City seems to be a major focus with the administration right now. That's fine and dandy. I know a city has to have those things to progress. But I also think you need to look at the things that need to be fixed. You have to look at what's beneficial for the whole population, not special interest groups."

Bonnie Redden

Bonnie Redden has a much different take on growth and development. Redden said people are tired of developers and want them to go away.

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"Developers in all their ramifications should be 100 percent responsible for the installation of sewer, water, electric, roads, schools for their areas. I don't care what they want out there, let them suck it up," she said.

Redden said growth should be slow, steady and not all retail.

"It's not the city or the mayor's job for the place to grow. It should have an atmosphere people want to come to and bring their businesses or start a business," she said. "The city needs to grow but very slowly so all infrastructure, old and new, is kept in good repair."

Redden believes there should be limits on the number and size of houses built each year.

"They go out and build these 5,000-square-feet houses - nobody needs 5,000 square feet," she said. "Let only a few of them be built a year and make the rest of them no bigger than 2,500, which is a nice comfortable size. I live in a house that's 1,100 square feet. Of course, I live there alone."

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Redden is not a proponent of downtown revitalization but she doesn't have a problem with people who are. However, she said they should face the fact that as the edges of town build up, downtown suffers and becomes a place for little specialty shops.

"I never go downtown," she said. "In reality, there isn't one thing downtown that I want to go visit. They don't have a decent restaurant except for the Landmark in the (Alex Johnson) hotel."

Downtown would be better off if it concentrated on bringing in better restaurants and got rid of the "crummy" bars, and did something about getting all the storefronts busy downtown, Redden said.

"Somebody told me there were 18 basic storefronts vacant. Now if they have that many vacant, there's something the matter. Either they're charging too much for rent or whatever or the historic people have got their snoots in it and won't let them change something," she said.

Jim Shaw

Mayor Jim Shaw said growing the economy helps enhance everyone's quality of life.

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"The main priority, and the role of the mayor, is to try to help Rapid City grow and prosper, and that happens in a myriad of ways," he said. "Big or small, there's a wide variety, and it's all with that focus in mind - how can we make life better in Rapid City for all the people. A growing economy helps everyone."

Shaw has a pro-business approach to governing the city, but he also says the city should do more to improve jobs, wages and housing. The mayor has several ways to be involved, including meeting with potential new businesses and employers to tell the story of Rapid City and by using the "bully pulpit" to encourage city government to focus in a certain direction, he said.

"Part of the mayor's job is not just to provide a sense of optimism and opportunity, but one of hope," Shaw said.

Shaw believes the future lies in attracting high tech, research and development industries rather than heavy manufacturing. The city should encourage new business to come here, but it should also do more to help successful local businesses expand.

"Maybe there are ways we can help them train additional workers, or somehow help them acquire the property they need, things like that. After all, people who own businesses now are already committed to the community. We want to see them grow and prosper too," he said.

Alan Hanks

Alan Hanks said the city is experiencing good growth but one weakness is the lack of higher paying, professional jobs. The mayor needs to work closely with all local, regional and state economic development organizations to attract those kinds of employers, he said.

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"A mayor by himself cannot bring the resources together and promote the community in a way to attract economic development. It has to be a team effort," Hanks said. "If any mayor thinks he can go out by himself and promote economic development, I think he's misled. There are experts in the field and we depend on those folks."

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is one of the top engineering schools in the country, Hanks said, and the city needs to work with economic development organizations to increase the opportunity for graduates to stay here.

Hanks also says the city can help existing businesses that want to expand by directing them to available state or federal resources, and can continue to work closely with Western Dakota Tech.

Hanks said WDTI has done a tremendous job identifying niche markets that need workers and creating programs and training opportunities to meet that need.

"There are a lot of opportunities out there and we need to examine every opportunity," he said.

The mayor also needs to be the face and voice of the community in promoting the city, Hanks said. "It's his responsibility to go out and present Rapid City in the best light to anybody that's looking at bringing additional development to our community."