Rapid City South Dakota CEO Talks About Downtown Square

Dan Senftner is the President and CEO of Destination Rapid City South Dakota who was in Yakima Tuesday to talk about the proposed downtown plaza. Destination Rapid City is the development group that developed a popular downtown plaza in Rapid City that was met with a lot of resistance before it was built. he tells KIT News many residents in Rapid City had the same concerns. "All I can say to the people who are really concerned is just dig in. Get involved. Start to do some research. Look at our website at mainstreetsquarerc.com take a look at what it was. Take a look at what it is today." Senftner says before the plaza was built the downtown wasn't a destination and many businesses were leaving. He says now it's just the opposite with 80 percent of the plaza filled with local people attending more than 200 events every year. All that activity has helped increase downtown revenue and grow business. Today the plaza in downtown Rapid City is best known as the community living room. Yakima City officials held a community meeting Tuesday night at the Seasons Performance Hall where Senftner talked about the success in his city that he believes can be duplicated in Yakima.