Star Village residents are caught between a city crackdown due to Tzadik neglect

RAPID CITY – Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun expressed frustration and exhaustion during a press conference on Tuesday morning at City Hall as officials laid out a years-long pattern of neglect and unpaid debts by Tzadik Management, saying the company’s failures have fueled crime, substandard housing, and a hidden subsidy borne by local taxpayers and tenants who are already paying their bills.

“We shouldn’t have to work this hard and have so much resources going into one property management company,” said Salamun

“Time and time again, we’ve provided opportunities to make things better, and time and time again, we’ve been let down.”

The focus is Star Village, a large housing complex with sweeping views and a heavy police footprint. But city leaders stressed the problem extends across multiple Tzadik managed properties in Rapid City and beyond. Issues range from code violations and condemned structures to roughly half a million dollars in delinquent utility payments. “This is not isolated to just Rapid City. We know that this is an issue throughout many communities across the country that Tzadik operates in.”

Rapid City Police Captain Christian Siegel said certain dilapidated garages in Star Village have become magnets for crime.

“When it comes to crime, Tzadik Management is often number one or number two as far as criminal activity, both violent crime and reactive calls for service that occur on their properties alone, compared to all the other apartment complexes throughout the city,” Siegel said.

Building Services Plans Examiner Lon Schnitttgrund said the city has formally declared a number of garages unsafe and substandard under the International Property Maintenance Code. Notices were sent with deadlines for Tzadik to fix or remove the structures.

“At this point, nothing has been done,” Schnitttgrund said. The city will move ahead with demolishing 28 storage garages in Star Village between August 10 and 20, using public funds and then seeking to recover the costs.”

Code enforcement manager John Olson said his team has already had to clean up trash, junk vehicles, and debris across the neighborhood, issuing abatements totaling about $26,000 that Tzadik has not paid. “They did start paying a little bit back in 2023 and then just stopped,” Olson said.

Rapid City Finance Director Daniel Ainslie said Tzadik owes approximately $500,000 in delinquent utility bills citywide, including about $349,000 at Star Village alone.

“Obviously, we are not turning off utilities because the residents who live in those structures are paying,” he said. “The really sad part is that those payments are not coming back to the city… that’s an ongoing subsidy that everyone in Rapid City is paying for.”

City Attorney Carla Cushman explained that unpaid abatement and demolition costs are added to the properties’ tax bills and collected through the county. She noted that a current bankruptcy involving Star Village complicates collection but said she is “confident that we’ll get that money repaid… it’s just going to take some time.”

While the city is “looking at all of our legal remedies,” Cushman said South Dakota law gives property owners broad rights. The city cannot simply seize or run the properties; instead, it must enforce codes, condemn unsafe structures, and push the owner to either comply or sell. “What we want is for this property owner to really step up and follow the rules or decide to sell to somebody who will,” said Cushman reiterating words from the mayor.

Meanwhile, community organizers and residents are trying to hold Star Village together from the inside.

Jamie Kirsch, project manager with the Rapid City Police Department’s Community Engagement Team, detailed a series of volunteer-driven efforts: pest control, lawn care for residents facing code violations, window and door screen repairs, plumbing fixes, and youth programming. A recent event brought 14 volunteers who mowed nearly 35 lawns, installed magnetic door screens, and helped a resident regain access to a working shower for the first time in over a decade.

The work grew out of a “Love Your Block” grant and a massive cleanup that removed nearly 36 tons of trash from Star Village at no cost to Tzadik. Kirsch said the city and partners are also helping residents relocate if they choose and providing storage options ahead of the garage demolitions.

Resident Mark Morris, who has lived in Star Village for about 15 years, said things deteriorated under successive owners until crime and fear became routine. After he was robbed two years ago, he got involved in the Love Your Block effort.

“Since they’ve been involved, the crime has went down. The neighborhood involvement has come together, and that’s all Rapid City needs to do is come together as a community,” Morris said. “We can make this a beautiful town for everybody.”

Salamun said there are limits to what the city can do without cooperation from Tzadik. “We don’t want to punish the people for the sins of the owner,” he said, urging the company to “handle your business, live up to your name, do the right thing,” so Star Village can become the “beautiful place to live” its residents deserve.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

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