The future of Rapid City is bright - at least according to Mayor Alan Hanks and former mayors Jim Shaw, Ed McLaughlin, Keith Carlyle and Don Barnett. All five gave presentations to about 45 people at Friday's "Past, Present and Future of Rapid City" forum at National American University.

In reverse chronological order, Hanks led the charge, discussing what Rapid City is doing now and what the plans are for the future.

"The future should not be by chance. It should be by choice," he said.

Since taking office in 2007, he said, the choices included expanding Rapid City Regional Airport, retrofitting Rushmore Plaza Civic Center's theater, increasing police street presence, zero-growth budgets and water treatment plants.

Shaw, who was mayor from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to 2007, said quality education, through college and graduate programs, and investing should be the community's focus.

"We need to invest in economic development to create more and better jobs. We need higher paying jobs," Shaw said.

Shaw said a recent survey found Rapid City at the bottom of per capita income compared to other regional cities, including Sioux Falls, Bismarck, N.D., and Omaha, Neb.

McLaughlin, the mayor from 1991 to 1997, agreed that economic development is vital and said Rapid City's leadership needs to reach out to surrounding communities, continue annexations and tax increment financing districts to entice business.

McLaughlin said community participation must be encouraged, noting that produced the most important project he helped work on - the Vision 2012 special sales-tax-funded improvements. "More than 60 projects came about because of the thinking and getting the public involved," he said.

Carlyle, who served from 1987 to 1991, made the audience laugh on numerous occasions - first, by telling everyone to stand up and stretch after listening to three politicians for an hour. (An audience question-and-answer period was scratched because the speakers went over their time limit.)

In the national recession, he said, although Rapid City has some protection because of federal government jobs available, he is concerned about city government's spending.

"When Alan Hanks said he was targeting zero growth, that was good to hear," Carlyle said.

He said his administration concentrated on improving government efficiency. He also credited the work of Barnett and former mayor Art LaCroix, who served from 1975 to 1987. "He was a wonderful person. He was a progressive thinker."

As for Barnett, Carlyle said he used to call him "Mr. Guts and Courage" because he declared martial law on the eve of the 1972 Rapid City flood. If that hadn't been done, a lot more lives would have been lost, he said.

Barnett, who served from 1971 to 1975, didn't comment much on the flood, instead talking mostly about the importance of the mayor and the city council working as a cohesive unit for the betterment of Rapid City. He was elected when he was 28 years old and was able to establish good communication with the main city government body. Because of that, many positive things happened, such as the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center and the creation of a city finance manager 90 days before the flood.

"We didn't care who got the credit for it," he said. "It was the most exciting time of my life to have a classically trained city council to work with."

He told Hanks he hopes the city council is a part of every nail the mayor drives so the citizens of Rapid City have confidence in city hall.

"If there is no effort between the community and the mayor and the city council, you won't pull off the dreams we saw on that wall," Barnett said, referring to Hanks' presentation.