Journey On Executive Director Stephanie Korr and other members of the group brought several bags of discarded alcohol bottles picked up during the group’s regular rounds last week to the Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday.

The bags provided a visual to highlight the need for some action to address the on-going problem of alcohol and addiction in Rapid City.

Journey On attended the committee meeting to speak in favor of a request by Council President Stephen Tamang to direct the City Attorney’s Office to research potential ordinance amendments to reduce alcohol-related litter in Rapid City.

“I feel like we have a brilliant legal team here,” Tamang said. “What I would like to see them do is look into a comparative analysis from similar communities to see if there’s anything we can learn and bring forward some options.”

Tamang was adamant that there was no intention to burden sellers or businesses.

“But surely there must be something we can do better,” he said.

Journey On is a community-driven group in Rapid City that provides street outreach to build trust and support unhoused people and provide for some basic needs.

“We encourage the city to look at a range of solutions: stronger enforcement of existing litter ordinances, partnerships with retailers, education, targeted strategies in areas experiencing higher levels of alcohol-related litter, and other approaches that have worked in communities facing similar challenges,” Journey On Executive Director Stephanie Korr said.

Tamang acknowledged his request would touch on several related issues – public inebriation, homelessness, and panhandling – and encouraged local groups to provide input.

If the issue should be addressed at a state or local level, however, wasn’t clear.

Councilman John Roberts questioned what effect a litter-related approach would have on the underlying problem, saying treatment and mental health approaches would drive closer to a solution.

“There are so many other things that need to be dealt with,” Roberts said. “It’s a problem that’s really going to be difficult to get a handle on and I think that we have to realize … that we’re never going to solve the problem so we have to mitigate it as much as we can.”

Tamang’s request was sent to the full council without recommendation.