Jim Shaw was the mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota from 1997 - 2001, and from 2003 - 2007. He is the second longest-serving mayor of Rapid City. Shaw's 8 years in office were highlighted by his successful economic development efforts, which resulted in Rapid City gaining more than 3000 new jobs during his years in office, according to the RC Economic Development office.
Shaw was born October 30, 1946 in Elmira, New York. He grew up in Dundee, New York and attended the State University of New York and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
Prior to being elected mayor, Shaw was a radio personality and television news anchor on KOTA-TV in Rapid City.
Shaw was part of a statewide, non-partisan effort to persuade the BRAC (Base Realignment Commission) to remove Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City from the list of recommended closures in 2005, according to Pat McElgunn, Military Affairs Chairman of the RC Chamber of Commerce. Shaw, along with U.S. Senators Tim Johnson, John Thune, Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Governor Mike Rounds, testified before the BRAC committee public hearing in Rapid City in favor of keeping Ellsworth open. Later that summer, the BRAC voted to remove Ellsworth from the list of recommended closures, and Shaw called it "a grand and glorious day for our community." Ellsworth contributes $328 million to the area economy annually, according to figures from the South Dakota Governor's Office.
In the fall of 2009 Shaw was part of a group that purchased the Black Hills Speedway and planned to renovate it in order to attract more visitors. In early January 2010 the Rapid City Journal named him as one of the "Ten in 2010"—ten local residents to watch in the year to follow because they were expected to make news.
Unfortunately for Shaw his penchant for fast cars apparently was taken off the racetrack and into Rapid City streets. He was arrested on June 5, 2012 for an escalated traffic stop (for speeding, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, and obstructing police by not complying to officers commands).
Famous quotes containing the words jim and/or shaw:
“Just kids! That’s about the craziest argument I’ve ever heard. Every criminal in the world was a kid once. What does it prove?”
—Theodore Simonson. Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.. Jim Bird, The Blob, responding to the suggestion that they not lock up the teens pulling the alien “prank,” (1958)
“There is the eternal war between those who are in the world for what they can get out of it and those who are in the world to make it a better place for everybody to live in.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)