LETTER: Don't just rubber stamp spending on new projects
I’ve read some of the job descriptions of our county commissioners, including “juggling priorities and concerns in such areas as housing, environmental protection, transportation and economic development ...” But, I can’t help but wonder what the commissioners view as their job description, because if it is to “rubber stamp” every imaginable building project, anytime, anything, anywhere, then every one of them should be voted out of office.
Montana is the “Treasure State” not because of fast food joints, big box stores, hotels and bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s because of its open spaces, big sky, wildlife and minimal population. If you build it ... they will come and come and keep on coming until there are no more open spaces and the only wildlife will be sculptures like those by artist Eric Thorsen or our many talented chain-saw artists. The mountains will be obscured by buildings, overpasses and billboards and the night sky will be obliterated by streetlights and blinking neon signs advertising yet another business for profit.
As I have said repeatedly, “If every decision is an economic decision, it’s probably the wrong decision” and certainly isn’t in the best interests of the resources with which we’ve been blessed. Endless building and environmental protection are not compatible in terms of the long-term interests of our land. How much is enough? Do we really need a gas station and casino on every corner? More money, more building, more traffic is not going to improve the quality of life for anyone. And we are very rapidly moving in the direction of looking like any other metropolitan area. We are systematically destroying everything that makes Montana and the Flathead Valley unique and will soon become “the place formerly known as the last best place.”
And while we’re on the subject of being good stewards of our God-given resources, what would be wrong with restricting the number of people who enter Glacier or Yellowstone Park on any given day? Daily, there are problems with people negatively impacting our wildlife and the environment, not to mention the strain on our park rangers to manage the increasing number of tourists. Other countries do this with their national treasures so that those treasures will be there for future generations. If we don’t put our resources and environment first, they simply won’t be there. Then what ...?
—Kathryn Berg, Bigfork