Letters to the editor May 29

Goodbye, Whitefish

I am leaving you now, after many years, my once quiet little town. My heart is heavy to see what you have become. Once a humble, simple and safe little railroad town in which to work, raise a family and grow. A place where everyone knew their neighbors.

I remember the mural of small-town life that once graced the side of your wall at the corner of Baker and 2nd. A place now where a woman screams political hatred at innocent drivers and pedestrians.

I will not forget the little pond behind the mall, where my children once caught frogs and deer would come to drink, now choked with drive up coffee shops, high-rise condo buildings and traffic right up to the edges of the water.

I will not forget the open fields in front of Muldown where kids played flag football, now overcrowded with an array of high-density cheap housing units. Our schools were once free from political agendas and run by local Montana teachers.

I will not forget you, now an overcrowded playground for the rich and those looking to exploit beauty for profit. Your roads are crowded with out of state invaders, construction and moving trucks. Their arrogant demands immediately requiring change. Commercial coffee shops spreading like an infection, storage units devouring fields and the predictable gray/black mindlessly designed modern houses for “want-to-be-Montana’s,” bleeding the splendor and wonder of this once little town.

I won’t forget you for what you use to be. You have been discovered, exploited and sold off to the highest out of state bidder. Congratulations to those of you who wanted development, improvements, and convenience. You got what you asked for. I won’t forget you, “Goodbye Whitefish, another “last best place,” lost.

— Amy Fischer, Whitefish

Thoughts on Buffalo shooting

Racism is a dastardly form of over simplistic thinking that results in profound hatred and intense violence. As a person that values human life, I value all human life from conception to the grave. That said, I would like to make two additional points about the recent events in Buffalo, New York.

First, I would like to point out that the Second amendment protects the rights of individuals to bear firearms. This right protects individuals, and it increases community security. Imagine if an armed law-abiding citizen was present when the event unfolded. The shooter himself said he held, “fear of a hero that stops me.”

The Second amendment was written to increase the ability of citizens to protect their home, community and country. Communities are safer when criminals are aware that citizens are likely to be armed, and it is unlikely that another nation would dare to attempt ground offensive among an armed citizenry.

My final point speaks in reference to the extreme ideological frame of mind that developed as the shooter claims, “I only turned racist when 4chan started giving me [facts]…”.

Ideological political views are rooted in what an individual group believes is “ideal.” Of course, whether something is ideal or not is a matter of opinion and there will always be dissenters. Extreme ideology discounts all other beliefs and states that their beliefs are right and any variation is wrong.

In politics, it’s important to apply critical thinking to consider other views, beliefs and ideas. This doesn’t mean that we must change our views, beliefs, and ideas based on new information; it means that we are broadening our view of the world.

The horrifying tragedy that took place in Buffalo, New York is an extreme example of political ideology that has gone too far.

— Lorena Wood, Martin City

Planning for growth

With voting season here, it is a good time to talk about growth. Planned growth is good, out of control growth is very, very bad.

Here are the A, B, C’s to discuss. A) Anybody has the right to sell their land to anyone, B) County commissions and city councils are primarily charged with managing growth, C) Developers has several tools to thwart item B.

Well A is self-explanatory. As to B, one of the primary responsibilities of city councils and county commissions across the state and country is to manage growth; however we see the last four years plus of growth seems very unplanned and out of control. There is no rhyme or reason to this except for C.

For many decades developers have refined their techniques to get the development they want. Some of the tools all developers may use are to sell private stock to selected citizens to get support behind large projects. However, the most commonly used one is to hold landowners hostage by making the purchase of the land contingent on getting their project approved by city councils and county commissioners.

This often results in developed published growth plans being ignored, and existing land use designations and zones changes to appease the developer. Remember, except of existing permitted use, councils and commissions are under no obligation to change planned land use designations or zones.

So what does this mean in this election season? It means that we need elected officials who will negotiate with developers on their plans and sometimes say no to high density projects. Elected officials who will require developers to purchase the land before they consider their development plans. Elected officials who will consider the effect of growth on infrastructure such as water and water quality, the real effect on traffic, the effect on housing prices, on schools, etc.

Lastly officials who will consider the retirees on fixed incomes. What will happen to them when their property taxes double or triple overs the next four to six years? Will they be forced to sell and move away? What about our children just entering the workforce? Where will they live?

— Joseph Ruffolo, Kalispell