Letters to the editor Jan. 24

Youth are the future

During last week’s Whitefish Community Development Board meeting, students from Mr. Webb’s A.P. government class presented solutions to problems facing Whitefish as part of the Vision Whitefish growth policy updates. Their engagement exemplifies how cities should involve the community in growth policy updates.

The students proposed solutions like a vacancy tax, policies for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and the hiring of an equity officer to ensure more inclusive engagement. While not all of these solutions may be feasible within the growth policy update, they should be considered at the City Council level.

Beyond considering the students’ proposals, I urge our leaders to establish a youth advisory council. This council would provide a formal platform for youth to be heard and ensure their ongoing, meaningful involvement in decision-making processes. A youth advisory council empowers youth to engage and acknowledges the role of future generations in addressing current challenges.

As someone who was in high school during the 2007 Whitefish growth policy update, I wish there had been a platform like a youth advisory council that valued my voice as a student. Youth are not just the future; they are an essential part of today’s community. Their voices matter in shaping policies that will affect their lives for years to come.

By creating a youth advisory council, the city of Whitefish can demonstrate its commitment to genuine youth engagement, ensuring that all young people have a seat at the table in our community’s growth and development.

In addition to Whitefish, I also encourage Kalispell and Columbia Falls city councils consider creating a youth advisory council to engage the youth of their communities.

— Mallory Phillips, Whitefish

Shock and awe

We were promised shock and awe on Jan. 20. We are now on our southern border and the situation down here is not only shocking and awful, but it is heartbreaking. 

The women and children in the shelters where we volunteer as teachers in northern Mexico are left with no hope of reuniting with their family or getting their kids to a better place. They can’t return to their homes that they fled and it is difficult to find work in a border town that is now overwhelmed with more desperate deportees, many whom left voluntarily for fear of being separated from their family. Even those who have waited 10 months to finally be scheduled for an appointment to enter the U.S. legally were told yesterday that their appointments are canceled indefinitely. These are mostly families from Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela who risked everything to get this far. The NGOs here (both American and Mexican) are scurrying to heal the deep wounds, but there are not nearly enough bandages nor avenues of hope.

Could the next act of shock and awe include dismantling our revered Statue of Liberty who promises “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”?

— Linda De Kort, Kalispell

Case of TDS

So glad to see that Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well at the Daily Inter Lake again.

— James OBrien, Kalispell