Wessel Re: NO MORE STOPLIGHTS ON 93Remove the "Best"....from Last, Best Place....and you have Last Place.
Montana had the distinction of many low rankings, including per capita
income, but we were drawn there for the natural beauty and inexpensive
homes. Now the Stadium Theatres and even the Sportsman block the view
of Badrock Canyon and the low wages there don't equate to homeownership
for too many.
What we found were the same problems that we were trying to escape from
other "desirable" places we had lived, even in areas that had done good
preparations for growth.
We have since moved away from Kalispell because of the lack of planning
for growth...transportation systems neglect is already apparent. Do not
back down on keeping 93 Stoplight Free. The City needs to ALWAYS retain
the services of a traffic consultant to perform the services that are
not adequately represented on staff....on a regular basis.
It was a nice couple years for us there but the outlook was too grim to
stay. I found it interesting to measure the Flathead Valley on Google
Earth and see it is virtually the same size as the Las Vegas Valley.
Here are the growth numbers for the City of Las Vegas (Year, Population,
Annual Growth Rate):
1950 pop. 25,000 growth19%
1960 64,000 16%
1970 126,000 9%
1980 164,000 3%
1990 258,000 6%
2000 478,000 8%
2006 552,000 2%
Of course, the Flathead won't grow that fast???!!! I certainly could
imagine the population of the Valley floor heading to 100,000 in the
next ten years (it is already around 60,000). Good luck.
It's pretty scary that 2,000 homes are being approved annually in
Kalispell and the ten year old Transportation Plan is incredibly
outdated. The new one is not even adopted and the City made practically
no effort in getting people involved. No one there wants to listen.
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