Rule would affect housing availability
This letter is in response to Wes Delano’s comment (letters, Oct. 23) on the proposed changes to parkland dedication requirements for small subdivision and multi-unit housing, public hearing Nov. 3. As we work on housing issues in the Missoula community, we are heartened to hear that Delano recognizes the impact that these costs have on our ability to provide housing. This regulation, if passed, will have a dramatic affect on the availability of housing, of all types which citizens can afford to rent or buy.
The Missoula area has a master parks plan with a goal of 2.5 acres of parkland for every 1,000 citizens. Currently, Missoula’s parks department owns 167.99 acres of parkland, less than 2 acres shy of the master parks goal; 18.1 acres of that are not yet developed. It is also important to consider that that doesn’t include our wonderful regional parks, trail systems or the acres of open space Missoula city and county boast. This increased park dedication currently is unnecessary and will serve only to substantially tax small-lot and multi-unit development, putting an increased burden on the individuals in our community who can afford it the least.
Perry Deschamps, chairman, Missoula Organization of Realtors Government Affairs Committee, Missoula
Spend money on innovations
When our first goal for spending sewer treatment tax dollars is water conservation, we get a two-for-one benefit.
The current proposal to upgrade our central waste treatment plant I interpret as an exciting opportunity to implement water conservation and to support planning for healthy growth policy. The opportunity today is to turn a corner in how we most beneficially provide these services, improving environmental quality and infrastructure services.
We can lead in Montana and adopt membrane bio-reactor sewage treatment plants for all new expansion and development. MBR is a technology in worldwide use. Centralized systems encourage overuse of water resources by subscribers and pollute our aquifers. They do not beneficially recycle and reuse the water resource. A MBR plant links the economic and health benefits to the user/payer where they live.
The Department of Environmental Quality has recently recognized the merits of MBR treatment plans and its staff is poised to assist developers with local planning and implementation of the system. They recognize the benefits of re-using water resources and recycling waste treatment within confined systems.
In this model, each household conserves water use and restricts chemical contaminates from entering waste systems. Rainwater runoff collectors replenish the ground on site. All waste flows through a redundant treatment plant serving the whole community, filters the effluent and continues through a biological course of natural recycling processes. Treated water may flow through on-site riparian areas, parklands and ponds. Recycled water is used in agriculture, neighborhood gardens, for local fire protection and for irrigating landscaping in common areas.
If we must comply and spend money on updates and renovations, wouldn’t you rather spend the money on innovations in the short run and reap the long-term benefits of water conservation and healthy communities?
Lane Coulston, Missoula
We need a real solution to system
I just received a notice from the city indicating that our sewer rates are going to go up.
My concern is that our city sewer system is grossly overburdened and that very serious consideration needs to be addressed about either a major upgrade to the present system or the possibility of a new system downriver from the current site. Any reasonable person can see that the current situation cannot be sustained for long. One only needs to drive Reserve Street when there is a west wind to appreciate the emanating odor from upwind. We know the blame game from Eko Compost and the city about the smell but the city supplies much of the solids for the compost plant.
My point is that if our sewer rates are going to go up, lets see if we can have some real solution to the problem and not the same old smelly road.
Steven Croonenberghs, Missoula
Let’s fix where we’re building the homes
The recent editorial in the Missoulian (Oct. 15) was refreshing to see. It is about time someone from outside the Forest Service began to pay attention to the situation with the billions of dollars being spent on fire suppression and what it is doing to the budget of the Forest Service.
But, before that is fixed there is an intermediate step which needs to take place. If you look at the current situation in California and what happened in California this summer, more than $1 billion (your tax dollars and mine) were spent fighting fires in California.
Now the Santa Ana winds are blowing and houses are burning and lives are being lost. Is this unexpected? No! Next the rains and mud slides will come. Then spring comes and the houses sprout up again. But, the lives are still gone.
If I chose to build a house in the 10-year floodplain, I should be required to build my house on floats or pilings so that the flood can come and no one is threatened. Or the state can require me not to build in the 10-year floodplain.
So, why does it make sense to rebuild a flammable home in the “10-year fire-plain?” If the state of California is going to allow rebuilding of houses in the “10-year fire-plain,” would it make more sense to rebuild a non-flammable house so no one is threatened and the home owner just rides the fire out until it passes every 10 years or so? When the Santa Ana winds are blowing 60 miles per hour (typical) it only takes about one burning period for the fire to pass. If the utilities are underground the homeowner is operational in one day.
Lets try to fix our individual and state responsibilities before we fix the federal fire budget problem.
Barry Hicks, Bonner
Bush plans to open fragile lands to bikes
President Bush is planning rules and regulations for bikes to be used on national parks and other public lands - before Nov. 15 so it can be finalized before he retires. This will open up trails and backcountry of fragile lands, plants and wildlife of national parks and some public lands.
Bush is an avid mountain biker and wants to gain for himself and others who want to get into fragile mountain, trails and wild nature. But this is destructive and dangerous to our national parks as well as other lands like wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, etc.
Mountain bikes would rip up the natural, living lands of national parks and public lands. Try hiking on a mountain trail and have speedy mountain bikes coming around the bend and storming through your party and hit one of them. The place of your nice trail may also be ripped up. Certainly Bush and some may want their mountain bikes there, but there are plenty of areas available without using rare and fragile national parks.
Please contact your senators and officials who want to keep Montana as it is, especially as Glacier and other national parks so they can be protected from Bush and mountain bikes who have other places. We should not have national parks and other public lands from ripped and degraded by Bush and mountain biking.
Daniel H. Henning, Missoula
Offended by Haines’ characterization
I read the Missoulian article (Oct. 26) describing the current plight of Hillview Way and was deeply offended by Councilman Dick Haines’ characterization of bicyclists as “bike Nazis.” To lump any of Missoula’s residents into the same category as Hitler is hateful and irresponsible. And Haines’ rhetoric adds fuel to the animosity that already exists between motorists and bicyclists in this town.
I commute by bike for several reasons: it is good exercise, I’m not buying gas for my vehicle, and biking doesn’t pollute the atmosphere. I share the road with angry motorists and often navigate bike infrastructure that is less than ideal. Sure, sidewalks and bike lanes are expensive. But the cost of a typical road project far exceeds the dollars that are spent on alternative transportation infrastructure.
Haines is obviously not sympathetic to the daily struggles of Missoula’s bikers, and my arguments will likely not change that fact. But I would appreciate it if he would find a more appropriate nickname for Missoula’s bicycling faithful. Because his current moniker is offensive and hateful.
Jody Bramel, Missoula
How did cyclists warrant 'Nazi’ comment?
As a Missoula resident, taxpayer, commuter and Jew, I read with interest Ward 5 City Council representative Dick Haines’ recent criticism of “bike Nazis” who insist on having biking/walking facilities in places where hardly a soul bikes or walks (Missoulian, Oct. 26).
To Haines, I ask these questions: 1. If a street lacks bike lanes/sidewalks, how many souls does he expect to travel it by bike or foot? 2. What specific words or actions by local bicyclists merit comparisons with the Nazi Party?
I have no interest in requiring “politically correct” speech from our elected officials, but I do ask for specificity behind accusations and simple logic underpinning conclusions. Without these qualities, Haines is unworthy of his office.
Jeremy N. Smith, Missoula
Advertising inappropriate for children
Today as I drove my 7-year-old daughter home from her piano lesson she asked, “Mom, what is a dyke?” Shocked, I realized she was reading an advertisement on the back of the Missoula bus we were following.
I am offended by the advertising campaign seen around Missoula regarding “homophobia.” Did anyone consider that young children would be reading and viewing these displays? While some might consider this a great opportunity to discuss tolerance and diversity, I am being forced to expose my child to a subject that I consider vastly beyond her maturity level.
I ask that the groups that created and are sponsoring this campaign consider how their message is being received and the potential harm and offense it carries to families with young children. There are other venues in which mature subjects can be discussed and points made without making the difficult job of parenting even more difficult.
Jo Anne Renfro, Missoula
Probation for infant case hard to believe
On Oct. 15, an article in the Missoulian reported on the sentencing of Scott Anderson in the court of Judge Dusty Deschamps.
Please someone, say it isn’t so - I have been waiting for one of those “corrections” notices to appear, letting all of us know a terrible mistake was made, a printing error, names and details of the case confused with another court procedure - something to indicate the crime of Anderson against his own child would garner an act of justice in the name of this innocent baby.
Probation and some parenting classes? Some anger management counseling and a chemical dependency evaluation?
Perhaps if the judge or defense attorney had sustained the injuries inflicted on this 7-week-old infant, there would have been a sentencing package with a more authentic reflection of our community standards - where everyone in our village works to keep our children safe.
Judy Arledge, Missoula
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