Comments on: Lost on the Trail
Newest First
By RussCrowder on 08-01-12 @ 12:53 pm
“WHITEFISH” Trail; “WHITEFISH” Neighborhood Plan; “WHITEFISH” School Trust Lands Neighborhood Plan; “WHITEFISH” Legacy Partners; Gee, there seems to be a common thread to
this whole mess but I just can’t put my finger on it. By the way Dave, don’t worry about Hankie…He
just doesn’t care about the children.
By Brian Joos on 08-01-12 @ 4:32 pm
The reason that Whitefish is a great place to live is because most of our residents do not heedthe misleading and inaccurate ranting of nay-sayers like Mr. Skinner. Each time the community
comes together to undertake the next great project that people in our city will enjoy for
generations, someone like Mr. Skinner has to come along on a misguided crusade to manufacture
outrage over problems that do not exist and to preserve the time-honored cliché that no good
deed goes unpunished.
In this case, the target is the Whitefish Trail, a successful project that has put public land
to widespread public use. Instead of preserving what we have so that our children and their
children can grow up enjoying it, Mr. Skinner would have us sell off the land for private use.
The most misleading part of this argument that we should part with our public land forever is
its unspoken premise that buyers would magically materialize purchase the land in question for
top dollar. Somehow, Mr. Skinner must be unaware of the facts that land values are no longer
what they were a few years ago, and that realtors in this area are having difficulty finding
buyers for raw land even at discounted prices. It is absurd to suggest that $113 million will
present itself out of thin air if we were to throw these public lands onto the market. And
even if it did, Mr. Skinner also neglects to mention that the schools would not get a $113
million windfall from such a transaction; they would receive only some of the interest. The
purchase price would go into a permanent fund, where it would be vulnerable to inflation and
other devaluation as time goes on, potentially leaving the public with nothing. The trail
system is an ingenious way to put public land to public use in a way that benefits everyone
while assuring that the land can remain an asset instead of being liquidated.
Rather than devoting some time toward improving life in this valley like those who have built
the Whitefish Trail, it seems that Mr. Skinner would rather spend his days in a desk chair using
misinformation to threaten frivolous lawsuits against people who are actually out there in our
communities doing good work.
By Red Green on 08-01-12 @ 8:09 pm
Nurse, Nurse!! Mr. Skinner needs his meds adjusted again.
By fourweight on 08-01-12 @ 8:55 pm
Mr Skinner and all his tea bagging fool friends have their perfect model for land use planning and quality of life
its called Williston ND, where men are men, crime is free, we don’t have none of them darn
greenies trying to protect none of that quality of life stuff….oh yeh, and where it generally looks
like a bad sci-fi movie.
Dont be fooled - thats what Davie, Denny, Mr Hill and all the other far right dudes want. A trail
to the superfund site is the only trail they can envision
By RussCrowder on 08-02-12 @ 4:42 pm
You must have struck a nerve there Dave…The Loons will never fly again..You have them pulling their feathers out.
By doughnuteer on 08-05-12 @ 1:08 pm
I read that Dave is saying that the state should get full value…...
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