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OpinionSees hysteria forming in countyTo the editor: Chisago Countyís Angry Developers, Inc. has whipped local landowners into an hysterical frenzy on the subject of riverway ordinance judging by recent letters to the press. This county must be unique in the state if our landowners believe that land speculators, attempting another block-busting land sales bonanza on the river, really have the best interests of landowners at heart on this issue. Landowners along the Wild and Scenic St. Croix and Sunrise Rivers must ask themselves - if Angry Developers. Inc. gets its way and their land is surrounded next year by rural slums on poor soils with failing septic systems overburdening poor roads and crowded schools, how exactly has their property value appreciated? Unless they too sell out cheap to Angry Developers, Inc. in the expected chain reaction of panic selling. The taxes required to support the Angry Developers infrastructure will inexorably force them off their farms anyway. If not, then maybe thereís still hope to enact wise land use planning around our last remaining natural resources in this county. For the record, the developer-despised majority on the Chisago County Board of Commissioners corrected a glaring inequity on library funding which had rendered our system the worse in the state. Until September 2003, the cities of North Branch, Rush City and Lindstrom alone paid 100 percent of the costs to build, operate and maintain libraries used by all county citizens. Chisago Countyís recent assumption of these costs, spreading them equitably over the users base, means that this county may finally reach bare, minimal state standards for library services once the buildings are open. It is curious that past county boards were able to shovel money like manure into failed garbage composting boondoggles, shaky financing schemes for roads in southern Chisago County and constant taxpayer subsidies to fuel rapid, unsustainable urban development in the agricultural district with only a whisper of comment in the press. Recent letter barrages against libraries and against protecting our Wild and Scenic parks is obviously the result of a well-oiled campaign by Angry Developers, Inc. financed by the real estate sales industry using local landowners as convenient cash cows. Mark Oberg Editorís note: East Central Regional Library director Bob Boese clarified that the cities do provide the buildings and maintenance (heat and lights, etc.) for branch libraries in the ECRL system. The operations - the books, materials and staff - are paid for and provided by the ECRL system. Chisago County contributes funds to the ECRL system annually. ©ECM Post Review |