Disneyland or dreary? How you see North Idaho
Looking back …
I think there was more to your survey answers than the way I presented them.
With so many people responding to the question of how they feel about living in Kootenai County, perhaps I accidentally pictured things as too simply black or white.
Yes, it’s true that plenty of readers mentioned the people and the beauty of this area, and on the negative side, traffic, growth and planning (or perceived lack of it) came up again and again.
True enough, and those thoughts were well worth examining — so we did.
And yet …
It wasn’t quite as simple as that.
On several fronts.
So to do your opinions justice, I spent most of an entire day going back over every email — trying to find patterns and ideas that weren’t as obvious as others, yet still were worth exploring.
For instance, the worries about growth were sometimes quite specific.
Several people were upset with all the building on Ramsey Road, some bemoaned the shrinking Rathdrum Prairie, and others zeroed in on what will happen to a last piece of disappearing space in Coeur d’Alene.
Gwynn Adrus, for one, was fairly blunt about it.
“I hope there will be more talk about the development of the Atlas Mill site, and the land swap the city is trying to do with a developer from Spokane in order to secure a trail along the river,” Gwynn wrote.
“The trail/bike path is definitely a carrot, but the stick looks dangerous to the well-being of this community.
“This looks like the last piece of undeveloped land along the river, so let’s not throw away a chance to do something that enhances the beauty and livability of Coeur d’Alene.
“Once a dense, overcrowded development is built, we can’t go back and change it.”
Roger Smith agreed with Adrus, calling on city officials to “watchdog” the process, and while arguing for low-density growth near the old mill site, he added: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do the right thing.”
ON THE other hand, more people than you might expect noted that they feel growth throughout the county is inevitable, and that it is a small price to pay for our quality of life.
Irene Smith, who has been coming to the area with her husband for 20 years — and then wound up as a property owner — thinks development has been just fine.
“Over these years, we’ve seen so many improvements and increased vitality in the downtown business district,” she wrote.
“We’re always impressed, after all these years, with how alive the city is and how many events occur each week.
“We currently live in the downtown area, and love being able to walk to all the wonderful stores, concerts, art walks, restaurants, entertainment, the college, parks, beach, Tubbs Hill, etc.
“It’s like having a full-time ticket to Disneyland!”
There obviously are different ways of looking at things — and in this case, maybe your opinion depends on where you live.
THERE EVEN were polar opposite views on our weather.
Dwight McCain and several others put “four seasons” on their lists of things to enjoy after moving here (generally from California).
And there was this from Larry Studley …
“My wife and I had a place up here for summer getaways from Tucson for a couple of years.
“Then a year ago, I sold my business in Arizona — and ultimately we decided to do a reverse snowbird move and relocate here permanently.
“We like it much better than Tucson.”
But Skip Fuller tossed out the weather as his only negative after praising the region’s people for making this a wonderful place to live.
“The dreary winters,” Skip wrote. “North Idaho winter brings more rain or drizzle than snow, and many more cloudy, heavily overcast days than sunny (or even partly cloudy) days.
“It’s depressing!”
See?
The more I re-read your thoughts and opinions of life in Kootenai County, the more varied and shaded they became.
But in the entire file of emails (which now has crept past 140), only two people expressed any slight inkling to leave.
One of them said, “Each day, I think about it.”
We’ll visit more of the interesting and unique responses at another time, but for now, let me just say about leaving …
Each day, I NEVER think about it.
•••
Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.
A Brand New Day appears from Wednesday through Saturday each week.
Steve’s sports column runs on Tuesday.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
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Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA