GROWTH: An answer to suburban sprawl

Reading the Coeur d’Alene Press, one cannot help noticing that one of the main concerns of local and county governments is money. The other major concern is the development of fast growing Kootenai County. At present, two concepts which could promise a bright future for the Idaho Panhandle are conspicuously absent from your pages.

The first is Traditional Neighborhood Design. People dread suburban sprawl, and the prospect of the Rathdrum Prairie full of soulless, suburban bedroom communities — in a word, strip-mall America — is utterly depressing!

The good news — there’s an alternative, known as Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND). It has been under discussion for decades! Check out the TED Talks online. It’s humane architecture, architecture for people — walkable, beautiful. (The U.K. even has a Minister of Beauty, Sir Roger Scruton, because beauty matters! Architecture is one of the principal elements of a humane civic environment and 20th century architecture has not cared one whit about it!)

The other concept is public banking. Right now, many cities and more than 25 states are investigating how they can replicate the success of North Dakota, which alone of 48 states a hundred years ago chose to set up a state bank — the State Bank of North Dakota. Its experience and surprising success stand as a roadmap for states and localities trying to stop enriching Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.

Real solutions exist, and our future could be not only prosperous but beautiful! Here’s hoping you’ll investigate it further.

ANNE M. STINNETT

Rathdrum