FAIRGROUNDS: Resist attack

Our Kootenai County Fairgrounds is yet again under attack from the current board of County Commissioners. It seems to be a repetitive theme every time the board changes or the county needs to expand the bureaucracy.

Without the need for public comment, the Commissioners are proposing to take approximately 4 acres from our community which is currently used in a productive, positive manner. Their plan to build a new judicial facility will ultimately replace that productive, positive community space with more buildings, more pavement, a parking structure and more inmate area. None of this adds anything positive to Kootenai County as compared to the loss of the productive community space.

Our Fairgrounds is a gem in the North Idaho landscape and should be protected for generations. The Fairgrounds serves as an affordable community gathering place not only for the annual fair, but for many events throughout the year. It provides a proactive place where young people are fostered into hardworking, responsible community members. It needs to be protected.

Parking during the fair and other events is already at capacity. Each small chunk the commissioners take makes our Fairgrounds less and less likely to withstand the perils of many fairgrounds across the country that become obsolete and shuttered. We need to band together to impress upon these Commissioners, the importance of preserving the rural and agricultural roots of Kootenai County. It is OUR Fairgrounds. Please voice your opinion to stop this.

KATIE BANE

Coeur d’Alene