Letters May 14, 2008

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

By Planet User

Hick manners
<This letter was addressed to the Teton County Commissioners. - Eds>
Admittedly, I’m just a Wyoming hick but my parents taught me manners. I found the Sequoia developers, Teton Meadows Ranch Team and especially Ms. Levy to be lacking not only in manners, courtesy and consideration but now playing the victims.
Even after their ludicrous facade of helping us “poor Wyoming folks” was put into the moratorium they were given one more shot to dazzle us with brilliance or baffle us with (you know the saying).

I called a friend. (Hey, I still have a few left) and he just laughed at me.
He said, “Cindy you never change. You still think right will win and a man is as good as his word. For all you know the money that developer paid Rodger was chump change and he can still drag your cute little wildlife saving butt down the Snake River.”

Do I have my hackles up? You bet! Will another developer come down the road? Yup! A little respect for the valley and what we try so hard to preserve is in order. The developer didn’t vacation here for 27 years because we have sprawl and skyscrapers. We might be stupid hicks in Illinois but we’re neighbors in Wyoming. A little neighborliness goes a long way.
- Cindy Stone, South of Town

TMR lies
<This letter was addressed to the Teton County Commissioners. It was also edited for length. - Eds>

This letter concerns the cancellation of the board of county commissioners meeting at Snow King on May 7, which was to have continued board discussions and public comment on the Teton Meadows Ranch application.

Along with several other persons, my wife and I showed up for that meeting prepared to comment publicly, but were surprised to learn that the meeting had been cancelled at the last minute - apparently at the request of the developers.
What is even more surprising is that the well-paid attorney for the developers (Ms. Robbin Levy) is now claiming that they have been denied “due process” – by having lost that very same opportunity to continue presenting their application to the board!  Moreover, she also claims that the developers could not be prepared for that hearing because of a lack of adequate notice.

I find Ms. Levy’s argument very disingenuous. I attended the board’s initial TMR application meeting at Snow King on April 29, during which 28 out of 29 members of the public who offered comment opposed the development, and was well aware of the fact that a second hearing would take place on May 7. If everyone else knew about that meeting, how could Ms. Levy not have gotten the message?

In a letter to you on May 7, Ms. Levy attempted to shift the blame for her own unpreparedness onto the board, by alleging that the real purpose of the May 7 meeting was “to allow my client to request special consideration to be exempted from the (recently imposed) moratorium or freeze resolution pursuant to the ‘safety valve’ provision the board drafted into the resolution language.” That was not my own understanding of the publicized purpose of the meeting.

It is confusing when Ms. Levy asks the board to cancel the public comment meeting then claims that holding the meeting “without the applicant’s presence, reasonable notice and opportunity for presentation” would deprive her client of “due process” and “the entitlement approved by the planning staff and planning commission without the opportunity to be heard.”

What “entitlement” did Ms. Levy and her clients anticipate?  Did the TMR promoters expect to have their defective application automatically approved by the board just because it had the inexplicable approval of the planning commission and its staff? When this half-baked, overblown proposition had so many holes in it that it looked like a broken window, what did they expect?

It seems that Ms. Levy’s real lament is that her client was not given enough opportunity to dodge all of the unanticipated bullets from a concerned public in this gunfight before the TMR application was transported to Boot Hill.

In any event, Ms. Levy should not have cried “foul” on behalf of her TMR clients for having been included in the moratorium without (allegedly) an opportunity to request “special consideration to be exempted.” Ms. Levy and her TMR clients had the same opportunity for comment as anyone else, and if they chose to forfeit it by walking off the field in protest, they will somehow need to learn to live with the consequences of that action.
  - Fred Whissel, Jackson

Transportation invitation
Imagine being able to catch a bus from the Town Square or Teton Village to Old Faithful for a weekend getaway. With rising gas prices, there is no better time to examine our regional transportation issues. Together we can craft cost-effective solutions to meet our mobility needs in the Greater Yellowstone region, power our economy, and still maintain ecosystem health.  Jackson, Bozeman, Pocatello and Big Sky are moving forward thanks to creative partnerships that make pooling resources a mutually beneficial strategy. Imagine the possibilities if our two national parks and six forests, three states, multiple cities and regional businesses come together to enhance the mobility of their citizens, workers and visitors! 

The conversation will continue in earnest at the Yellowstone Business Partnership’s 5th Annual Conference set for May 19-21 at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. A Concept of Operations Plan has already begun. Consultants will share what they’ve learned to date and discuss the unmet transportation needs in our region. Speakers with regional, national and international perspectives will broaden our thinking.
Interested participants are encouraged to join the conversation.

And instead of driving your personal car, please ride a conference bus that will be chartered from each major retail center.  Experience what might be possible if we can cross jurisdictional boundaries and efficiently link our public and private transportation services.  For details on the project and conference information please visit our website at www.yellowstonebusiness.org.
- Jan Brown, Executive Director
Yellowstone Business Partnership
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Letters May 14, 2008 | Planet JH News Article: Letters To Editor

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