Progress it is Called

As with yesterday's blog of
the meeting that I was the only
protester, or at least the only
public person asking questions,
I got to wonder if I am the only
one who cares about keeping
small towns ...small.

We are close to other bigger
towns, so can go to the box
stores. So it isn't like we are
staying in the stone age.

It was a year ago almost,
that Panhandle Milling Co.
building went down with a crash..
which makes me ponder the
crashing down of other buildings
in Sandpoint.

They smashed down the old gas
station at the corner of Pine and
5th Avenue, not far from the Harold's
IGA that has been smashed down
earlier this year.

This is the second building that was
remodeled, but never had anything move
into it. The other being the Cowgirl (and
many other names in a few short years)
that was burnt down to make room for a
strip mall.

And now the Senior Citizen Thrift store
is no longer in their old place, and perhaps
the other two business will move as well,
and will it be smashed down to make room
for a new building?

So much has hit the ground ... all in
the name of progress.

The people who have lived here for 20
years or more, moved here for the small
town. The ones who have moved here in the
past 5 years seem to like the area for the
same reason's the rest of us do. The lake,
the mountains, the arts, the small town of
it all. Yet they and the opportunist seem
hell bent on changing it to something bigger
and more expensive.

I know, I know....it is called Progress. I don't
mind some progress, but I feel like this is like
holding a tiger by the tail. Feel like putting a
drag on that tail to slow it down. It is going so
fast, and the sources to support it, isn't.

The schools, the hospitals, heck even the jails,
are they ready for all of this... I don't think so.