Local Politics
As Mayoral Race Begins, Growth Should Be Top Talking Point
By Courtney Lowery, 3-30-05
The race is on for the Missoula Mayoral post and the campaign really could not come at a more crucial time. As the city grows (which in case you haven't noticed, it is), we are wrestling with some very complicated and important issues that accompany that growth -- traffic, infrastructure, economic shifts and even cultural upheavals. We need a leader who can guide us through these battles, without compromising the very reasons we love this city. And we're at a good vantage point to watch the candidates who have so far put their bid in for the spot. Three people have announced their candidacy and all are city council members. This gives us Missoulians have a good chance to scrutinize them in action instead of just listening to campaign speeches.
First, in early February, businessman and City Councilman John Engen announced he was running for the spot. Then Councilwoman Lou Ann Crowley told the Missoulian she was in the running late last month. Now this week comes Councilman Clayton Floyd's annoucement of his campaign.
All three have been adamant that they are the ones to lead Missoula's growth in the right direction and have been very clear that they are focused primarily on that issue. But, since it's early in the game, we don't have to just take their word for it. Because they'll be hard at work in council chambers during the campaign, we can really see if they will back up the ideas we have for growth. There are a couple really serious growth issues up in front of the city right now, including the Wye-Mullan development plan, revamps of Malfunction Junction, the possibility of some work done on alleviating traffic on Reserve Street. Because the process for all of these things seems esoteric and a bit confusing, it's hard to get your head around them. But, now is the time for all of us to guide where that process is headed. So get your learning caps on and head down to the city council chambers. It's our job to elect the mayor who is going to do this right, so we should take the challenge seriously.
Let's get this discussion rolling early. What are the issues you Missoulians out there want your new mayor to tackle first?
Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.
Comments
Add your comment below
For example, the Milwaukee Railroad served our community and our state for decades before it succombed to market forces and questionable corporate decisions and finally went bankrupt in the early 1980's. People lost their jobs, creditors lost millions and a tax-paying company disappeared. Pretty sad story. On the other hand, the demise of that railroad opened the door to our community's acqusition and development of our riverfront parks and trail system, an accomplishment that most Missoulians are deeply proud of.
I have lived in Missoula for the better part of 30 years and many would probably still consider me a newcomer. Still, many parts of Missoula history are real to me for having lived through them. I knew former Mayors Bill Cregg and John Toole and half a dozen police chiefs. I remember when trains ran on the south shore of the river. I enjoyed refreshments and learned one of the coolest bar tricks ever in Eddie's Club. In my work of over 20 years at the Missoula Redevelopment Agency I saw many, many changes--some things passed away, some things were renewed and saved. These pieces of history are simply change as seen in the rear view mirror. We shape them and they shape us.
When we ask our Mayoral candidates to hold forth with their notions of how they will lead us in the response to growth, we should not burden them with unreasonable expectations. People are still going to come here to live because in spite of how much any of us loathe the changes which have been visited on Missoula in the last decade or so, these newcomers still find the Garden City a great place to live. Especially compared to where they come from.
One of the realities of growth is that these newcomers--and we--are still going to drive single occupant vehicles because of convenience, affordable gas, a sense of self-privledge and societal complicity in affirming those points of view.("But I NEED to drive my car because [insert your best reason or reasons here]!") Folks will continue to drive in spite of everything we can tell them about the environmetal costs, the economic costs, the futility of trying to build our way out of congestion, the beauty of our Mountain Line Bus system, and the underappreciated joy of traveling by bicycle.
As people come to our community, we are going to continue to see sprawl in our valley because development--what was almost an organic process a couple of generations ago--has become an industry that requires property to change hands and be improved where it is most expeditious and profitable to do so.
As a community, we have been unable or unwilling to do much about managing growth, in spite of having some of the best minds in the community focused on the problem in the past. There are tremendous market forces at work here that resist control because they are tied up in property rights that often trump community or neighborhood desires. We simply haven't found the balance of responsibility, accountability, and fairness when it comes to dealing with growth and the changes it brings. As a result, we struggle to keep housing affordable even though the deck is stacked against us.
I doubt that growth can be meaningfully managed through government regulation. The stakes are too high in the long run for that strategy to work. I suspect that we will have to explore the use of incentives and disincentives to influence market forces to behave in a way that is more in keeping with what we would recognize as good for the community. The genius of the marketplace to find better ways to do things must be harnessed to do what it does best without the collateral damage to a community we no longer recognize or feel connection with.
Whatever it takes, it won't be free and it won't be cheap. It will be a gut check on how much this place means to each of us.
So, your question about what the Mayoral candidates may have to say about growth has been hanging out for about 45 days with no comment. (It's no wonder. If coming up with a workable growth management strategy were easy, everybody would do it!) This is an important question nonetheless and one that deserves community discussion. I'm not the smartest guy I ever met but I hope this comment is just the first part of the conversation that brings others into engagement.