State of the Rockies
tiny car, big west
Munchkin-Sized “Smart Cars” to Hit U.S. Cities; Will They Work in the West?The Smart Car, a tiny little munchkin that's been cruising the streets of Europe since 1998, is coming to America. German-American carmaker DaimlerChrysler will introduce the Smart Car to the American market in 2008 in the hopes that soaring gas prices, waning interest in SUVs and concerns about global warming will jumpstart its popularity here.
The Smart Car is a bug-like two-seater that's only nine feet long from bumper to bumper. It's become trendy in big European cities for its ability to squeeze into parking spaces and navigate the narrow, winding streets.
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Blogvertorial
A Year-Round Recreation Destination
The Bitterroot Team aspires to build a family-friendly recreation venue that is accessible to and benefits all members of the Missoula and Bitterroot Valley communities. Bitterroot Resort is designed to be a year-round recreation destination with alpine, snowboard and cross-country ski venues, signature golf, fly-fishing, mountain biking, ice skating and other amenities existing alongside a four-season resort village and residential community.
Bitterroot Resort has recently submitted a special use permit application to the forest service requesting 1,680 acres of federal land, adjacent to the Maclay Ranch in the northern Bitterroot Valley, be designated as part of a destination ski resort. This proposal represents only a small portion of the envisioned 12,800 acres of potential skiable terrain on Lolo Peak and Carlton Ridge.
Show your support and sign the Bitterroot Petition online.
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Let the Games Begin
U.S. Senate Candidates Tester and Burns to Face Off in WhitefishMontana U.S. Senate candidates Jon Tester, Democrat, and Republican incumbent Conrad Burns will square off in their first debate Sunday morning at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish. The debate begins and 9:00 A.M. and will last an hour. It's the first of two possible debates in the senate race that has captured national attention both because of Burns's ties to scandal-ridden lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Tester's honest (organic) farmer appeal.
The Whitefish Pilot reports that C-Span and Time magazine will both be there to cover the action. At the end of the debate, the floor will open to questions from the audience. The debate is not open to the public but will be shown on television across the state.
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Internetting on Vacation
Tourist Season In My Mountain TownBy Heidi Borg
Guest Writer
When do you really know the tourist season has arrived in the Flathead Valley? Maybe it can be displayed by the multitude of brand new Subarus with tiny barcode stickers in the back window. Or maybe your favorite restaurant is backed wall to wall by 6:30 pm.
But in my small town of Columbia Falls, gateway to Glacier National Park, gauging the start of the summer tourist season just takes a trip to the local library.
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NPR Reports
The Downsides of Whitefish’s Booming Real Estate MarketTonight on NPR's Montana Evening Edition, Whitefish, Montana's painfully high (or beautifully high, if you're selling) real estate market will be featured. MTPR's website gives a pre-cap of tonight's report:
"What was once an ordinary working class town now offers some of the most expensive real estate in Montana. In our continuing series on poverty in the state, reporter Kevin Maki visits Whitefish, a community where affordable housing is frequently out of reach - even for many of her long time residents."
The real eastate market has been on fire here for a number of years. A February Daily Inter Lake article reported that more than a billion dollars in commercial and residential property changed hands here last year, fueled by factors like population growth, investment buying and limited land supply. That was a 25% increase from just 2004.
I also read the other day that Northwest Montana houses 25% of the state's realtors. My hairspray, power-skirt-suit and Bluetooth earpiece phobias aside, that's an overwhelming statistic.
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Let the Debate Begin
PSC Candidates Toole and Taylor Face off on DeregulationAll together now: "I hate deregulation."
Both candidates in Montana's Public Service Commission race are claiming credentials as the anti-electric deregulation candidate. "We [legislators] were steamrollered," says Mike Taylor.
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Not Quite the Silver Bullet
A Growth Policy for Flathead CountyThe Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office has been working on a new Flathead County Growth Policy since late last year, holding public meetings, accumulating public input and mashing it all together into something that hopes to guide growth in the Flathead. State law requires that counties have growth policies, although the text within does not mandate or make policy. The new document will replace a 20 year-old growth policy, undoubtedly obsolete in the face of Valley population explosion in the past 20 years.
As long as we're talking population, in Flathead County it grew 26% between 1990 and 2000, led by an influx of new residents. Between 2000 and 2005, it is estimated that Flathead County’s population increased by 11.7%, for an estimated count of 83,172 residents in 2005. It's not expected to stop. In fact, it's expected to increase by at least 2% each year.
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Alternatives to Dying Out
A New Publication for Eastern Montana’s Wide Open Spaces
There's about to be a new magazine in town-- or should I say, in 'the country.' Alternatives, an online publication based out of Plentywood, Montana, will explore topics like alternative energy development, eco-tourism, health and fitness, obesity and other issues facing communities in the vast, open spaces on the east side of the Great Divide.
Montana is a big state. 56 counties make up 147,046 square miles. An estimated 935,670 people live here. Montana is to the road tripper of the West what Ohio is to the road-tripper of the East, which is to say, if you’re just driving through, it will dominate your day, your life and your entire conscience until you cross out of its borders.
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We Are Culture
The Young and (Un)Professional in a Rural CommunityYou're sitting in traffic, staring at neon, remembering when your city used to be so much quainter and quieter. Or maybe your town is dying. Your aging population is shrinking by the second and you're losing your young and educated to more exciting places. Friedman's Flat World? Florida's Creative Class? Karlgaard's "Where of Happiness?" All of the buzzed-up pop culture references apply, no matter your growth-related dilemma.
In the Flathead Valley, we're hoping this new, Flat World will enable us to be the Where of Happiness for the much-coveted Creative Class. We're one of those aging populations. We're one of those changing economies, trying to find its niche. My friends in cities take this kind of stuff for granted. They live among the Creative Class; they are the Creative Class. And so are we.
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Notes From Silicon Valley
The Karma of Creativity, Diversity and Youth in Your CommunityI returned a couple of days ago from a technology conference in San Jose, California. The 'silicon' element of Silicon Valley is now pretty much obsolete, but the area’s been through a boom, a bust and at least four or five economic and technological rejuvenations and reinventions that have kept it more than alive and kicking. Silicon Valley houses software and technology companies galore, along with its Bioscience Incubator and Innovation Center that will undoubtedly be a driver of future prosperity. Cisco, eBay, Adobe and Hitachi are just a few of the companies that call Silicon Valley home, but the big names and dollar signs pale in comparison to the creativity and innovation that built those companies. [more]
