06/16/88 Special - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

far better than voters who elect them. I do not think that we as voters can afford to strip than of their decision-making ~ers' or to i continualJY second-guess their decisions. '!be result of this isecondr-gues~ing is th~t councilnanbers will call fa lections on any matter: of co~sequEtnce therepy delegating their voter-given responsibilities for ithe wen-fare iof the ci~y to whanever will vote on a particular day. An .ex$1ple olE voter apathy ~s the latest school board election. Two hundred! · yes' vote~ could have gooten anyone elected to the school board. I dop' t think we can afford that. Historinans tell us that prior to our couptry becomin.g a natiop, only 1/3 of the ~ople felt strongly enough about! the coloni~ status ~o actively support independence. '!be other 2/3 wer~ either oPJllOs~d or npt Sufficiently motivated to take sides. Consider!, if youwi~l, what o~r country would be without the leadership of Wa~hingtpn, JrlEterson pr Lincoln. You can be sure that the, communi ty we! design and t build tod~y will be the conununity our sons and daughters willi be living ~n 30 and pO years fran now. 2) The airport safety zoning iS$ues has been the sourpe of considerable emotionalism and misinformtaion. :The educati~n of Rams~y citizens on the issue has taken a back seat to volumes of ho~ror stori~s and intentional misiunformation. I recall at airecent meeting a lawyer fran another conununity, representing an absentee-~andown!er use~ the absulrd analogy of comparing a future Gateway North Airport to the! LosAngel~s International Airport with all it's traffic conge,stion land s~og. Ei th~r such an individual takes us as collective fools o,r he is con1:ributing :to emotional impulses. I don't bel ieve such a law:yer would h4:tve the beist interests of Ramsey in mind. If you will loo~ closely at' the reaso:ns behind the absentee landlords who are against the i airport zoning you wi:ll prcbably find their interests to be self-serving as they do! not refleict long term benefits to Ramsey. They are not out [to prqtect our physidal environment. They frequently represent waste J;nanagel11ent processor:s, asbestos plants, etc. Often these companies al tet the environjnent so that ti is not only incompatible with clean air, cleari water, etcr, but it lis. incompatible with airports and the needs to have ~lear visibiltity. We h4ve local citizens that are both for and against ai~rt safety fo~ purely ~lf~ serving purposes. I would prefer that those individuals bles~ some ot~er comnumity with their presence. Can you imagine t$e corruptness ~hat wo~ld infect our corranunity if your elected officials wo~d ma~e dec~si!ons baE:1ec;'i on self-serving reasoning? Let' snot expect lessl frQl\ pursel\r,es -t:han we 100 fran those we elect. For those citizens of RamS~y who rare interested iin' sound, documented, econanic reasons. for supporting a ba~ic utiJ._ityairpo.-t,' that information is readily available fransevera:). studies. th!at have be, en' made. A recent conunent by Mr. Rueben Kravik, Cha$.rman pf the iAnqka COurlty, Econanic Developnent Partnership stated 'there ~s ovetwhelm~ngev ideJice' that communities flourish and growth is notable a~ound airportjs'. . Airports are a vital part of our transportation resources.: Consider tpefact 'tllat roads can be built or rerouted, railroads canlbe bu~ltorltorn up ~n~ rivers can be, diverted, but airports are.."not reco.fl,' struct:i.."ed . once,' : the,. land.',' is,.' taken for other purposes. If we as a community ffiil to ,see thelongt~rmi benef its of the airport, it will be lost, never tp reappear. i It;' s an 4ce in Ramsey's deck of cards that few communities caP matcll. It'is a busi.n~ss attraction that we must not throw CMay. To thos$ that will question t;.he economic benefits to the cormnuni ty of a basic u~il ity airpoirt,- to thc>se that make decisions based on the thickness of their wallet, I (would sugg~st that they reflect for a manent on a recent incr~ase in the mill rate' to City Council/May 24, 198:8 Page 15 of 18