Bigfork Eagle editorial

Common sense for a common good

It is hard to witness public servants relinquish common sense to pettiness. Even when those individuals are volunteers on an advisory board, civility should be a requirement by the people and for the people. When personal agendas sway judgment and vendettas rule argument, democracy is no longer being served. The public good has been compromised for one's own ideology.

For instance, the current upheaval on the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee truly boils down to a difference of opinion on growth and development. On the surface, the issue appears to address the number of absences accrued by Scott Hollinger and Tim Calaway. Were they wrong to miss five meetings out of 12—especially when Hollinger is the chair of the committee? Perhaps. Were those absences excused as set by a long-established precedence? Perhaps. Are absences the real problem here? Absolutely not.

BLUAC is the setting for a great debate—change versus status quo, otherwise known as us versus them. Change may be inevitable, but a hefty number of Bigfork residents would like to craft growth in a way that best suits them. It is understandable. Property owners want to protect their investment. Shut the gates before any more outsiders get inside. Here's the rub—without outsiders, there would be no Bigfork to quarrel over. The village's founding families came from elsewhere and made this their home. They sought a better life in a beautiful place. Flash forward to 2006. People are still seeking a better life here in this beautiful place.

People often say, "I left the city so I could get away from urban sprawl. I don't want this place to evolve into that." Here's a newsflash—Bigfork, Mont., will never be an L.A. or a New York. There will never be an eight-lane highway dissecting downtown in two with bumper to bumper traffic as far as the eye can see. There will never be a three-story mega mall anywhere near the village. There will never be smog so dense that you cannot see the mountains on an otherwise clear day. So, relax.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee serves the community at large: outsiders, insiders, natives, refugees, migrants, transients, renters, property owners, business folk, and every single resident of this village. The "spirit" of BLUAC is that community. Self-righteousness is not becoming or productive. In May the voters will decide who will fill the vacancies on the committee. Everyone is entitled to apply, so long as they have lived in Bigfork for two years, and that includes Hollinger and Calaway. In the meantime, let's all hope that whoever the existing BLUAC members chose in the interim will put aside personal agendas and work for the betterment of Bigfork.