Shifting gears on byway just doesn't make sense

This is directed to Mr. Watson, whose Nov. 23 letter to the editor left him less amused and more concerned about my stand on the byway issue. Are you a member of NICAN? Do you have an interest in a downtown business or do you have an interest in condominium or lakefront development? That would explain a lot of things.

Have you spoken to the property owners that will be displaced and possibly lose their homes as a result of a tunnel project? How long before the "planning stages" and debate are through, and the project goes forward? You say the byway route is dangerous and how is that? That train track stretch of land has supported numerous daily train crossings for decades. Regarding the concern of preserving the so-called "natural beauty" of Sand Creek, have you looked at it in the last 20 years? Aesthetically, it appears to be nothing more than a wide mud creek or drain off. There is nothing "pretty" about Sand Creek. I invite you to take a really good look at it when you wait in gridlock to continue on through Highway 95 and Highway 2 intersection.

You suggest that abandoning the pursuit of more debating is dangerous … for whom? Seems to me the only people who benefit from such lengthy and extensive debate are the developers, the owners of condos and downtown business owners. The rest of us, well, we've been putting up with it for more than two decades, it makes perfect sense to shift gears when the finish line is in sight, not.

I appreciate your apparent love for a lively debate. I hope you will be so kind as to respond to some of the questions I have asked.

LAURIE WADKINS

Priest River