Gated communities don't fit Sandpoint's character

Gary Payton's letter Tuesday about "gated communities" was on target. Because Sandpoint and Bonner County are years behind in well-researched and well thought out comprehensive plans, we can only be reactive to the myriad growth issues that face us. Now arrive the consequences!

Gated communities do not fit Sandpoint's acclimations about "community," but we already have the gated virus well-established. The Seasons at Sandpoint ("a private residential resort") is a gated community that instead could have been a continuation of City Beach and possibly a public green belt/waterfront connection around the lake to the north. The Crossing at Willow Bay ("Today, a select few will call it home…. The gated community will feature…") is another example of the mentality that many had hoped wouldn't happen here.

At dinner one night several years ago, I was complimenting a college student for traveling alone around Europe. She said it had been a life-changing experience. I then asked my son if his semester at a university in Spain and travels throughout Europe had been a life-changing experience for him. He said that had been great, but that his life-changing experience was his year between high school and college with his stepmother and me in Sandpoint.

After about three triple takes, I said, "What's that about?" He said, "I never understood what community is until I came to Sandpoint." He grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., a city with all the trappings of wealth and elitism. It is a choice.

LAWRENCE BLAKEY

Sandpoint