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Perhaps the opening bids will begin at $100 million. Just think of the opportunities this will bring to our city. We’ll be able to rebuild our failing infrastructure, construct a new sewer plant and still have money left over to perhaps construct a “Kibbee” type dome over Memorial Field’s new artificial turf. The tax revenue alone from the high rise waterfront condos around the Statue of Liberty will provide the city with M&O funding for the foreseeable future.

Our inaction regarding the loss of the University of Idaho agricultural campus on Boyer Avenue property is in fact an action similar to the one I just presented. If we let this property leave the public domain and go to the private, it’s the same as selling one of our greatest assets.

The city of Sandpoint is moving forward on a system-wide park master plan. A key piece of this plan will involve access and connectivity throughout the city as well as providing a wide variety of facilities that serve the entire community as we move through the 21st century.

Unfortunately, a key piece to this puzzle is missing. The UI property on Boyer will complete the basic framework for a systemwide recreational corridor of our town. Connecting City Beach from the southern end of town to the UI property on the northern reaches has already been accomplished with the Sand Creek trail system. The only problem is that this “trail to nowhere” needs to be finished by acquiring the UI property.

Let’s finish this “vision.”

ROB OSBORN

Sandpoint