Category: Opinion

Opinion

How real estate shapes a community

By Raphael Barta
Reader Contributor

In a prior existence, I lived in Vancouver,  British Columbia, where I was a vice president for the ski resort development company Intrawest. At the …

Our turn: Together we can do better

By Mark Sauter
Reader Contributor

Last month the Bonner County Fire Chiefs Association (BCFCA) held three public forums. The BCFCA pointed out, in multiple, evidence-based ways, how Emergency Medical Services …

Engage Sandpoint: A missed opportunity

By David Phillips
Reader Contributor

Projects fail for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes the expectations are set too high; sometimes the allocated time or resources are insufficient; sometimes the tools …

City waterfront giveaway

By Kody Van Dyk
Special to the Reader

The city of Sandpoint draft Parks Master Plan identifies disposing of city-owned green space located east of the Edgewater Best Western Hotel. …

The Baloney Detective

By Tim Bearly
Reader Contributor

Images of an Orwellian dystopia are often evoked when we hear the term “big government.” The mere uttering of the phrase can function as a …

Touched by the change

By Robin Lantrip
Reader Contributor

It started with a brisk chill in the morning air. The meadow began dressing in longer birch and fir shadows. The evening scent held a …

Working toward civil discourse

By Brenda Hammond
Reader Contributor

The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force recently sent a questionnaire to all the candidates for city office, asking their positions on a number of …

Letters

  • Pressing Issues… Dear Editor, Thank you Reader and Lyndsie Kiebert for the series profiling candidates running in the May 15 primary election. I can learn about the candidates on their own websites, but I feel that the media is my best source for objective information in deciding how to cast my vote. In the ...
  • Medicaid Expansion… Dear Editor, When the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress, some 24 million Americans were able to obtain health insurance who previously had none.  As part of this act, states were offered the chance to expand Medicaid for its poorest citizens, with the federal government picking up the tab. Gov. ...
  • Leave Room For Recreation… Dear Editor, Sandpoint has an attractive downtown. There are already many coffee houses, shops and restaurants. Last week I reviewed the scenarios for the University of Idaho property on Boyer Avenue and was disturbed by the photos of coffee shops, “salons,” and plazas. Why sprawl out into a rural area with ...
  • To Commissioners… Dear Editor, In response to Commissioner McDonald and Director Ollerton: It’s time I and the citizens of Bonner County exercise our First Amendment rights. I have been trying for two years to urge these two public servants and the prosecuting attorney to “do their job,” which is: “to protect and stabilize land values,” ...
  • Silicon Smelter… Dear Editor, I am writing with my concerns about both the exploratory drilling proposed on national forest land on Green Mountain by Pend Oreille Silica Inc. and the plans of HiTest Sands Inc. to build a silica smelter near Newport. In regard to the exploratory drilling I understand that they are proposing ...
Close [x]

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.