Eye Charts and Charting the Future from the Commissioner's Perspective

Recently my ophthalmologist said I had 20/20 vision with glasses. It occurred to me then that our county should also put on its collective glasses and see how good our vision is looking toward the year 2020. When I was in high school I read George Orwell's book "1984" and I thought it was so far in the future it would never come; needless to say it came and went in the blink of an eye.

I believe that charting a course for the future begins with an honest assessment of the present, good and bad, and an accounting of individual values. Each of us has core values and goals that we believe are important to our own happiness and well-being. Do we seek a good education for our children? Do we want to live in a healthy community free of drugs and crime? Do we seek personal opportunities and economic prosperity and wealth? Do we seek spiritual peace and a community where we honor and love our neighbors? Do we value our environment with its clean water and air and the pristine beauty of our mountains and farms? Do we value the quiet pace of a rural small town life free of the hustle and bustle of the surrounding world? Are we inspired by heritage and traditions that have withstood the time of generations? Do we love simple pleasures?

Many of these values and goals are shared within our community. Let us convene a congress of citizens, so to speak, to begin the process of charting our future. If we do not act now and take the reigns, the future will happen to us and many of our cherished values may disappear. I believe that a first necessary step in this process should be reconciliation between the many competing and disparate elements in the County. Until there is such a reconciliation there can be no communication and an eventual joint vision. I hope acting together we as a community can help resolve the two most contentious and acute of these problems; the Snowshoe/Slatyfork sewer controversy and the long standing "distance" felt between the two ends of our county. It strikes me that a community of only 9,000 people has a great opportunity to act as a cohesive unit.

As we begin this process of planning, at first glance some values and goals will seem to be in collision with one another. For example, development which brings economic prosperity also threatens our environment; raised property values also mean raised taxes; increased population helps our school enrollments but also impacts upon community services; more people mean more opportunities but also more congestion and crime. Simply, everything has a cost in one form or another, every action has a reaction.

In planning for the future, I do not think the government should impose its will upon the people. We need cooperative thinking and an expressed common purpose and a willingness to balance competing interests. I am enthusiastic about our potentials but concerned about the cost of inaction. The County Commission must have community in-put to function effectively.

Here is a partial list of county issues which I believe should be addressed well before 2020:

1. Development and its environmental impact
2. Use of National Forest and preservation of wilderness
3. NRAO and wireless communications
4. Increased drug abuse and crime
5. Assistance to senior citizens
6. Increased educational opportunities and job training including the beginnings of a community college
7. Development of a greater sense of common purpose and community
8. Preservation of heritage and traditions in a fast changing world

We have every possible resource available to us for tremendous success in the year 2020. The most important is the will to act. Since we have now been "discovered"; we need to discover ourselves, our potentials and our strengths. The future will not wait.

I encourage you to contact me and the County Commission and share your views with us.

Views expressed herein are those of Martin Saffer and not necessarily of the entire commission unless otherwise indicated.