Our View: Prosperity’s conflicts
Small towns throughout the United States are losing population. Residents pack up and head to bigger cities because the jobs that once supported the small towns – farming, ranching, fishing, mining and lumber – are disappearing. In Idaho, about 40 percent of the state’s 200 cities lose population with each U.S. census update, according to the Association of Idaho Cities.
A handful of small towns, however, are booming. In Monday’s Spokesman-Review, James Hagengruber reported on Dover, Idaho, a 1920s mill town that’s preparing to double in size – to about 1,000 residents – because people from all over the United States are buying homes, condos and cabins in a new 285-acre development.
The Population Reference Bureau studied the reasons behind the boom in the nation’s growing small towns. Dover shares several key characteristics with them. The Lake Pend Oreille town boasts natural beauty, small-town charm and easy commutes to Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.
Most of the small boomtowns are making the successful transformation from old-economy jobs to new-economy jobs. Indeed, Dover is selling itself as the place to live if you desire all-season recreation – boating in the summer, skiing in the winter, hiking and biking in spring and fall.
Small towns on the brink of extinction would welcome Dover’s infusion of people and money. But prosperity has its tensions. Ignore these tensions, and an emerging boomtown may never really coalesce as a community.
The old-timers and the newcomers in an emerging town should gather often to ask and answer the tough questions. Ken Harward, executive director of the Association of Idaho Cities, says these questions include “Who gains from the boom? Who loses? And is there a shared vision to work toward together?”
The voices of those who lament the change need to be respected. In Dover, Councilwoman Peggy Burge, who voted against the new development, provided one of those voices. She said, “What I knew as Dover is not here anymore, and it will never be. There’s no turning back now.”
The newcomers need to abandon arrogant, big-city attitudes. In Dover, it helps that developer Ralph Sletager grew up there and worked at the sawmill in his younger years. “The change is coming,” he said. “We can help direct that to produce something we can all enjoy.” With plenty of open space, public beaches and trails, and no gated entrances, Sletager’s development respects the town’s tradition of free access to natural beauty.
Change has moved into Dover. Its residents now have a unique opportunity to work that change into a future they can all live with.