Public MeetingsNotice of important public meetings will be posted here.The Leavenworth Mayor and City Council had a public hearing on Thursday, May 12, 2005 at the Leavenworth FestHalle to gather comments from local residents and people from outside the area on the DUSEL proposal.48 people voiced their opinions to the City. 45 of those who spoke are strongly against the DUSEL proposal for Icicle Canyon. Three people spoke in favor of the proposal.It is clear that there is NO community support for DUSEL here. This hearing, along with the 1,500-plus letters and petition signatures to local public officials, makes it quite obvious that an overwhelming majority of people are against DUSEL in the Leavenworth area.We would like to thank all of the people who attended the hearing and those who spoke against the DUSEL proposal.We would like to thank all of the people who attended the meeting with Gundars Rudzitis in July 2004 (described below). It strengthens our resolve to protect local amenities like Icicle Canyon... and at the same time avoid the high cost to our local economy and quality of life. The source of long-term stability and growth is already in our backyard. To bring in massive industry like DUSEL would devastate that stability and quality, not enhance it. PUBLIC MEETING Friday, July 9, 2004 -- 7pm "Protecting Amenities is a New 'Hot' Strategy for Local Development." by Gundars Rudzitis, PhD Gundars will present a 1/2-hour talk, followed by a question / answer session. This should be an interesting and informative evening discussing quality-of-life and culturally place-based development... why protection of the environment is linked to long-term stability and growth of our local economy... why maintaining a high quality environment can be a development strategy. Two articles on this subject by Gundars Rudzitis: Amenities Increasingly Draw People to the Rural West [Acrobat PDF - 74kb] The Impact of Wilderness and Other Wildlands on Local Economies and Regional Development Trends [Acrobat PDF - 99kb] Don't have Acrobat Reader? Get it free here... Short Biography Gundars Rudzitis, PhD, University of Chicago is a Professor of Geography at the University of Idaho where he is also an Affiliate Professor both in the Environmental Science and the American Studies Program. He has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin and been a Visiting Professor at Boston University, Clark University and the University of New Mexico. He has published widely in the area of environmental/resource policy and migration and regional development in the American West as well as focusing more recently on the ongoing transformation of the Post-Soviet Baltic countries. His current interests include extending his ongoing research into alternative quality-of-life and culturally place-based development models. He is the author of several books, including most recently Wilderness and the Changing American West, (John Wiley and Sons). He also has forthcoming The Ongoing Transformation of the American West (University of Chicago Press) and with Max Oelschlaeger, The Changing West: Perils and Promises (for Yale University Press). PAST MEETINGS... Water was the important topic of the meeting on February 24th (described below). This meeting was well attended and very informative. Anne Udaloy gave an excellent presentation that gave people a realistic perspective on this project. Icicle Canyon, Mt. Cashmere, Our Watershed, PUBLIC MEETING Are you concerned about Icicle Canyon...
Learn how digging NUSEL tunnels could change the water table for the entire area. Hydrogeologist Anne Udaloy will give a balanced and objective presentation and show a video of how tunnels are drilled. She will explain why water often enters them, and how tunneling can sometimes result in altering the normal flow of surface and underground water. Icicle River Middle School Tuesday, February 24, 2004 7:00-9:00 PM |
