MV should take eyes off farmland

Regarding the April 19 Skagit Valley Herald article ‘MV eyes farmland for growth’:

Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris should reconsider what is in the best interests of his constituents.

All people, including residents of Mount Vernon, need to eat every day. Food comes from farmland. We have high-quality, fertile farmland here in the Skagit Valley. Few communities have such a valuable resource. What makes Mayor Norris think that anything is more valuable to his constituents than food growing nearby?

On Friday, the Seattle Times reported that food prices have risen by 83 percent worldwide in the past three years. People are dying and rioting because food is not available. Locally, some farmers and food producers are experiencing difficulties due to dramatic increases in the prices of flour, animal feed and fuel. Consumers see price increases at the supermarket. Locally, this is a hardship and an inconvenience. Unlike people in Egypt, we still have plenty of food to eat.

As agricultural land and oil resources diminish, our future will be very different from our immediate past. The most important aspects of a community will not be the size of its houses or the dollar value of its industry. Most valuable will be the quality and proximity of food-producing farmland.

Farmland is not “empty” because there is nothing built on it. Farmland is the most productive land of all. It produces the food we need to live. You can’t tear down a mall or a housing development to make a productive farm. Farmland is our most valuable resource, and we must not waste it on “development.” We eat every day. Other than air and water, nothing is more important. 

It is the responsibility of our city officials and county commissioners to preserve our ability to feed ourselves. Please don’t let us down.

Carol Havens
Anacortes


Rossi isn’t what this state needs

Gov. Chris Gregoire has been busy doing the work of the people while Dino Rossi and certain other mean-spirited Republicans have been using the media to spread lies.

Look at her record since being elected. For three years, we’ve seen her taking on challenges and getting results for us. She’s created more than 225,000 new jobs, provided 84,000 more kids with health care coverage and reduced crime. She’s supported improvements in public education and has championed social and economic justice for everyone.

More can be done, but as long as Rossi’s boss is occupying the White House, funding will remain an issue. The $3 trillion illegal war on Iraq will cost every man, woman and child in the U.S. $10,000! Think about the good works that could otherwise be done with that money. We could implement programs to lift the poor out of poverty. All of us could live in economic security.

Rossi’s plan? Keep Bush’s war going. Grant more tax breaks to the super-rich. Privatize roads, schools, public health and other essential mainstays of our commonwealth. He wants huge corporations to cash-in on our public infrastructure.

Isn’t eight years of sinister GOP scheming enough? The U.S. has never been as deeply in debt. More people than ever are having to go without vital necessities.

GOP leadership has given us corruption. There is ample proof that the word “fairness” is missing from its (and Rossi’s) vocabulary. Principled Republicans and Democrats both want justice.

That’s why we’ll re-elect Chris Gregoire in November.

Richard Austin
Mount Vernon