Building the Wyoming We Want

  This is a blog posting about the statewide conference, “Building the Wyoming We Want,” January 10 and 11, 2008 at Casper College.

We have arrived at a unique point in time in Wyoming.

Our economy continues to surge ahead, unemployment remains at a record low and we’re seeing an encouraging increase in the number of companies that are looking to move to Wyoming and set up shop.

But with the benefits of growth come serious challenges. There is growing attention being given to the pace and pattern of growth in the state, especially as it affects our wildlife, our characteristic open spaces, our breathtaking mountain vistas and our wild and pristine places.

There are also mounting pressures for housing and infrastructure in cities, towns and counties around the state, where an influx of people and an increase in industrial activity have strained existing resources.

When considering the most significant challenges facing Wyoming and its future, high on the list is how we can welcome growth and prosperity and still protect the things and the places that make Wyoming a special place to live. We need to foster conversations about how to build the Wyoming that we want for our kids and grandkids.

Some of the topics I expect to be discussed at the conference include:

• Roads
• Subdivisions 
• Development patterns
• Open spaces and wildlife
• Water, sewer and septic systems 
• Increasing costs to local governmentsI hope this event will encourage continuing discussion about ways to make sure that the Wyoming we all enjoy today will endure into the future.

Frankly, we don’t have a lot of time to look the other way and pretend that these growth pressures will work themselves out. I do not believe that they will. Only we, working together, can do that.  We have an obligation, to ourselves, to our children, and to future generations to define today what we want our tomorrow to look like.  For many of us, there is no place as special as this state, and I’m confident that we can meet this challenge in a way that will lead to creating the Wyoming we want.  I hope that you will join me in this conversation.

Dave Freudenthal
Governor

Comments

[Brett Glass]

One of the causes of sprawl is the lack of good telecommunications facilities -- especially fast Internet -- in areas which are away from cities. Yet, Wyoming's legislature, in 2007, passed a sweeping bill which allowed large telecommunications companies to engage in practices which lock out smaller competitors, harming the growth of local companies which might serve this need. Question for panelists: Why were telecommunications not mentioned at all in the literature posted for the conference? What can we do to stimulate the deployment of better technologies -- wireless in particular -- and free ourselves from receiving the connectivity we need only at the whim of large, out-of-state telephone and cable companies?

[Sean Singer]

Not sure how telecommunications and sprawl are related. Some of the most wired cities in the nation have the greatest problems with growth. A much bigger issue is how little developers have to do in order to have their projects greenlit. Let's make sure we have the water to support developments before they are approved, and then let's support growth that makes our towns more walkable, livable and attractive.