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Show A Bad Idea Locking up our farm lands in land trusts would be a foolish thing to do. We don't know what is going to happen in 50 or 100 years. Suppose in the future, a golf course is desired, a company wants to locate in Escalante that can provide good jobs for the local people, more housing is needed, or a thousand other unforeseen events of which we can't even(now conceive. We may be unable to progress if this land is forever restricted to it's present use. Other areas that have used land trusts didn't live in a that is 96 percent government lands. They had other private lands to develop to meet their needs. Open space is not a problem in Escalante. Get on a high place in town and you can see open space in 360 degrees around you. Right now we have control of what happens to the lands in the city. We elect city officials who represent us. No house or building is built without city approval. The , city can stop or control growth any time they choose. They have done so in the past when water was more limited. We have zoning which controls the use of the land. We can always voice our concerns to city officials or run for office ourselves if we feel there needs to be a change in what is happening. The city officials represent the people; they are part of us. We have a republican ' form ' of government, where we elect people to represent us. Future citizens don't want a past dictatorship that controlled their land so as to forever prevent changes. Anyone who is in favor of a Land trust is one of three things: (1) a fool, (2) someone who is to shut down growth and progress (and would likely prefer to see Escalante disappear), or (3) a greedy farmer who wants to have his cake and eat it too. (I hope we have none in this category.) It's time to quit talking and writing about such foolish ideas. Richard Crawford Sr. Escalante |