Building the Wyoming we want

Thursday, December 20, 2007

(Wyoming Democratic Party)

Building the Wyoming We Want

By Gov. Dave Freudenthal

Wyoming residents face a time of unparalleled opportunity. We’re witnessing modest increases in population, strong growth in the energy fields and new opportunities, like the Hathaway Scholarship, for education. But alongside these opportunities lies a challenge. How do we continue to enjoy a thriving economy and still keep in mind the kind of Wyoming we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy?

To help us chart our own course, I invite those who have an eye toward Wyoming’s future to a statewide conference, “Building the Wyoming We Want” on Jan. 10 and 11, 2008, at Casper College’s Krampert Theatre. Together, we can join the ongoing discussions about how to ensure that the Wyoming of the future reflects our core values of independence and love for the outdoors, and efficiently meets the basic bricks and mortar needs of our citizens.

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 governments

As I travel the state, I hear conversations about these topics already taking place among our citizens. People in every corner are talking about how Wyoming is changing, and what that means for them and for their communities. Some of the effects are positive, as our economy continues to thrive and our unemployment remains at a record low. But other factors associated with growth are straining our communities, stretching our water resources and impacting upon our open spaces. Local governments are struggling to meet the needs of their citizens for water, roads and utilities. How do we deal with these growing pains while still maintaining the things that we value the most about living here? Given our love for the outdoors and for open spaces, we need to figure out how to responsibly encourage the growth of our population and the diversification of our economy.

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.

To learn more about the conference and to register, visit: http://governor.wy.gov/ and click on the link on the bottom left.