Everybody's a Decider (in Cook County)

As one arrogant and stupid man sends our nation on a fast track to disaster because he is The Decider, it's comforting and reassuring to live in Cook County where everybody's a Decider. For one thing, we have a vigilant media that attends public meetings and writes about them or airs them on radio and cable. Lucky us! The national MSM are either Fox Crazy or so dumbed down that they don't dare cover anything important. Not so here.
Ya, a buncha developers tried to buy up and make Grand Marais into Disneyville Mc Condos but the people stepped up to the plate. Now new standards are being written to protect the town from over-development.
And the West End townships are following suit. Most developers out there are locals, though that's not to say all of them want to conform to county and township zoning ordinances. No, you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to watch the bird catch the worm. But that's okay, all the Norwegians and Lutherans do that anyway. (Not so True but he catches up later on WTIP or at the post office grapevine)
Witness the recent request to have 55-foot high buildings on Lutsen Mountain which True has already written about. Lots of Deciders complained and now there at least is going to be a public review process.
As for the ATV Agenda, time and again all the Deciders have sent it back to the table. The latest U of M survey gives us hope that one of these times we'll get it right.
Tofte and Lutsen have engaged in wonderful public processes and created downtown visions and zoning ordinances that are just fabulous: forward looking, sustainable, beautiful. Schroeder has also created a zoning plan which is being challenged by a developer and that outcome remains to be seen.
People have been heard on issues like invasive cutting back of trees and vegetation by Arrowhead Electric, DNR's slash-and-burn at Cascade Park and Hovland, some fathead's idea to clear cut the trees along the Gunflint Trail... you name it, if something can be destroyed or developed somebody will try to do it.
As for those cagey folks at Homeland Security, they are keeping mum about the permanent (enduring?) base they want to construct in Grand Marais. The feds get to do that stuff and even our media can't find out what is going to happen.
So thank goodness their proposed military encampment to protect our border against terrists (as The Shrub calls them) will only be a mere 10 acres that we know of.
Keep watching and talking, Deciders of Cook County. You're the best.