I was saddened to read George Wyrsch’s (July 26) letter encouraging the development of the Tollgate Farm. His logic – that we need the revenues more than the land – reminded me of George Bush’s statement early on in his (still-young) presidency that “the economy is more important than the environment.”

I’m sorry, but I must vehemently disagree. The economy goes up and it goes down, jobs come and go. Our lives are in a pretty continual state of change these days. But once a piece of land is developed, it is gone forever as an open space, as a floodwater storage area, as a potential park land, as a “viewshed” for our appreciation of Mount Si and as a legacy for our children.

I, too, grew up here in North Bend, and as a longtime resident want to ask other “longtimers:” When did Issaquah lose its character, its “soul,” if you will? I think it was when the airfield was developed into the Pickering Place shopping mall.

And I think the development of this particular 56 acres of land will have the same devastating effect on North Bend. I jaunt off to shop in Issaquah – yes, at that shopping mall – and when I return, I always go “the old way” and feel myself relax as I come down the hill to that open, lush green field above which rises “our” Mount Si.       

Many things have changed in North Bend since I was a child playing in the woods and swimming in the South Fork, but I truly feel that if this one particular piece of land gets turned into an industrial park, North Bend will lose what remains of it’s rural character and will evolve into “just another strip mall” on the I-90 corridor.

Please vote yes on Sept. 18.

Jane Danforth Koser