Monke: Patience will pay off for Dickinson

If there’s one thing Dickinson needs, it’s a little more patience. Patience to get around town. Patience at the supermarket. Patience to use our sprinklers until the city says its water supply has caught up. The problem is, this is a society where patience doesn’t come to mind much. Our society is too fast-paced, our lives are too busy and when things move a little slow, people demand they move faster or as fast as they think it should - even when that pace is impossible or even unsafe.
In The Press’ reader survey, the results of which were published in today’s paper, there were some comments that pointed to an overall lack of patience. In some ways, I get it. The boom happened so fast and people are wondering why it’s taking so long for our city to implement the changes necessary to catch up. In some cases, it seems like all people really need to be happy is to be able to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight and make it across town a little faster than traffic is allowing them. They want more supermarkets (one is under construction now) and a new movie theater (that’s also coming), but would rather move away than wait for either. A lack of patience was on display this weekend when city officials told Dickinson residents to conserve water by halting their use of outdoor sprinklers and holding off on washing their cars for a couple days to allow city water tanks to replenish after a historic day for water usage. It was a pretty simple request. Multiple people blasted the decision on social media. “I pay to use it so I’m going to use it,” one man wrote on our Facebook page. On Saturday, just down the street from my house, a family was in their backyard using an inflatable pool and an inflatable water slide. The city is on track to catch up with the population boom. But putting in new water lines and building new water towers takes time, as does constructing new supermarkets and restaurants. Unfortunately, it is true that Dickinson is the last place new businesses are building. Our population influx isn’t as apparent as Williston or Watford City - which says something good about Dickinson. It says the city is keeping up. Yes, there are issues and problems that need to be addressed, but that is happening. Monke is the managing editor of The Dickinson Press. Email him at dmonke@thedickinsonpress.com, tweet him at monkebusiness and read his past columns and features at monke.areavoices.com.If there’s one thing Dickinson needs, it’s a little more patience. Patience to get around town. Patience at the supermarket. Patience to use our sprinklers until the city says its water supply has caught up.The problem is, this is a society where patience doesn’t come to mind much. Our society is too fast-paced, our lives are too busy and when things move a little slow, people demand they move faster or as fast as they think it should - even when that pace is impossible or even unsafe.
In The Press’ reader survey, the results of which were published in today’s paper, there were some comments that pointed to an overall lack of patience.In some ways, I get it.The boom happened so fast and people are wondering why it’s taking so long for our city to implement the changes necessary to catch up. In some cases, it seems like all people really need to be happy is to be able to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight and make it across town a little faster than traffic is allowing them. They want more supermarkets (one is under construction now) and a new movie theater (that’s also coming), but would rather move away than wait for either.A lack of patience was on display this weekend when city officials told Dickinson residents to conserve water by halting their use of outdoor sprinklers and holding off on washing their cars for a couple days to allow city water tanks to replenish after a historic day for water usage.It was a pretty simple request.Multiple people blasted the decision on social media. “I pay to use it so I’m going to use it,” one man wrote on our Facebook page. On Saturday, just down the street from my house, a family was in their backyard using an inflatable pool and an inflatable water slide.The city is on track to catch up with the population boom. But putting in new water lines and building new water towers takes time, as does constructing new supermarkets and restaurants.Unfortunately, it is true that Dickinson is the last place new businesses are building. Our population influx isn’t as apparent as Williston or Watford City - which says something good about Dickinson. It says the city is keeping up.Yes, there are issues and problems that need to be addressed, but that is happening.Monke is the managing editor of The Dickinson Press. Email him at dmonke@thedickinsonpress.com, tweet him at monkebusiness and read his past columns and features at monke.areavoices.com.