The Road Is You: Monday Inpsiration: My open letter to Pocatello

Dear Pocatello,

You're kind of weird.
But that's ok. I still like you.

Sincerely, A citizen of the Gateway To The West

During my internship I was walking around the Old Town part on Hayes St. I came across this street that was hidden away but had a "industrial greenway" attached to it. (see Picture below) and I was like. What? I really wanted to see what this greenway was but I was working and so I continued with my project at work. On Sunday D and I decided to go on a bike ride and I was like, lets see what this who "industrial greenway" is about. We rode our bikes over to this part of the town, finding more of the greenway I didn't even know existed to finally get to the part I had seen while working. I was excited to see what the city of Pocatello had done. I had hopes that they were mixing Pocatello's industrial past with it's future of a greener city. What I found? A path that was less than 1/4 of mile long before it abruptly stopped.
WTF.
That was it?
Pocatello has the potential to really be great. It is a university town and, I think at least, a bit more diverse than surrounding towns (Idaho Falls, Rexburg<---Duh). Pocatello is great outdoor areas, amazing trails and is close by to some sweet recreational areas. Yet.....it still seems like a town that is behind. Take for example this greenway. There is was this short 1/4 mile strip, then on the other side of the Portnuef River (which, don't even get me started on our cement box of a river) is a pretty tree lined bikeway. The paved lane one over is boarded by a trailer park.

Different faces of Pocatello board each other and they don't really mesh well. Each town has a "bad" part, that is a given but Pocatello is more like a whole town that needs a facelift. But how does one do that? Pocatello, in many ways, is still an industrial town. While plants have closed (and become Superfund sites, hooray) there is still a thriving railroad population. I say that if you live in Pocatello, you somehow live by the trains. Where we live, the trains are about 300 feet away from our front door, but I wouldn't say that we live in the bad part, but the train is everywhere in this city.

A solution? Or just a general direction? Embrace our industrial past and incorporate it into the future of the city. I guess that was what the city hoped for in the "industrial greenway" was just to do that. But I see a city stilled in development and growth and I hope the future of Pocatello is a little bit brighter. I couldn't honestly go on about the issues of the city and in the six years since I have moved here, there has been some great changes. I hope that in the future Pocatello can move towards being the city it deserves to be. Below are pictures of our little bike ride.