Same Town, Same Council, Same Developer, Different Outcome -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

June 7, 2012: Dickinson attitude spreading to Springbrook, North Dakota (northwest of Williston); from today's edition of the Williston Herald: "I'd rather have a nice set of neighbors, than some oil roughnecks." In another age, ranchers vs sodbusters.

Original Post

Oil workers: no. Construction workers: yes.

October 11, 2011: city council bans man-camps

"Our community just can't support a massive amount of people moving into it," Jacobson said. "It's not that we don't want people moving into our community – we do," she said. "We just don't want to be inundated with oil workers."

"We really don't want a bunch of men living in a building all together."

November 23, 2011: city council okays "man-camp": -- for construction workers

A tiny North Dakota town that banned dormitory-style housing for oilfield workers will allow a Colorado company to lodge homebuilders in an old school house.

Feland says it made no difference to the city or its residents whether it was oil workers or construction workers occupying the building. She said the issue was the number of workers. 

Yup.

"We really don't want a bunch of men living in a building all together."

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So as not to confuse folks: this comment was mine:

Perhaps in the last 30 days or so one of the council members visited Assumption Abbey, Richardton, North Dakota, 49.1 miles down the road from Almont where 59 men all live together.

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Wow, I wish this could be embedded.

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Young man

There's no need to feel down.

I said, young man,

Pick yourself off the ground,

I said, young man,

'Cause you're in a new town

There's no need to be unhappy.

You can get yourself clean;

You can have a good meal;

You can do whatever you feel.

Are you listening to me?

What do you want to be?

You can fulfill your dreams.

No man does it by himself.

No man does it by himself.