FROM: Kenton Bird
RE: Press release
DRAFT: Please do not circulate until final version is distributed. Please
send comments, suggestions or additions to kbird@wsu.edu by Sunday, Jan.
22.
DISTRIBUTION: Daily News, Tribune, Argonaut, Evergreen, UI Register
(faculty/staff newsletter), Co-op Community News, PCEI newsletter, KUOI.
HEADLINE: Planning, growth are topics for computer discussion group.
Moscow Vision 2020 has established an electronic discussion group
accessible over the Internet to exchange information on regional planning,
growth and community development issues. The discussion group, sometimes
called a "list server," is provided with the cooperation of University of
Idaho Computer Services. It is free, open to the public and accessible to
anyone in the world with an E-mail address.
"We've taken the party line and given it a high-tech spin," said Kenton
Bird of Moscow, a member of Vision 2020. "We're using the latest
technology to keep each other informed about the public policy process."
The discussion group went on line in December and already has a dozen
subscribers, most associated with UI or Washington State University. Among
the items posted on it so far are: a report on the adoption of the Latah
County comprehensive plan, agendas for public meetings and a calendar of
local events.
Moscow Vison 2020 is an informal, non-profit group founded in July of 1993.
Its goals include to promote creative thinking about Moscow's future and to
encourage public involvement in planning, Bird said. "Not everyone can
attend meetings of the Planning and Zoning Commission, School Board or City
Council, and not all meetings are well publicized in advance," said Susan
Palmer, another 2020 member. "Subscribing to the service is a quick and
easy way to plug into a network of concerned citizens."
Here's how the process works:
* To subscribe, send a message to "majordomo@uidaho.edu." The body of the
message should state: "subscribe vision2020." First-time subscribers will
be sent a brief mission statement and explanation of how the list works.
* The list has no moderator, so anyone may send a message to the entire
group simply by addressing it to "vision2020@uidaho.edu." Recipients may
respond directly to the sender or to the entire list.
* Subscribers may leave the list at any time by sending another message to
"majordomo@uidaho.edu" with the content "unsubscribe vision2020."
To reach citizens who do not have access to the Internet, Moscow Vision
2020 will prepare a print-out of all messages and place them in a notebook
at the reference desk at the Moscow-Latah Public Library. The first set of
messages will be available Feb. 1 and the notebook will be updated weekly.
Moscow Vision 2020's steering committee meets at 7 p.m. on the second
Monday of each month. The next meeting will be Feb. 13. The meeting's
location and agenda will be available after Feb. 6 by calling Bird at
883-3156, Suvia Judd at 882-4785 or Priscilla Salant at 882-0527.
More information about the computer discussion group may be obtained from
Susan Palmer at 882-5023 (susanp@uidaho.edu) or Greg Brown at 883-4565
(gregb@uidaho.edu).
Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute "Increasing citizen involvement
P O Box 8596; 112 West 4th St; Suite #1 in decisions that affect our
Moscow ID 83843-1096 region's environment."
Phone (208)882-1444 Fax (208)882-8029
e-mail: pcei@moscow.com
WWW: http://www.moscow.com/~pcei/