I thought it was a very good meeting. Tom Hudson is to be complimented
on running the meeting very well. He kept it focused, made people feel
like their comments were important and kept it "light" with his prizes.
(I'd like to try that method in more contentious meetings!) I am not
sure I support the voting process we participated in at the end (after some
had to leave), but if it is not relied on too heavily, it may give some
insights.
Anyway, I went primarily because I was concerned about the Community
Center, but there were enough interest groups there who support the
Center that I feel that either our Community Center will be retained or a
very good substitute will be developed downtown. Senior citizens were
well represented.
Other issues that came up were the need for more recreational
facilities and the need for more parking downtown. I was glad that I and
others were there to support the idea of a downtown core with pedestrian
emphasis after the more-parking issue got going. We probably do need
some more parking, but, in my opinion, not at the expense of buildings or
the downtown's compactness. I think the task force is to be complimented
on focusing on downtown centralization. I hope no more county
offices move out to the malls!
Marie Vogel made an excellent statement about the need for public
transportation (to help reduce the need for more parking). That got
quite a bit of support. Shirley Greene mentioned the possibility of a
park-and-ride shuttle for county employees to reduce parking needs around
the county buildings.
For a while, several disparaging remarks were made about the old high school
(wrongly, as we learned, called the Whitworth Bldg), but other people
stood up for it's potential.
Those are some of my thoughts. There was more discussed, but I'll stop
now. It was a good start for this type of process!
Diane Prorak
PRORAK@RAVEN.CSRV.UIDAHO.EDU