I attended last night's Moscow meeting on the proposed county land
ordinance. Susan Palmer has done an excellent job describing the differing
viewpoints that were expressed, so I'd like to raise another issue.
Several things struck me about the town meetings that have been held in the
last week.
First, the Planning Commissioners have done an exceptional job in
developing a proposal that meets, or attempts to meet, what they perceive to
be public expectations. The number of hours they have contributed to the
community boggles my mind. It must have seemed like a thankless task.
Second, something less than 100 citizens attended the three town meetings.
While these attendance figures are nothing to be ashamed of, 100 out of
close to 40,000 county residents seems like a paltry number. Public
meetings held at night when most of us have put in a full day at one kind of
work or another are not everyone's cup of tea. And even the most vocal
speakers at the meetings often seemed unsure of themselves voicing their
opinions in such a public forum.
And finally, there was no consensus on the three goals that the
Commissioners thought they'd heard articulated by the public in the past
year. These goals -- to make small splits of rural land easier to make, to
preserve ag and timber land, and to use site-based standards -- guided the
development of the proposed ordinance, yet most people at the meeting had to
think hard about whether the goals reflected their basic values or not.
Many seemed to be considering the goals for the first time.
Here is a Commission that has put heart and soul into developing a proposal
to guide how land in the county is developed -- or not -- in the future . .
. and a public that is only *minimally* engaged in the fundamental process
of realizing and articulating its values.
My question to you is obvious. What medium is there to engage the citizenry
on this issue other than our local newspaper? What other effective channel
is there to stimulate discussions during coffee breaks at work,
conversations after church, and debates over dinner? It can't be left to
the small gatherings at town meetings. What can those of us who are
interested in engaging the public do to help the Daily News take a more
active role?
And while I'm at it, where were subscribers of this list when those meetings
were being held!!!???
--Priscilla S.