Since there was a little tongue in cheek in your answers I will
respond wholeheartedly to what you wrote.
Maybe yes they leave for greener pastures and maybe no because
as with the students graduating from UI there are no
opportunities available. Yes, there may be only a 4%
unemployment rate...but how many are working too many jobs
because of too low wages. Anyone making $7.00 and hour and
under is very much working under the poverty level, especially
when you look at the cost of housing, and life essentials. Now,
if this is the way you want the families living in Moscow.
Week to week, never being sure if they'll make it one month to
the next....good for you! Let them suffer. Of course the more
jobs parents must take on to supplement the household income the
less time to spend with children and family and the more
problems arise.
Yes, you used to be a small community that only depended upon
only agriculture and education....times change....communities
grow and if you are not growing to keep up with the
opportunities for your own children you are not growing
wisely.!!!
Maybe not all of the youth in the community are like you.
Maybe, they would really like to stay....what is the economic
development team doing for them.
Who says you have to have INEEL or Potlatch? There are millions
of businesses both national and international out there look for a
spot to settle. There's anywhere from the insurance
(conglomerat) industries to any numbers of types of other
industries that could be convinced to come here. Of course if
you are one of those who close your mind immediately and stick
it in the sand because you don't want to admit the rate of
growth Moscow is experiencing so be it....but the children and
their future are what suffers not you!!!!
JoanB
From: "Jerry L.
Schutz" <jschutz@moscow.com> To: "Joan Berney"
<JBERNEY@novell.uidaho.edu>, "W. Robb Parish"
<wrparish@moscow.com> Cc: <vision2020@moscow.com> Subject:
Re: Swimming Pools and Community Development Date:
Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:35 -0800
-----Original Message-----
From: Joan Berney <JBERNEY@novell.uidaho.edu>
To: W. Robb Parish <wrparish@moscow.com>
Cc: vision2020@moscow.com <vision2020@moscow.com>
Date: Monday, February 23, 1998 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: Swimming Pools and Community Development
Joan I'll answer some of your questions...
>If this is true, how do you explain most children in this
>community must go outside the community to find work when they
>graduate from college?
Most children, like myself leave the community because we grew up here and
have the "greener pastures" or the "there's a bigger world than Moscow"
syndrom. Many of them, like myself return to Moscow after experiencing the
"big city". Robb is also an ilistration of this.
> How do you explain all too many families have to work at lower than should
be salaries because the community has not developed the economy enough to
cause competition for better salaries?
A less than 4% unemployment rate in Latah county expalins this pretty well.
>How do you explain the fact that the community cannot support a Youth
>Center, a swim pool and many other facilities that should be available to
the >youth and members of the community?
Priorities of the City Fathers, youth activities have not been a major focus
of any administration in the past 5-10 years.
>How do you explain that many wonderful students who come to UI and would
>love to stay must move on because there is no opportunity available to them
>to stay.
Well, I would say that many of the graduates move on because there are no
jobs in their fields of study here. Really what kinda of job can you get
outside of INEEL with a Chem Engr. degree. Some do stay, some also leave
and come back, some go back to their home community.
>If your world is so wonderful then explain these things to me so my world
can >be just as wonderful!!!!
Moscow is wonderful! We are a small town with two major industries
agriculture and education. That's part of the charm of Moscow. I don't
want an INEEL, nor do I want a Potlatch here.