Re: Meet your City Council Candidates

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

The Chamber's invitation and venue are noteworthy in several respects, 
some commendable and others raising legitmate questions. Your 
civic-mindedness is certainly obvious and reflects interest in our 
community and in the democratic process -- the days of Tammany Hall (no 
reflection on Indian Chief Tammanend's integrity) are past, for the most 
part.  But the location, hour and tarif all reflect the businesspersons' 
convenience rather than the average citizen's, such as the homemaker-mom, 
the teacher,the employee who has 30-45 min. for lunch, and others who 
might not feel like paying $8 to hear candidates for non-salaried public 
office, whose daytime routines hardly mesh with such a venue and entry 
fee. A household couple pays $16. A business can absorb such fees as 
expenses. How about resident students, many of whom have classes up to 
noon or at 1 PM?  Granted,  there will be other occasions for those who 
are ruled out by your scheduling.  But it seems that the structuring of 
the Chamber's call to hear our candidates caters to a particular segment 
of the community and not to the community as a whole.  One has to 
question the somewhat exclusive character of staging this "open forum" -- 
or is that what's intended?  Some citizens may well feel that they are 
not meant to be included and that the character of the audience that will 
attend may inflect on the forum in certain ways.

Having been an active member of chambers of commerce and of service clubs 
in other cities,  I felt compelled to make these observations and to 
suggest that a different kind of staging would inspire, at least for some 
of us, more confidence and trust in the Chamber's judgment about civic 
procedures that affect us all.  At this point in the urban development of 
Moscow and its environs, we all need to improve the quality and openness 
of communications, so that they can promote more consensus about the many 
issues that we all face and bear burdens of. 

Thanks for the invitation, but as for me, I have to drive my wife to the 
airport  at  one o'clock, but then that's my decision and not yours. Have 
a good meeting!    

                                                                          
 William K. Medlin (892-0148)

------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com